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Strongly agree. We're seeing legislation target the sector of the economy with some of the highest productivity ever seen in human history. Congress needs to l

Strongly agree. We're seeing legislation target the sector of the economy with some of the highest productivity ever seen in human history. Congress needs to look at the sectors with the lowest productivity growth! Home construction, infrastructure, health care, and eduction. Here's a great place for congressional investigators to start: https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/03/03/why-american-costs-are-so-high-work-in-progress/ https://pedestrianobservations.com/2019/03/03/why-american-c... Though, in reality, many those industries are high cost because of congress

fmajid 5y ago
The Tech monopolists are not the entire Tech sector, in fact they are a very small portion of tech employment (and thus productivity). Their rent-seeking behavior stifles innovation and competition, and they coast on the hard work of non-monopolists, e.g. Apple's outrageous 30% cut on app developer revenues.
- LarryEt 5y ago
  IMO "monopoly" is possibly an outdated idea. The real problem here is the natural preferential attachment that emerges with tech companies at this scale. "A preferential attachment process is any of a class of processes in which some quantity, typically some form of wealth or credit, is distributed among a number of individuals or objects according to how much they already have, so that those who are already wealthy receive more than those who are not." I don't know how we deal with this in the modern world. IMO we need to at least start with network science on the table and realize we do not have the answers if using outdated ideas.
  - idiotsecant 5y ago
    You just defined what a monopoly is without using the word and proposed banning it after saying banning monopolies is outdated.
Workaccount2 5y ago
I'm sticking my head out a bit here given that this is HN... But I largely attribute the high productivity of tech to the simple nature of software as opposed to the tech industry being comprised of the most productive workers and efficient management. The flexibility and efficiency of software is insane compared to even just the hardware side of it, much less medicine or home building.
- eggsmediumrare 5y ago
  I agree. It's also "new," so there is more room to find opportunities to improve productivity.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  Sure, but what does it matter? The US played its cards right and got a thriving tech industry, whereas many other countries did not. Whether it came from individuals or regulation or the nature of software isn't super important. Being in the position of having dominant global tech conglomerates be American has immense value. Do we want to preserve that, or destroy it?

fmajid 5y ago

The Tech monopolists are not the entire Tech sector, in fact they are a very small portion of tech employment (and thus productivity). Their rent-seeking behavior stifles innovation and competition, and they coast on the hard work of non-monopolists, e.g. Apple's outrageous 30% cut on app developer revenues.

LarryEt 5y ago
IMO "monopoly" is possibly an outdated idea. The real problem here is the natural preferential attachment that emerges with tech companies at this scale. "A preferential attachment process is any of a class of processes in which some quantity, typically some form of wealth or credit, is distributed among a number of individuals or objects according to how much they already have, so that those who are already wealthy receive more than those who are not." I don't know how we deal with this in the modern world. IMO we need to at least start with network science on the table and realize we do not have the answers if using outdated ideas.
- idiotsecant 5y ago
  You just defined what a monopoly is without using the word and proposed banning it after saying banning monopolies is outdated.

Workaccount2 5y ago

I'm sticking my head out a bit here given that this is HN... But I largely attribute the high productivity of tech to the simple nature of software as opposed to the tech industry being comprised of the most productive workers and efficient management. The flexibility and efficiency of software is insane compared to even just the hardware side of it, much less medicine or home building.

eggsmediumrare 5y ago
I agree. It's also "new," so there is more room to find opportunities to improve productivity.
bpodgursky 5y ago
Sure, but what does it matter? The US played its cards right and got a thriving tech industry, whereas many other countries did not. Whether it came from individuals or regulation or the nature of software isn't super important. Being in the position of having dominant global tech conglomerates be American has immense value. Do we want to preserve that, or destroy it?