3 ms·

Disagreeing with capitalism is different from disagreeing about what it is. If autonomous vehicles are within the realm of possibility, they are going to be en

Disagreeing with capitalism is different from disagreeing about what it is. If autonomous vehicles are within the realm of possibility, they are going to be enormously successful and beneficial to humanity. Well functioning capitalism is about giving everybody a chance to participate (or not) in a piece of the new pie.

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago
No, actually some of the biggest free marketers possible don't agree that predatory pricing is possible under capitalism. Google predatory pricing friedman (you won't get a quote from friedman but his name gets all the good stuff) and you'll find lots of people arguing that predatory pricing is a myth. You can also google friedman monopoly and find huge proponents of capitalism arguing that monopolies are only possible through state intervention. >Well functioning capitalism is about giving everybody a chance to participate (or not) in a piece of the new pie. Maybe... but everyone disagrees on what well functioning actually means.
- benlorenzetti 9y ago
  We are talking past each other. I think that autonomous cars are a great idea and would like to invest in autonomous car companies more directly than is currently possible. I gather from reading about predatory pricing and your prior comment that you think Ubers' business model is a dud and that automating these jobs is bad. This variance is the essence of capitalism though. In a well functioning capitalist society I am free to make a stupid investment in Uber and you are free to wisely not. Its about having a degree of private wealth ownership and freedom and choice in your investments. This is what I meant by well functioning: the choice of investing directly in Waymo, Uber, etc is not really there yet for average citizens. > Capitalism is supposed to work this way? VCs investing billions of dollars in an unprofitable company which continues to be unprofitable for years after the fact. [...] (1) achieving autonomous vehicles and ending the jobs of tens of thousands of people [...] A company which only exists in the first place because they trampled all over local laws. Yes the freedom to make dumb investments...yes replacing error prone human labor with safe, tireless machines using greed and ambition as motivation...yes the freedom to open a business without bribing government officials. Yes, these are all basic tenets of capitalism.

frgtpsswrdlame 9y ago

No, actually some of the biggest free marketers possible don't agree that predatory pricing is possible under capitalism. Google predatory pricing friedman (you won't get a quote from friedman but his name gets all the good stuff) and you'll find lots of people arguing that predatory pricing is a myth. You can also google friedman monopoly and find huge proponents of capitalism arguing that monopolies are only possible through state intervention. >Well functioning capitalism is about giving everybody a chance to participate (or not) in a piece of the new pie. Maybe... but everyone disagrees on what well functioning actually means.

benlorenzetti 9y ago
We are talking past each other. I think that autonomous cars are a great idea and would like to invest in autonomous car companies more directly than is currently possible. I gather from reading about predatory pricing and your prior comment that you think Ubers' business model is a dud and that automating these jobs is bad. This variance is the essence of capitalism though. In a well functioning capitalist society I am free to make a stupid investment in Uber and you are free to wisely not. Its about having a degree of private wealth ownership and freedom and choice in your investments. This is what I meant by well functioning: the choice of investing directly in Waymo, Uber, etc is not really there yet for average citizens. > Capitalism is supposed to work this way? VCs investing billions of dollars in an unprofitable company which continues to be unprofitable for years after the fact. [...] (1) achieving autonomous vehicles and ending the jobs of tens of thousands of people [...] A company which only exists in the first place because they trampled all over local laws. Yes the freedom to make dumb investments...yes replacing error prone human labor with safe, tireless machines using greed and ambition as motivation...yes the freedom to open a business without bribing government officials. Yes, these are all basic tenets of capitalism.