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Best option is probably hackernews's boogeyman - government regulation. The issue is it has to be in place before money command structures have a chance to dev

Best option is probably hackernews's boogeyman - government regulation. The issue is it has to be in place before money command structures have a chance to develop, so it's not something you can really implement now. Realistically, it may not be fixable without fixing capitalism, which no one has figured out how to do.

deleted 8y ago
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- frgtpsswrdlame 8y ago
  Of course you still want the government to do some regulating. For instance government will be necessary to solve collective action and public good problems. So once we've entered that realm, the solution isn't to just back off and let collective action and public good problems run rampant, it's to restrict lobbying and corruption while continuing to regulate.
FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago
Capitalism is working quite as intended right now. The goal is to move more and more money to the capitalists, and that goal is increasingly faster being reached.
- jeffdavis 8y ago
  Not sure that all the money is moving to those who own the most capital/machines. It seems to be moving to those that have the most data. Mark Zuckerburg has very little of what I'd call "capital" that actually produces stuff, yet he makes tons of money.
  - johnchristopher 8y ago
    Means of production.
    - jeffdavis 8y ago
      Are you saying that data is the means of production? I would disgree. Advertising is more important because stuff is less valuable. Therefore the data (which enables effective advertising/selling) is more valuable than the means of production. They certainly aren't the same thing. You can produce tons of stuff without data. You would just have no idea what to produce or how to sell it.
      - johnchristopher 8y ago
        > Are you saying that data is the means of production? No, I was thinking about the infrastructure (servers). I am saying that Facebook has the infrastructure (rackspace) to produce (or subsidize the production) content and the money actually goes to Facebook. I don't know if the reasoning is sound though: would a newspaper own the means of production if they owned the printing machines ?
        jeffdavis 8y ago
        Servers are capital, I agree, but I don't think that's what makes FB valuable. The data is what's valuable, and I think it's a mistake to think of data as capital.
- virmundi 8y ago
  In places like the West, the poor have air conditioning, refrigerators, plumbing, and large high-def screen TVs. While the people on the top have a lot of money, they can't spend it. The people on the bottom are living better then the richest African (who is the richest man in absolute dollars) ever. When we toss in promiscuity of both sexes, better than the king. People down vote, but where am I wrong? The West's biggest problem right now is having TOO MUCH FOOD! Think about that. We are so fat that we're dying. Not starving. FAT!
- johnchristopher 8y ago
  > Capitalism is working quite as intended right now. But is it also working as advertised ?

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frgtpsswrdlame 8y ago
Of course you still want the government to do some regulating. For instance government will be necessary to solve collective action and public good problems. So once we've entered that realm, the solution isn't to just back off and let collective action and public good problems run rampant, it's to restrict lobbying and corruption while continuing to regulate.

FranzFerdiNaN 8y ago

Capitalism is working quite as intended right now. The goal is to move more and more money to the capitalists, and that goal is increasingly faster being reached.

jeffdavis 8y ago
Not sure that all the money is moving to those who own the most capital/machines. It seems to be moving to those that have the most data. Mark Zuckerburg has very little of what I'd call "capital" that actually produces stuff, yet he makes tons of money.
- johnchristopher 8y ago
  Means of production.
  - jeffdavis 8y ago
    Are you saying that data is the means of production? I would disgree. Advertising is more important because stuff is less valuable. Therefore the data (which enables effective advertising/selling) is more valuable than the means of production. They certainly aren't the same thing. You can produce tons of stuff without data. You would just have no idea what to produce or how to sell it.
    - johnchristopher 8y ago
      > Are you saying that data is the means of production? No, I was thinking about the infrastructure (servers). I am saying that Facebook has the infrastructure (rackspace) to produce (or subsidize the production) content and the money actually goes to Facebook. I don't know if the reasoning is sound though: would a newspaper own the means of production if they owned the printing machines ?
      - jeffdavis 8y ago
        Servers are capital, I agree, but I don't think that's what makes FB valuable. The data is what's valuable, and I think it's a mistake to think of data as capital.
virmundi 8y ago
In places like the West, the poor have air conditioning, refrigerators, plumbing, and large high-def screen TVs. While the people on the top have a lot of money, they can't spend it. The people on the bottom are living better then the richest African (who is the richest man in absolute dollars) ever. When we toss in promiscuity of both sexes, better than the king. People down vote, but where am I wrong? The West's biggest problem right now is having TOO MUCH FOOD! Think about that. We are so fat that we're dying. Not starving. FAT!
johnchristopher 8y ago
> Capitalism is working quite as intended right now. But is it also working as advertised ?