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>>addictive services are not something you can make people resist by willpower Yes, you're right, but to your first point, drugs are addictive too and the War

>>addictive services are not something you can make people resist by willpower Yes, you're right, but to your first point, drugs are addictive too and the War on Drugs (regulation) has widely been seen as a major failure. I'll admit I didn't read the article, but I get a little annoyed when I see articles that reach thousands of people calling for regulation because one journalist/writer found some problem they deem a societal problem that can be best solved by regulation. For many, many of our problems, there are literally thousands of options to solve them before resorting to regulation. The problem with regulation is there is no guarantee that it is the best solution, but by it's very nature, it kills the possibility of better solutions being tried out later on.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
> drugs are addictive too and the War on Drugs (regulation) has widely been seen as a major failure. That's why I'm not jumping on the regulations bandwagon. We had enough such examples around banning addictive substances to prove that regulations can hurt people much more than they're helping. You're right that regulation isn't the best default solution. They have a lot of momentum; once enacted, they get very hard to remove. This actually reminds me of pg's insight from his very relevant essay[0]. He argues that society develops antibodies against addictive things, and that the law actually follows - not precedes - social customs that change to protect us. But he also points out that technology seems to be outpacing the rate at which society can adapt itself. [0] - http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html http://www.paulgraham.com/addiction.html