The Permanent Upper Crow

https://permanent-upper-crow.jasonwu.ink/

by whiteblossom • 2 months ago

217 83 2 months ago

permanent-upper-crow.jasonwu.ink

aselimov3• 2 months ago

This is quality

tardedmeme2• 2 months ago

no it isn't actually

Yumat• 2 months ago

It never ends…

Super cool concept

senfiaj• 2 months ago

Yeah, the numbers will eventually overflow if you play long enough, it seems doesn't end.

saaaaaam• 2 months ago

Well done! Fun and satirical

dheera• 2 months ago

Yep, this is basically the world today. The only difference in the real world:

"What if I told you you can buy that $10 hat today using borrowed money that you don't have, pay $1/year interest for the rest of your life until you pay it back, but you have to earn $2/year more in order to have $1/year more to pay, but to earn $2/year more, your company has to earn $3/year more"

"Oh and you also need to buy insurance for that $10 hat because it's not yours, and you have to pay us for the insurance we're going to buy in addition to the insurance you're going to buy to insure us from you, so that'll be another $1, or you have to make $2 more to have $1, or your company needs to make $3 more, so now your company needs to make $6/year more"

"Oh and we're also going to devalue the $ so you actually need to make $10/year more because a $ won't be worth that much in a couple years"

arjie• 2 months ago

Fascinating. I was able to escape the suffering by simply not purchasing a top hat. An interesting lesson that the pursuit of conspicuous consumption is the root of one’s own suffering.

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

xattt• 2 months ago

Once I realized I couldn’t decline, I left the website and left the top hat on the table.

ricardobayes2• 2 months ago

That's easier to do in a video game, but I guess the real life analogy would be to sell it all and move off-grid to Alaska?

the_af7• 2 months ago

Your reply reminded me of the free game Oiligarchy by Molleindustria (which made quite a few indie hits in my opinion).

In that game, if you played "well" you ended up destroying the world. The only winning move was, indeed, not to play.

shaftway• 2 months ago

I think OP is referring to the 80's movie WarGames - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames

At the end a strategic defense computer is asked to play Tic Tac Toe against itself and suddenly "learns" about no-win scenarios. Then it does the same with nuclear launch scenarios, and finds that they're all no-win. It decides that nuclear war "is a strange game", and "the only winning move is not to play".

kennywinker2• 2 months ago

But rent is due

UncleOxidant• 2 months ago

Fun fact: Crows never pay rent.

nprbst• 2 months ago

CAWn't believe how hard this hits

jc4883• 2 months ago

How does it come up with the CEO and business' name? I assume there's gotta be finite number and the game has to end (?) Anyways, sick game.

Tossrock2• 2 months ago

There's a pre-generated list with 106 entries, and when it reaches the end of that list, it loops around.

ricardobayes2• 2 months ago

Brilliant

thegrim33• 2 months ago

What's interesting is the creator of the site has listed on their linkedin that they're ... wait for it ... a co-founder at some generic AI startup with the goal of using AI agents to automate away manual jobs.

pocksuppet• 2 months ago

So he's obviously on the winning side of this transaction. Hopefully the losing side is someone who isn't you. Maybe it's a VC fund.

whiteblossom5• 2 months ago

are we not all slaves to the top hat?

keybored2• 2 months ago

Are we the Baddies? Yes, and how interesting. I could vibe a game about that.

bbor• 2 months ago

There’s a lot more ways automation can turn out than “permanent underclasses”. It’s kinda like how some people build planes without supporting crashing them into things

the_af7• 2 months ago

Are we the Baddies? Yes, and how interesting. I could vibe a game about that.

The author's actual take is way less cynical. It seems he wanted to point out that a world where you try to save yourself at all costs while the majority suffers is not a good world.

See: https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

kubb• 2 months ago

Understandig how the hammer falls tells you where to stand to avoid it.

michaelteter• 2 months ago

Unless the hammer ultimately destroys the world. And it seems our escape rocket is no more.

root-parent• 2 months ago

I grok that as the author having a sick sense of humor. I like it....

forgetfreeman• 2 months ago

When did peddling dietary supplements and crypto go out of fashion?

paulryanrogers• 2 months ago

When AI took the spotlight.

jxf2• 2 months ago

This is filthy undercrow talk!

jayd16• 2 months ago

Write what you know.

UltraSane• 2 months ago

Maybe he strongly supports UBI or a national dividend and understands how automation makes these much easier.

the_af7• 2 months ago

The author explains his opinion in a blog post, and it's not that: https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

It's simply: saving yourself (by getting rich or whatever) before AI puts us all out of a job is not good, because the majority of the world will suffer and that's not good for anyone.

Terr_• 2 months ago

What if the intended takeaway was something else like this?

"Jumping so late onto the bandwagon by buying shares like that is for losers! Winners are people bold enough to be entrepreneurs who make the stuff and sell the shares. (Like I'm going to do, because I'm smarter than that crow.)"

I must warn that it isn't the most charitable random-ass-theory of a stranger's worldview... but it would resolve the apparent inconsistency.

the_af7• 2 months ago

We know what the intended takeaway is because the author helpfully explained it in a blog post [1], and it's way less cynical than what you guessed:

A world where a majority of the population is suffering is not a world good for anyone. Even from a selfish perspective, does you making it into the elite class mean the people you care about will too? Who wants to eat caviar alone on the moon?

I agree, though I would have stopped at the first sentence.

[1] https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

juancn• 2 months ago

So that's how you become a galactic civilization!

