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> Some people worry about monopolies, but I don't - they only have power when I choose to give them my money... Well, in the case of google and facebook, you'r

> Some people worry about monopolies, but I don't - they only have power when I choose to give them my money... Well, in the case of google and facebook, you're not even their customer. They provide services and environments which aren't easy or convenient to get elsewhere for most people (that's why they're called "monopolies", after all). Its only a matter of time before one of these giants decides to do something truly harmful with their data. When that happens, the bullshit legalese in the EULA will be nothing more than a mere speed bump and offer no protection to those which are harmed. The sheer scale of these entities is staggering and they can "outgun" virtually anyone in any legal or public-relations arena. I sort-of agree that regulation in the form of more rules isn't answer, at least not the full answer. What we REALLY need are informed consumers (AND CITIZENS) and enforcement with the ability and authority to swiftly neutralize, liquidate or "de-fang" these entities when they do wrong. Sadly, that's not the way things are going. I think its a good idea to be "worried" about monopolies.

Qwertious 9y ago
>What we REALLY need are informed consumers What we really need is a friendly post-singularity AGI, or an omnipotent omnibenevolent god that directly and noticeably runs the government. But, we can't get those. What if we can't get more informed consumers either? Informing yourself is hard work, and there's no clear way to do it (see: multitudes of bullshit everywhere on everything). Most people aren't wouldn't know how to do it even if they 1. knew they were lacking understanding, 2. wanted to change that enough to put in hours a week of research. I mean, in theory if you go talk to people about problem X they'll be "more informed consumers", but your evangelism doesn't scale, and human nature won't magically improve any more than it did the last 2000 years of hoping it would. What if we can't get more informed consumers?

Qwertious 9y ago

>What we REALLY need are informed consumers What we really need is a friendly post-singularity AGI, or an omnipotent omnibenevolent god that directly and noticeably runs the government. But, we can't get those. What if we can't get more informed consumers either? Informing yourself is hard work, and there's no clear way to do it (see: multitudes of bullshit everywhere on everything). Most people aren't wouldn't know how to do it even if they 1. knew they were lacking understanding, 2. wanted to change that enough to put in hours a week of research. I mean, in theory if you go talk to people about problem X they'll be "more informed consumers", but your evangelism doesn't scale, and human nature won't magically improve any more than it did the last 2000 years of hoping it would. What if we can't get more informed consumers?