oatmeal<p>With reference to … This Is How Meta AI Staffers Deemed More Than 7 Million Books to Have No “Economic Value” <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/meta-ai-lawsuit" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">vanityfair.com/news/story/meta</span><span class="invisible">-ai-lawsuit</span></a> (via <a href="https://wandering.shop/@jwilker/114353879701813415" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">wandering.shop/@jwilker/114353</span><span class="invisible">879701813415</span></a>):</p><p>"Robber baron" is a pejorative term used to describe powerful and wealthy American industrialists and financiers during the late 19th century, an era often referred to as the Gilded Age. The term implies social criticism, suggesting these businessmen were unethical, unscrupulous, or ruthless in their practices.</p><p>They were accused of amassing their fortunes through exploitative methods, such as monopolizing large industries (often by forming trusts), restricting output to raise prices, exploiting workers through practices like wage slavery, engaging in unethical business dealings, squashing competition, and influencing government officials. The term combines the idea of criminal behavior ("robber") with illegitimate aristocracy ("baron").</p><p>Some prominent figures commonly labeled as robber barons include John D. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Rockefeller" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Rockefeller</span></a>, Andrew <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Carnegie" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Carnegie</span></a>, Cornelius <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Vanderbilt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Vanderbilt</span></a>, J.P. <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Morgan" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Morgan</span></a>, and Leland <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Stanford" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Stanford</span></a>, among others.</p><p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/robber-baron" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">britannica.com/money/robber-ba</span><span class="invisible">ron</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/meta" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>meta</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/robberbarons" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>robberbarons</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/zuck" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>zuck</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/fuckzuck" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>fuckzuck</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ai" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ai</span></a></p>