RAZKOM• 2 months ago

I honestly love the look of the website. It makes me want to play/make a 2d scroller.

whiteblossom5• 2 months ago

thank you! and noted ;)

imnotyy• 2 months ago

Reminded me of a book called Finite and Infinite Games

proton_9• 2 months ago

The one by Simon Sinek? I've just picked it for reading this week

twalla• 2 months ago

James P. Carse - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/189989.Finite_and_Infini...

hackboyfly• 2 months ago

It’s a book I have tried to read 10 times. It’s to complicated, my context window is to limited.

Tossrock2• 2 months ago

In case you're wondering, there are 106 CEOs / companies, and at 107 it just loops around.

whiteblossom5• 2 months ago

PRs to add web-llm welcome ;)

though I would argue the current state is more reflective of reality...

cheers

calvisitor• 2 months ago

hey when does this game end?

whiteblossom5• 2 months ago

never stop grinding

imp0cat• 2 months ago

Depends on the lifespan of said crow.

kbutler• 2 months ago

The real message is that, even if you don't get rich and can't buy that clothing item that is 10x your nest worth, your work can provide for your needs and your family - rent, groceries, helping extended family...

(Worked at a couple of startups, didn't get rich, but had good experiences, paid for family needs, and put aside investments for the future.)

kennywinker2• 2 months ago

I tried to decline the job, but rent was due

soupspaces• 2 months ago

Beautiful

kerblang• 2 months ago

I feel stupid but I could not bring myself to click the "sign" button and continue gameplay.

A lot of electronic contracts are done like that and... nope, not clicking it... Mmmmm.... nope.

jryio• 2 months ago

This is a play on words from this (excellent) NYTimes Opinion piece by Jasmine Sun [1] titled "Silicon Valley is bracing for the permanent underclass"

[1]": https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/opinion/ai-labor-work-for...

(Gift article)

stratos123• 2 months ago

I find this exact attribution very unlikely; this article is from April 2026 and the term "permanent underclass" is used in this way since at least 2025.

In fact, the repo says:

  This is my social commentary on the "Permanent Upper Class" philosophical virus that has spread through San Francisco tech communities like the plague in the last year or so. You can read the original blog post [here].
  While the game tells a grim story, my goal with this is to show how ridiculous this way of thinking is. I'm actually more optimistic that humans will find a way to prevent this future but if we don't then I suppose none of us will don top hats for eternity.

and links to https://www.jasonwu.ink/signals/2026-05-27-permanent-upper-c...

allknowingfrog• 2 months ago

I feel like I'm missing something here. Was this supposed to be a game? I just kept clicking and reading and clicking and reading. I finally gave up. If the goal is to tell a non-interactive story, I'd rather just scroll...

smilekzs• 2 months ago

I sense a nod to https://papersplease.fandom.com/wiki/The_Republia_Times

bunforfun12138• 2 months ago

Cool stuff hits hard

whiteblossom5• 2 months ago

I wasn't expecting this to get the visibility it did... but I want to say thank you to everyone that took a few minutes of their precious time to play through this.

I made this on a whim yesterday. It's inspired by many of my experiences talking to folks in the AI space. While it paints a grim picture, I still have hope that we'll find a way out of this mess in the future.

I also want to give some recognition for the visual inspirations here. The characters are inspired by one of my favorite indie games: Death's Door. I played this in Seoul a few years ago and ended up not sleeping the entire night just to play it. It's very affordable (even for undercrows), and will probably inspire many more of my future works. Not getting paid to say this - I simply think birds are cool.

Remember - if you keep grinding, you might just be able to don that top hat...

Cheers loves!

Pwntastic• 2 months ago

Ah yes, arbeit macht frei

nullbio• 2 months ago

Money is the root of all evil.

anotherevan• 2 months ago

That's a common misquotation of 1 Timothy 6:10 from the bible, which is that the love of money is the root of all evil. Not to get theological, but I reckon it's an important and informative distinction.

Here's a link to the verse in many translations: https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/1%20Timothy%206:10

the_af7• 2 months ago

Are you familiar with Molleindustria? [1] (Oiligarchy, Unmanned, Every Day The Same Dream)

I think your game would fit quite well in that collection of "political" indie games. Which, in my opinion, is high praise.

[1] https://www.molleindustria.org/

madrox2• 2 months ago

If crypto was a bunch of autodidacts speed running the history of finance, then AI is speed running the history of religion. This whole "permanent underclass" thing seems like it's just the Rapture in secular clothing.

It's interesting watching each new generation relate to the rat race, but this current framing seems toxic. The economy is not a zero sum game. I worry about the amount people coming into the work force now thinking that unless they acquire generational wealth by 30 then they've wasted their life. That's a recipe for unhappiness.

Save money. Skip the top hat.

the_af7• 2 months ago

Save money. Skip the top hat.

That's kinda the lesson of the game, how pointless it is, right?

madrox2• 2 months ago

yeah

Animats• 2 months ago

This whole "permanent underclass" thing seems like it's just the Rapture in secular clothing.

The Left Behind version of the Rapture.

bcjdjsndon• 2 months ago

Of course ai execs are going to say AI will automate every job, but only a fool believes it. I guarantee we will still have tedious manual work in 25 years. People have been saying this for years.

I mean do the math... Who buys anything from the robot overlords if we're all jobless? How do states exist without tax revenue? Why would anyone pay money to get a factory full of robots to make something if nobody's going to I buy it? Somebody please answer that last one

The Permanent Upper Crow

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