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Why not free internet? Seeing as it's now an essential service. (Although totally crazy that we are so dependent on it.)

by pomian 5y ago

filoleg 5y ago
One major reason for why not, I would say that water and electricity are essential services too (esp given that free internet is useless if you dont have electricity access), but they aren’t free yet. So before we jump onto thinking about making internet free (if that was ever even a plan), I think it would make sense to make water+electricity free first.
- dataflow 5y ago
  Unlike water and electricity, internet can be provided without a physical connection. Which makes it much easier to provide than water or electricity. So I'm not actually sure "no free electricity/water => no free internet" is a sensible implication here. (Though I'm not opining on the merits of any of them here. Only discussing the implication.)
- pomian 5y ago
  Interesting idea. What if electricity and water were free? Aren't they essential also? Instead of ubi; electricity, Water, and energy - basic amount to survive (heat or cold.) Together with medicine. And education. That would make a huge difference to make an even playing field. Instead of all the other attempts to make up for this, with equal access, etc. And a huge difference to fight basic poverty, because these would just be there. True equal opportunity then?
  - filoleg 5y ago
    I think your proposal is actually pretty sound. Never thought of this before, but it is an interesting idea. Having utilities free sounds pretty good, but idk how helpful it would be to deal with homelessness (which is one of the main issues with basic access to all of those things), given how small of a fraction utilities make up when it comes to overall housing costs. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely not in the camp of "just because this improvement proposal might have some issues, we should just sit and do nothing", and free utilities would definitely be an improvement, and a massive one at that. I just think that, while we are floating those proposals, we shouldn't forget the elephant in the room either, which is "how do we make sure that everyone who needs access to housing has access to housing".

Why not free internet? Seeing as it's now an essential service. (Although totally crazy that we are so dependent on it.)

by pomian 5y ago

Why not free internet? Seeing as it's now an essential service. (Although totally crazy that we are so dependent on it.)

filoleg 5y ago

One major reason for why not, I would say that water and electricity are essential services too (esp given that free internet is useless if you dont have electricity access), but they aren’t free yet. So before we jump onto thinking about making internet free (if that was ever even a plan), I think it would make sense to make water+electricity free first.

dataflow 5y ago
Unlike water and electricity, internet can be provided without a physical connection. Which makes it much easier to provide than water or electricity. So I'm not actually sure "no free electricity/water => no free internet" is a sensible implication here. (Though I'm not opining on the merits of any of them here. Only discussing the implication.)
pomian 5y ago
Interesting idea. What if electricity and water were free? Aren't they essential also? Instead of ubi; electricity, Water, and energy - basic amount to survive (heat or cold.) Together with medicine. And education. That would make a huge difference to make an even playing field. Instead of all the other attempts to make up for this, with equal access, etc. And a huge difference to fight basic poverty, because these would just be there. True equal opportunity then?
- filoleg 5y ago
  I think your proposal is actually pretty sound. Never thought of this before, but it is an interesting idea. Having utilities free sounds pretty good, but idk how helpful it would be to deal with homelessness (which is one of the main issues with basic access to all of those things), given how small of a fraction utilities make up when it comes to overall housing costs. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely not in the camp of "just because this improvement proposal might have some issues, we should just sit and do nothing", and free utilities would definitely be an improvement, and a massive one at that. I just think that, while we are floating those proposals, we shouldn't forget the elephant in the room either, which is "how do we make sure that everyone who needs access to housing has access to housing".