Don't anthropomorphize big tech companies

Bryan Cantrill has a great line from a talk where he cautions against anthropomorphizing1 Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. I think it’s also a mistake to treat any tech company like a person. Here’s the full quote: You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don’t anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it’ll chop it off, the end. You don’t think ‘oh, the lawnmower hates me’ — lawnmower doesn’t give a shit about you, lawnmower can’t hate you. Don’t anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don’t fall into that trap about Oracle. Companies are machines, not persons Here are some examples of anthropomorphism: My company really owes me for that hard thing I did I’m fighting the good fight against my company on issue X (e.g. accessibility) and they hate me for it My company is vindictively retaliating against me because of that mistake I made My company and I are partners in the mission to make the world a better…