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Oxford Dictionary has a second definition of "democratize" as "make (something) accessible to everyone", which is the sense in which this word is being used.
by cle 5y ago
Oxford Dictionary has a second definition of "democratize" as "make (something) accessible to everyone", which is the sense in which this word is being used.
- tablespoon 5y ago>> Democracy is the principle of equal representation, one vote per person. Money is not equally distributed. Voting with money is inherently not democratic. Therefore, I would agree with ouid that "democratization" and "paying for X" are entirely separate things. > Oxford Dictionary has a second definition of "democratize" as "make (something) accessible to everyone", which is the sense in which this word is being used. But if someone has to pay for X, then you're only making it accessible to everyone with the money to pay for it, which is not everyone.
- cle 5y agoIf you take a black-and-white interpretation like that, then democracy is not accessible to everyone either. Not even the citizens living under a democracy, who for many reasons may be unable to vote, including financial reasons. If a service increases the accessibility of something that was previously only available to a smaller subset of people, then it can be said to be "democratizing" that service. I don't think it's a particularly good word to use, but I don't get to decide that. As we can see, decrying how words are commonly used just distracts from the discussion, just like when people complain about the word "serverless". We have the definition, it's right there in the Oxford dictionary. Let's just accept it and move on to discussing the actual topic.
- tablespoon 5y ago> We have the definition, it's right there in the Oxford dictionary. Let's just accept it and move on to discussing the actual topic. Yes we have a definition, but it's being misapplied in an irksome way. Doubly so since it's a self-application by some company's marketing team. Let's not torture that cherished definition to try to defend their misapplication. And frankly, if being able to pay for computing power is "democratizing" it, it's already long been democratized.
- pretendscholar 5y agoArguing a narrow dictionary definition is the lowest form of discussion.
- cle 5y agoIf you don't agree on definitions, then there is no discussion.
- warkdarrior 5y agoBy that definition, AWS democratizes computing as well. Just enter your payment info to get access to democratized computing!
- guerrilla 5y agoYeah, everything available on the market is democratized by their definition.