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> But Amazon the company has not overtaken all the above. That might be true, but I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. I think it's entirely possible tha

> But Amazon the company has not overtaken all the above. That might be true, but I don't think it's a foregone conclusion. I think it's entirely possible that depending on how you measure it, Amazon the company has overtaken all the above. Edit: And to be slightly less waffling, I think it's entirely possible it's overtaken them in some of the most obvious ways to measure, such as (global) public consciousness and word association.

jfk13 8y ago
I wonder how things will look in 50 years? Amazon (the company) may look unstoppable at the moment, but huge companies do come and go; in a generation or two, perhaps they'll still be dominating the scene, or perhaps they'll be a forgotten also-ran. I'm pretty sure the Amazon (river/basin) will still be there, and will still be one of the earth's great geographical features; I hope even the Amazon rainforest will still be noteworthy on a world scale.
- kbenson 8y ago
  In 50 years, the Amazon river/basin could have been geographically swallowed by a new political entity and renamed. Sure, that's much less likely than Amazon the company being defunct (I hope, that seems more likely to be harbinger of world disrupting changes), but I think it's also more likely than Greek mythological scholors deciding to change millennia old characters and concepts. I'm sure we can choose a specific metric to make the Amazon geographic area win, just as we can for any of the others in this comparison, but picking the metric to match the outcome we want doesn't seem the right way to go either. I can definitely see cases for all of them, and I don't know the right metric by which to judge. That does make this an interesting case IMO, as the likelihood of the losers to be upset is high (except maybe Greek mythology, since I don't think they have a strong lobby on their side).
perfmode 8y ago
It should not be without great consternation that a corporation should overtake a people.
- ryanlol 8y ago
  But that's not happening. There isn't "a people" who want .amazon, there's an intergovernmental organization that supposedly wants to use the TLD for tourism purposes.
  - anoncake 8y ago
    > an intergovernmental organization So, multiple peoples?
    - ryanlol 8y ago
      Just as Amazon the company has multiple shareholders I suppose
      - anoncake 8y ago
        So what? It is still a corporation and its interests are irrelevant compared to the one of a people, let alone multiple.
        ryanlol 8y ago
        Why exactly is Amazon.com less relevant than the Amazon tourist industry? They don't want .amazon for "the people", they want it for the tourism industry which also consists of faceless corporations.
        anoncake 8y ago
        What Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela are going to do with the domain they have a right to is their business.
        ryanlol 8y ago
        Why should they have any more of a right to the domain than Amazon the company? I don't think any of those countries use the word.

jfk13 8y ago

I wonder how things will look in 50 years? Amazon (the company) may look unstoppable at the moment, but huge companies do come and go; in a generation or two, perhaps they'll still be dominating the scene, or perhaps they'll be a forgotten also-ran. I'm pretty sure the Amazon (river/basin) will still be there, and will still be one of the earth's great geographical features; I hope even the Amazon rainforest will still be noteworthy on a world scale.

kbenson 8y ago
In 50 years, the Amazon river/basin could have been geographically swallowed by a new political entity and renamed. Sure, that's much less likely than Amazon the company being defunct (I hope, that seems more likely to be harbinger of world disrupting changes), but I think it's also more likely than Greek mythological scholors deciding to change millennia old characters and concepts. I'm sure we can choose a specific metric to make the Amazon geographic area win, just as we can for any of the others in this comparison, but picking the metric to match the outcome we want doesn't seem the right way to go either. I can definitely see cases for all of them, and I don't know the right metric by which to judge. That does make this an interesting case IMO, as the likelihood of the losers to be upset is high (except maybe Greek mythology, since I don't think they have a strong lobby on their side).

perfmode 8y ago

It should not be without great consternation that a corporation should overtake a people.

ryanlol 8y ago
But that's not happening. There isn't "a people" who want .amazon, there's an intergovernmental organization that supposedly wants to use the TLD for tourism purposes.
- anoncake 8y ago
  > an intergovernmental organization So, multiple peoples?
  - ryanlol 8y ago
    Just as Amazon the company has multiple shareholders I suppose
    - anoncake 8y ago
      So what? It is still a corporation and its interests are irrelevant compared to the one of a people, let alone multiple.
      - ryanlol 8y ago
        Why exactly is Amazon.com less relevant than the Amazon tourist industry? They don't want .amazon for "the people", they want it for the tourism industry which also consists of faceless corporations.
        anoncake 8y ago
        What Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela are going to do with the domain they have a right to is their business.
        ryanlol 8y ago
        Why should they have any more of a right to the domain than Amazon the company? I don't think any of those countries use the word.