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Does Amazon do more good for society or bad? Serious question. I wonder this a lot. Can they be blamed for wanting to create something better than Wal-Mart? Can

by rblion 8y ago

Does Amazon do more good for society or bad? Serious question. I wonder this a lot. Can they be blamed for wanting to create something better than Wal-Mart? Can they be blamed for the fact that shareholders expect growth and customers expect lower prices all the time? Is this not a bigger problem than just blaming the billionaires for all of society's woes? Aren't all of us complicit for buying and supporting Big Tech in our day-to-day lives? Fair points. I don't have the answers. I'm curious to find out like the rest of us though. What are people expecting? The billionaires give up their money, redistribute it into the 'common good' and all our problems will go away? Yeah, I'm sorry but I think this situation is more complicated than that.

dahfizz 8y ago
If we made a pro con list, what would you say are Amazon's greatest negatives to society? It saves people time and money, and AWS has enabled many start ups and small businesses. I can't think of any big negatives other than the general hate that people have towards big companies.
- rblion 8y ago
  The only negative I can think of is 'monopolistic tendency'. Yet, this is almost inevitable for any prolifically innovative company like Apple or Alphabet. I happen to like Peter Thiel a lot and agree with most of his perspectives. I'm not sure if punishing an extremely forward-thinking organization is the way forward for our society. I don't know. I'm hungry to find out though. What are your thoughts on this?
  - dahfizz 8y ago
    I would agree about the 'monopolistic tendencies' but I don't think that's necessarily bad. Monopolies are not inherently bad. Being anti competitive and trying to coerce consumers is bad. But, by and large, Amazon is a "monopoly" because they offer a better product/service than everyone else at a better price. In other words, bad behavior that's bad for the consumer is highly correlated with monopolies, but not synonymous. Sometimes companies grow large exactly because they are good for the consumer and so consumers prefer them. Related to that, I think a lot of the negative feelings toward Amazon come from a fear about the power that Amazon holds as such a huge company without substantial competition. And while they do have a lot of power, I've not seen abuses from them that would warrant such fear.

by rblion 8y ago

dahfizz 8y ago

If we made a pro con list, what would you say are Amazon's greatest negatives to society? It saves people time and money, and AWS has enabled many start ups and small businesses. I can't think of any big negatives other than the general hate that people have towards big companies.

rblion 8y ago
The only negative I can think of is 'monopolistic tendency'. Yet, this is almost inevitable for any prolifically innovative company like Apple or Alphabet. I happen to like Peter Thiel a lot and agree with most of his perspectives. I'm not sure if punishing an extremely forward-thinking organization is the way forward for our society. I don't know. I'm hungry to find out though. What are your thoughts on this?
- dahfizz 8y ago
  I would agree about the 'monopolistic tendencies' but I don't think that's necessarily bad. Monopolies are not inherently bad. Being anti competitive and trying to coerce consumers is bad. But, by and large, Amazon is a "monopoly" because they offer a better product/service than everyone else at a better price. In other words, bad behavior that's bad for the consumer is highly correlated with monopolies, but not synonymous. Sometimes companies grow large exactly because they are good for the consumer and so consumers prefer them. Related to that, I think a lot of the negative feelings toward Amazon come from a fear about the power that Amazon holds as such a huge company without substantial competition. And while they do have a lot of power, I've not seen abuses from them that would warrant such fear.