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Your diatribe is a complete distortion of economic history and facts, best crystallized by your use of "concentrated wealth" when what we have witnessed is an e
by mkempe 8y ago
Your diatribe is a complete distortion of economic history and facts, best crystallized by your use of "concentrated wealth" when what we have witnessed is an enormous creation of wealth.
Search engines, social networks, mobile phones, high-speed Internet, same- and next-day e-commerce, interactive maps, video streaming, 24/7 access to world-wide news and commentary, electric cars, cloud services, solar panels, wind farms, fracking, online banking, fitness monitors, 4K tvs, retina displays, tablets, e-book readers, voice-activated assistants, cleaning robots, advanced medical devices, tailored drugs, reusable rockets, etc. etc. are all created and those who create and finance the creation of these products and services deserve a) our accolades and admiration and b) reaping the rewards of their actions.
- aphextron 8y ago>Your diatribe is a complete distortion of economic history and facts, best crystallized by your use of "concentrated wealth" when what we have witnessed is an enormous creation of wealth Yes, created and concentrated. It used to be that economic activity led to the improvement of everyone's lives. Think the model that worked great for us from post WWII, until the financial deregulation and tax cuts of the 70s/80s. Now it leads to record corporate profits which enrich a select class of wealthy shareholders. The average American has been absolutely forgotten and left behind, as evidenced by our current political climate.
- mkempe 8y agoPlease get a grip on reality. The average American has access to vastly better products, services, and health care than past kings couldn't even have dreamt of. Even the amazingly wealthy Rockefeller did not have access to the modern bounty that the average American can easily buy and use today, the bounty that is being created by entrepreneurs and people in the corporations you apparently envy so much.
- jstewartmobile 8y ago> search engines, social networks. thank you for bringing the surveillance state and tribalism into the 21st century > same- and next-day e-commerce and that plastic crap i needed right now... > video streaming and for all of the copyright infringement and porn addictions, > 24/7 access to world-wide news and commentary and the non-stop misinformation and propaganda, > electric cars, solar panels, wind farms the elon musk government boondoggles, > fracking the pollution, > fitness monitors, 4K tvs, retina displays, tablets, e-book readers, voice-activated assistants, cleaning robots the electronic doodads most people don't even miss, > advanced medical devices, tailored drugs, and all of the marginal medical treatments that break a minor ailment into a litany of side-effects while plunging our country into bankruptcy THANK YOU!!!
- mkempe 8y agoSounds like you want to smash capitalism! more than you want to destroy Google and Facebook. I did notice you're not explicitly opposed to reusable rockets; although you seem to have a special place in hell reserved for Elon Musk. Oversight?
- jstewartmobile 8y agoSounds like you have turned engineering into a religion, where no result--under any circumstance whatsoever--should be subjected to the critical faculty. I don't want to "smash capitalism." I just want to run a Dawkins on your religion.
- mkempe 8y agoWhat a sad spectacle: the delirious lashing out at modern machines, the sarcastic capitals, the unhinged cries of "religion". Next time I chat with Richard we'll have a laugh as I mention how his name is invoked as a shibboleth by rabid Luddites.
- dang 8y agoYour substantive comments to this site are fine, but your political/ideological battle comments and personal attacks are absolutely not. We've given you a ton of warnings and you've ignored them, so I've banned this account until you indicate that you will use HN as intended in the future. Feel free to email hn@ycombinator.com if you want to provide that.