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Consider "commoditizing the complement" (https://www.gwern.net/Complement https://www.gwern.net/Complement) e.g. a news site making their content linkable throu

by dejj 6y ago

Consider "commoditizing the complement" (https://www.gwern.net/Complement https://www.gwern.net/Complement) e.g. a news site making their content linkable through social media for ad revenue at the actual page.

zackmorris 6y ago
Wow never heard of that, thanks! This is one of the thousand reasons that I don't think capitalism will be viable beyond 10-20 years from now. The endgame will be perfect monopoly - one global player in every niche of our daily existence. Slowly force-feeding us a diet of whatever is most profitable (whatever service encompasses the most dysfunction in exchange for money). Off the top of my head, a better system might be one that seeks to eliminate dysfunction instead of profiting from it. Web browsers could provide short links to all websites by using a hashing function instead of an encrypted refcount. They could remove as many identifying bits as possible (like cookies). I like the direction that Apple and others are going, preserving less user data and letting less spill between unrelated websites. The question of what all these advertisers will do once they're not allowed to track us is a big one. But my guess is that targeted advertising is not needed in the first place. They did just fine (arguably better) with demographics in the centuries before tech revealed our personal browsing histories.
- lawnchair_larry 6y ago
  > This is one of the thousand reasons that I don't think capitalism will be viable beyond 10-20 years from now. Hmm. You posted this from your phone or computer that was created by capitalism, from an OS created by capitalism, using a browser created by capitalism, to a message board for an organization who literally specializes in capitalism. While the original incarnation of the internet wasn’t created by capitalism, military funding and the inherent authoritarianism is probably not the ideal direction to return to. Yet you think all of this only has 10-20 years left? Oddly, you express a preference for what Apple are doing instead, yet they are the single largest product of capitalism or any other economic system that the world has ever known, including Saudi Aramco. Capitalism just “cured” a pandemic faster than anyone thought possible. Now, it’s not without its issues, but all of the evidence seems to suggest that we maybe ought to think twice before abandoning it and probably killing hundreds of millions of people (again).
  - SpocksBrain 6y ago
    Ah yes, “you dislike Society yet you contribute to it in someway, I am so smart”. The classical Sciences and Arts were all founded and developed under “divinely ordained” Monarchies. I suppose that would’ve been a fantastic case for conserving that system for you? Have you thought that maybe all those material accomplishments made under capitalism have less to do with the system itself and more to do with the fact it’s the only one around? Pretty sure many of today’s tech is founded as much on innovation that came out of Soviet labs as anybody else’s. Also, incidentally, current day capitalism is at the beck and call of one of the last remaining communist countries. Just a curiosity.
    - lawnchair_larry 6y ago
      > “you dislike Society yet you contribute to it in someway, I am so smart”. Not even close to what I said. I didn’t suggest that he contributes anything to society. > Have you thought that maybe all those material accomplishments made under capitalism have less to do with the system itself and more to do with the fact it’s the only one around? Pretty sure many of today’s tech is founded as much on innovation that came out of Soviet labs as anybody else’s. It’s (mostly) the only one around because the others all failed spectacularly every other time. Not only did states collapse, but about 100 million people died. It’s amazing that you’d use the Soviet union as an example, considering where they ended up. > Also, incidentally, current day capitalism is at the beck and call of one of the last remaining communist countries. Just a curiosity China is the least communist of the remaining communist countries. And do you happen to know what major change allowed their GDP to explode and make them soon-to-be the biggest economy in the world? Even ignoring that, do you really want to live somewhere like China? If you think poverty and working conditions are bad in the US, just you wait! Unless you meant one of the other examples, like Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam or Laos. I’m guessing not.
  - q3k 6y ago
    > You posted this from your phone or computer that was created by capitalism, from an OS created by capitalism, using a browser created by capitalism, to a message board for an organization who literally specializes in capitalism. ... that all base on centuries of research, science and technological development that happened before capitalism was even first proposed. Your point being?

by dejj 6y ago

zackmorris 6y ago

Wow never heard of that, thanks! This is one of the thousand reasons that I don't think capitalism will be viable beyond 10-20 years from now. The endgame will be perfect monopoly - one global player in every niche of our daily existence. Slowly force-feeding us a diet of whatever is most profitable (whatever service encompasses the most dysfunction in exchange for money). Off the top of my head, a better system might be one that seeks to eliminate dysfunction instead of profiting from it. Web browsers could provide short links to all websites by using a hashing function instead of an encrypted refcount. They could remove as many identifying bits as possible (like cookies). I like the direction that Apple and others are going, preserving less user data and letting less spill between unrelated websites. The question of what all these advertisers will do once they're not allowed to track us is a big one. But my guess is that targeted advertising is not needed in the first place. They did just fine (arguably better) with demographics in the centuries before tech revealed our personal browsing histories.

lawnchair_larry 6y ago
> This is one of the thousand reasons that I don't think capitalism will be viable beyond 10-20 years from now. Hmm. You posted this from your phone or computer that was created by capitalism, from an OS created by capitalism, using a browser created by capitalism, to a message board for an organization who literally specializes in capitalism. While the original incarnation of the internet wasn’t created by capitalism, military funding and the inherent authoritarianism is probably not the ideal direction to return to. Yet you think all of this only has 10-20 years left? Oddly, you express a preference for what Apple are doing instead, yet they are the single largest product of capitalism or any other economic system that the world has ever known, including Saudi Aramco. Capitalism just “cured” a pandemic faster than anyone thought possible. Now, it’s not without its issues, but all of the evidence seems to suggest that we maybe ought to think twice before abandoning it and probably killing hundreds of millions of people (again).
- SpocksBrain 6y ago
  Ah yes, “you dislike Society yet you contribute to it in someway, I am so smart”. The classical Sciences and Arts were all founded and developed under “divinely ordained” Monarchies. I suppose that would’ve been a fantastic case for conserving that system for you? Have you thought that maybe all those material accomplishments made under capitalism have less to do with the system itself and more to do with the fact it’s the only one around? Pretty sure many of today’s tech is founded as much on innovation that came out of Soviet labs as anybody else’s. Also, incidentally, current day capitalism is at the beck and call of one of the last remaining communist countries. Just a curiosity.
  - lawnchair_larry 6y ago
    > “you dislike Society yet you contribute to it in someway, I am so smart”. Not even close to what I said. I didn’t suggest that he contributes anything to society. > Have you thought that maybe all those material accomplishments made under capitalism have less to do with the system itself and more to do with the fact it’s the only one around? Pretty sure many of today’s tech is founded as much on innovation that came out of Soviet labs as anybody else’s. It’s (mostly) the only one around because the others all failed spectacularly every other time. Not only did states collapse, but about 100 million people died. It’s amazing that you’d use the Soviet union as an example, considering where they ended up. > Also, incidentally, current day capitalism is at the beck and call of one of the last remaining communist countries. Just a curiosity China is the least communist of the remaining communist countries. And do you happen to know what major change allowed their GDP to explode and make them soon-to-be the biggest economy in the world? Even ignoring that, do you really want to live somewhere like China? If you think poverty and working conditions are bad in the US, just you wait! Unless you meant one of the other examples, like Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam or Laos. I’m guessing not.
- q3k 6y ago
  > You posted this from your phone or computer that was created by capitalism, from an OS created by capitalism, using a browser created by capitalism, to a message board for an organization who literally specializes in capitalism. ... that all base on centuries of research, science and technological development that happened before capitalism was even first proposed. Your point being?