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Why can't big tech self-regulate? Why must it always be a solution that depends on big government instead? Why should anyone trust the government given the last
by hd4 7y ago
Why can't big tech self-regulate? Why must it always be a solution that depends on big government instead? Why should anyone trust the government given the last few thousand years of history?
- JaimeThompson 7y agoShould we allow chemical companies, oil companies, and power plants to regulate themselves? What about drug companies?
- PorterDuff 7y agoThe counter example is the way the Soviets dealt with chemicals, oil, power. Personally, I think that the government vs. industry split becomes rather academic when you are speaking of monopolies, especially monopolies that spy on you. I expect that there's a slow motion merger into a GoogleFacebookMicrosoftApple.gov body with the companies acting as cabinet branches.
- lesservehicle 7y agoThe nature of the stock market demands that they never self regulate. Companies are incentivized to meet the demands of shareholders, which means more revenue streams, regardless of the effects on consumers.
- JohnJamesRambo 7y agoWhen, in the history of anything, have companies self regulated properly? It always ends up at the October 1929 stock market or worse.
- MichaelMoser123 7y agoI think because democracy also implies a separation of powers, so that you have the players watching each other in order to prevent any player from becoming too strong.
- PorterDuff 7y agoAgain, there's a Soviet counterexample of army/party/intelligence service. Even in the case of a dictatorial and lifetime head of state, separation of powers is baked into the cake by groups with common interests, sometimes organically, sometimes on purpose.
- MichaelMoser123 7y agoSeperation of powers is necessary but not sufficient requirement for maintaining democracy. In classical Athens they didn't have that, so modern philosophers take pride that we do have it. Of course any sufficiently big organization does have competing departments with conflicting agengas, but also there are nuances.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoWhy do we need big government to prevent us from stealing or killing each other? Maybe the whole society should self regulate?
- chroma 7y agoThis is a straw man. A government can try to stop theft and violent crime without building regulatory moats around incumbent companies. Though in many places governments aren't great at preventing theft and violence. That's why even in developed countries, many companies hire private security, citizens learn self-defense, and some people carry pepper spray, knives, or even firearms.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y agoCompanies will do anything to earn a profit. Asking them to self-regulate is orthogonal to the goal of maximizing profits.
- 0_gravitas 7y agowhy should anyone trust companies given the last few thousand years of history?
- sorin-panca 7y agoBecause competitors must play by the same rules. Self-regulations are internal rules. When one wants to put a rule on that will drive up cost or decrease profits, they will only do it if the competitors do the same. That is why they need a 3rd party regulator, where they can go and agree on rules.