Subcultures among subcultures have existed for as long as humans in their infinite creativity existed.

• Babyfurs and Diaper Lover Furries-They focus on regression. And they really love diapers.

• Densha Otaku - They love photographing trains. They also get extremely violent when you ruin their shot of trains.

• Cyberdeck Builders- They build retro computers with 80s SciFi aesthetic and take things too far.. Using or even building hardware to mimic timigs exactly like they behaved in 70s.

• Grandmacore - People obsessed with grandma aesthetics. Very. Very. Obsessed.

• Swedish Raggare - American 1950s greaser culture filtered through rural Sweden and dialled to 11.

• Sapeurs - Rural Kinshasa men spend 1000s of dollars, sometimes sacrificing rent and food, to buy high end designer shit from Europe. They walk through dirt roads dressed like 19th century French dandies.

• Otherkin & Therians - They think they aren't humans or at least partially non humans.

• Birds aren't real- They think birds aren't real. And that they are all robots, drones sent by CIA or other secretive gangs.

• Chronological Revisionists - Popularised by a German historian named Heribert Illig, followers of the Phantom Time Hypothesis believe that the Early Middle Ages (specifically 614–911 AD) never actually happened. They claim that Holy Roman Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II completely fabricated three centuries of history, including the entire existence of Emperor Charlemagne, just so Otto could rule during the monumental year 1000 AD. According to them, we are actually living in the early 1700s.

• The Tartaria - They believe that a technologically advanced, global utopian empire called Tartaria existed until the late 1800s. This empire supposedly used the domes and spires on old buildings (like world's fair pavilions or old European castles) to pull free, wireless electromagnetic energy straight from the ether. They believe a massive, worldwide "Mud Flood" wiped them out, and modern history was rewritten to hide the existence of free energy.

• Deros Believers - Shaver claimed that humanity used to share Earth with an ancient, advanced race. When the sun started emitting toxic radiation, the advanced race fled the planet, leaving behind their underground cities. According to Shaver, these caves are now inhabited by Deros (Detrimental Robots)—degenerate, sadistic humanoids who use the abandoned ancient "ray technology" to project voices into the minds of surface-dwellers, cause freak accidents, and steal our thoughts.

There are a few more.. But I'm too bored to type them here.

I'd recommend not to alias compilers like that. Rather, if you're interested, you could just use a simple Makefile like shown below and get it over with. Save it into a file called Makefile (yes, uppercase M followed by akefile all lowercase) in the same directory as your program.c file.

Note, I have used -std=c89 but you can delete that line or maybe even use a more modern standard such as -std=c23 if you like. If you delete, both gcc and clang will default to the latest ISO standard supported by that version of compiler.

Also since you're compiling only a single file, I have used program.c as input producing program executable on UNIX. To run this Makefile you need to invoke make from the same directory as Makefile on command-line as:

make W=1

to enable all the warnings and compile. If you set W=0 it will not warn or even print any diagnostic unless compiler really cannot generate the executable. You can also pass D=0 for optimised/release build, D=1 for debug build so you can backtrack in gdb. You can also pass A=1 if you want address sanitisers enabled. It will report if your program is touching or even looking at pointers/memory regions the wrong way, leaking memory or just generally doing operations that cannot guarantee correct behaviour. Passing V=1 will display the exact command executed to compile, otherwise it will silently compile.

Here's the full Makefile I use:

# Control build verbosity.
V                               ?= 0
ifeq ($(V),1)
    Q                           :=
else
    Q                           := @
endif
# Control DEBUG (1) or RELEASE (0) build.
D                               ?= 1
# Add some warning flags?
W                               ?= 0
# Add some address/undefined sanitiser flags?
A                               ?= 1

ifeq ($(shell $(CC) -v 2>&1 | grep -c "gcc version"),1)
    COMPILER                    := gnu
else ifeq ($(shell $(CC) -v 2>&1 | grep -c "clang version"),1)
    COMPILER                    := llvm
endif

# Delete environment garbage so we can generate absolutely controlled 
LDFLAGS                         :=
CFLAGS                          :=

ifeq ($(D),1)
    CFLAGS_DEFS                 += -D_DEBUG
else
    CFLAGS_DEFS                 += -DNDEBUG
endif
CFLAGS_DEFS                     += -D_XOPEN_SOURCE=600
ifeq ($(D),0)
    CFLAGS_DEFS                 += -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2
endif
CFLAGS_DEFS                     += -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE=1
CFLAGS_DEFS                     += -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE=1

ifeq ($(W),1)
    CFLAGS_STDS                 += -std=c89
    CFLAGS_STDS                 += -Wpedantic
    CFLAGS_STDS                 += -pedantic-errors

