"...The defilers don't want to kill off the lab rats..."
Yet. Decentralization and automation of the means of production are yet immature and of limited extent. There comes a tipping point, and the financial advantage overlords possess enables them to pull the trigger before the vast majority of humanity have become self-sufficient. This strongly - very, very strongly - suggests being an early adopter of decentralized means of production and increasing the strength of local communities through trade and social bonds in order to increase the speed at which communities can become obdurate against a global NWO, which is surely coming.
Our second best advantage is in numbers, as adoption across a community enables far more rapid development than is potential to isolated walled gardens. Our best advantage is that overlords are almost exclusively psychopaths, incomprehending the value of society, and their own dependence on it. They are broken. Psychopathy is not inherently advantageous. It is only an advantage in an environment in which inhuman corporations facilitate inhumanity as a means of institutional power. As society collapses, corporations decline in relevance. Overlords face a delicate balancing act in subjugating society while developing automated means of production, and society is inherently more competent to develop and disperse decentralized means of production.
We can only be commoditized if we remain dependent on centralization.