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Yes, it has created value for its customers and investors. It has also generated enormous externalities. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, and the po

Yes, it has created value for its customers and investors. It has also generated enormous externalities. Those two things are not mutually exclusive, and the point is one of the main points of my argument. The other being, this is just uninspired and unoriginal. It’s a presentation by an ex-hedge fund guy on a profit play, that feels more like my know-it-all uncle lecturing the family during Thanksgiving about how we all finally see that his warnings about climate change are being proven true and that means we all have to buy Soylent Green from him. And everyone around the table just stays quiet because we are afraid he is serious and just want him to stop talking. Amazon’s unconstrained growth relies on a model that allows for limitless externalities and this requires limitless resources both as direct inputs to production and cheap or free pricing of waste handling and social costs, in order to capture the value creation and offload the costs for its customers and investors.

negamax 7y ago
Would world had been a better place without Amazon? You may think that it's hurting mom and pop shops. But that's not really true. Without AWS, we would still have 100 people sysadmin teams everywhere and many startups won't see light of the day. Without Amazon fulfillment centers, who get most flak for automation and worker issues, there are many things we won't have in life. Kindle gave me access to books that I would not be able to read otherwise. Alexa save time and energy. Continue questioning them about employment practices and keep them ethical (they are raising minimum wage to $15/hr) but Amazon hate is often misplaced.
- Amygaz 7y ago
  But cutting the benefits so that workers end up poorer. Also kindle workshops are considered sweat shops, and that’s by Chinese standards so imagine...
nickik 7y ago
You are making a lot of claims without any actual explanation what those things are supposed to be. > It’s a presentation by an ex-hedge fund guy on a profit play Yeah, the last 20 years almost of him investing in his dream that he has been talking about since he went to school is clearly a massive for profit play.
lorenzorhoades 7y ago
Thats capitalism... And due to capitalism Amazon has launched on of the most efficient infrastructures in the world. Their warehouses and logistics systems are state of the art. Launching a Space Company is a GREAT THING. It puts pressure on SpaceX, as competition has proven over the years to be the father of invention and innovation. Of course with growth comes externalities such as a increase global footprint. However, these things are judged in a silo. Without Amazon, there would not only most likely be another "Amazon", but in the unlikely scenario that it is not aggregated long term with one centralized company, a vast meriad of mom and pop shops would have a much larger footprint and be much less efficient. I hate all the anti-corporate tendencies that have been prevailing on hacker news lately.

negamax 7y ago

Would world had been a better place without Amazon? You may think that it's hurting mom and pop shops. But that's not really true. Without AWS, we would still have 100 people sysadmin teams everywhere and many startups won't see light of the day. Without Amazon fulfillment centers, who get most flak for automation and worker issues, there are many things we won't have in life. Kindle gave me access to books that I would not be able to read otherwise. Alexa save time and energy. Continue questioning them about employment practices and keep them ethical (they are raising minimum wage to $15/hr) but Amazon hate is often misplaced.

Amygaz 7y ago
But cutting the benefits so that workers end up poorer. Also kindle workshops are considered sweat shops, and that’s by Chinese standards so imagine...

nickik 7y ago

You are making a lot of claims without any actual explanation what those things are supposed to be. > It’s a presentation by an ex-hedge fund guy on a profit play Yeah, the last 20 years almost of him investing in his dream that he has been talking about since he went to school is clearly a massive for profit play.

lorenzorhoades 7y ago

Thats capitalism... And due to capitalism Amazon has launched on of the most efficient infrastructures in the world. Their warehouses and logistics systems are state of the art. Launching a Space Company is a GREAT THING. It puts pressure on SpaceX, as competition has proven over the years to be the father of invention and innovation. Of course with growth comes externalities such as a increase global footprint. However, these things are judged in a silo. Without Amazon, there would not only most likely be another "Amazon", but in the unlikely scenario that it is not aggregated long term with one centralized company, a vast meriad of mom and pop shops would have a much larger footprint and be much less efficient. I hate all the anti-corporate tendencies that have been prevailing on hacker news lately.