    CFLAGS_STDS                 += -Werror
    CFLAGS_STDS                 += -Wall
    CFLAGS_STDS                 += -Wextra
    ifeq ($(COMPILER),gnu)
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wbad-function-cast
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wcast-align
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wcast-qual
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wduplicated-branches
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wduplicated-cond
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wfloat-equal
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wformat-nonliteral
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wformat-security
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wformat-signedness
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wformat-truncation=2
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wformat=2
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Winline
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wlogical-op
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wmissing-declarations
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wmissing-format-attribute
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wmissing-include-dirs
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wmissing-noreturn
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wmissing-prototypes
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wnested-externs
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wno-unused-result
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wnull-dereference
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wold-style-definition
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wpointer-arith
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wpointer-sign
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wredundant-decls
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wrestrict
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wreturn-type
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wshadow
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wsign-compare
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wsign-conversion
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wstrict-aliasing
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wstrict-prototypes
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wswitch-enum
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wtrampolines
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wundef
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wuninitialized
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunreachable-code
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-but-set-parameter
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-but-set-variable
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-label
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-local-typedefs
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-parameter
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-variable
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wwrite-strings
    else
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wmost
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Warray-bounds-pointer-arithmetic
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wassign-enum
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wcomma
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wconditional-uninitialized
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wformat-type-confusion
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Widiomatic-parentheses
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wloop-analysis
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wshift-sign-overflow
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wshorten-64-to-32
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wstrict-aliasing=2
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wstrict-overflow=5
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wtautological-constant-in-range-compare
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wthread-safety
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunreachable-code-aggressive
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-argument
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-but-set-parameter
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-but-set-variable
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-comparison
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-const-variable
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-exception-parameter
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-function
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-label
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-local-typedefs
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-macros
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-parameter
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-value
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-variable
        CFLAGS_STDS             += -Wunused-volatile-lvalue
    endif
else
	# Disable all manners of warnings, even default ones.
	CFLAGS_STDS                 += -w
endif

CFLAGS_OPTS                     += -fPIC

# These are needed anyway.
ifeq ($(D),1)
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -O0 -g3 -ggdb3
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -fno-omit-frame-pointer
else
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -O3
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -ffunction-sections
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -fdata-sections
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -fmerge-all-constants
endif
ifeq ($(A),1)
    CFLAGS_OPTS                 += -fsanitize=address,leak,undefined
endif

# Add more include directories to your liking
CFLAGS_INCS                     += -I.

# Assemble them all into a singfle
CFLAGS                          += $(CFLAGS_DEFS)
CFLAGS                          += $(CFLAGS_INCS)
CFLAGS                          += $(CFLAGS_STDS)
CFLAGS                          += $(CFLAGS_OPTS)

LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,--as-needed
LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,--gc-sections
LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,--no-undefined
LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,-z,defs
LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,-z,nocombreloc
LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,-z,now
LDFLAGS                         += -Wl,-z,relro


# The $(Q)$(CC) has a real TAB before it, not space. If you copy paste from Lemmy, you might end up with spaces.
program: program.c
	$(Q)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -o $@ $< $(LDFLAGS)

.DEFAULT_GOAL := all
.PHONY: all
all: program

.PHONY: clean
# The space before $(Q)$(RM) is real TAB as well.
clean:
	$(Q)$(RM) program

For 1, I'd like for you to think you're telling a story, one that is really air tight and unambiguous. If you think putting all the calls in main() can help you tell that story, then so be it.

For 2, of late industrial software development has largely moved to keeping variables as local as possible so its easier to express provenance. This has been the case for at least a good 3-4 decades now.

At no extra cost, I'd like to give you an unsolicited advice. If you're using modern, real C compilers like gcc or clang, I'd strongly recommend you pass -Wpedantic -pedantic-errors -Wall -Wextra on the command line.

gcc -Wpedantic -pedantic-errors -Wall -Wextra -Werror program.c

and if you're using clang, also pass -Wmost along with the rest. Learning C is one thing. But following the standard rules right from the start, it will save you from unexpected grief later on. If you try compiling your code under these flags now, it will refuse to compile. I'd suggest you try fixing as much as you can, then go back to compiling the normal way until you get a hang of things.

Do you want an actual answer?

MKUltra was shutdown long ago, but several fragmented research continued and still lives on. MKNAOMI, MKDELTA, MKSEARCH were immediate successors. Later, ruwre was StarGate. And many many more undisclosed human experimentation.

Intelligence community behavioural science seems to be one such project, where they teach interrogating resistance, psychological profiling of adversaries, influence and propaganda analysis (not direct brain control).

While modern variants don't have any official names or are even disclosed, its safe to assume they still are conducting human experimentation. Just much better and much less fan fare.

Its just too many things packaged and loaded in that question. Haha

If you are a brilliant engineer, you might build an amazing feature. But if you are a director managing 5 teams of 8 engineers, your decisions affect the output of 40 people. Even a small 1% improvement in their efficiency multiplies across the whole group, resulting in massive financial impact.

If a VP makes a strategic mistake, an entire product line gets canceled, and 200 people lose their jobs. Higher pay is often a premium for taking on that personal and financial risk.

On the flip side, traditional corporate structure puts a cap on individual value. They operate like early 20th century assembly line, where a deeply technical engineer is seen no different than a blue collar drone.

As for the "being seen" situation, its not about being seen by your bosses. Its more about being seen by your family and friends. At least in certain cultures, "man of the house" is expected to weild power over others outside their house too. While some are OK being called potty as long as they're paid forty, not everyone subscribes to it.

2 things come to my mind

1. Social pressure - There's a need to be "seen". Being a technical expert on ground doesn't make you " seen".
2. Money - The higher you go, the more money you make.

Its a topical ointment sold for less than a dollar. Its a placebo, but smells nice.