You've articulated your argument very well with the "collective bargaining" metaphor. I like it. I still strongly disagree that consoles and smart phones shoul

You've articulated your argument very well with the "collective bargaining" metaphor. I like it. I still strongly disagree that consoles and smart phones should be treated the same way by society just because the underlying hardware is more or less the same. I think we should start with a human-centric view. As in: if consoles disappeared tomorrow how much would the world change? Now what if smartphones did? How would that change the world? If smartphones disappeared then the world would be entirely different. We are dependant on them for everything from personal and collective security, business and personal communication, to banking, to commerce, and access to knowledge. Maybe I'm biased because I'm in my 40's and remember a time before smart phones existed, and before game consoles were commonplace. There is no comparison. None. Equating the two because the underlying electronics are the same entirely misses the forest for the trees. Though it's not entirely surprising that HN users would think this way - we tend to think of the underlying tech first and foremost. Let me use a metaphor - Facebook and Google should be treated differently than a niche message board even though the underlying technology is the same. Right? They are both servers running compiled or interpreted code. They both connect to databases. They both allow users to communicate and share content. The main difference is the impact they have on society. Smartphones have become indispensable infrastructure for much of the world. Consoles are a luxury item.