11 ms·

Pieces of Shit

120 points by trevcanhuman 5y ago

yarcob 5y ago
> A 500% tax on advertising. It’s a zero sum game with no benefit to society. I don't think a tax is going to fix the underlying problem, which is that ad publishers have no responsibility for the ads they show. The problem is that the scummiest advertisers can afford to pay the highest prices. Someone who defrauds you can always afford to pay more for advertising than someone who actually provides a service.
- tentacleuno 5y ago
  > I don't think a tax is going to fix the underlying problem, which is that ad publishers have no responsibility for the ads they show. The tax would get passed on to the entity paying for the advertisement. Then "advertising" would probably turn into a dirty word, we'll have "suggestions" and some sort of legal ducking and diving to avoid paying the tax at all. Advertising plagues the web.
- awillen 5y ago
  > Someone who defrauds you can always afford to pay more for advertising than someone who actually provides a service. This is just demonstrably not true. Look at the biggest advertisers in the world - they're giant corporations that sell good/services.
  - jasonzemos 5y ago
    It's demonstrably true for the Trump campaign.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
legerdemain 5y ago
Some policy proposals from a person whose education in the humanities began and ended with listening to Green Day's "American Idiot."
- vetinari 5y ago
  If you want to be constructive, consider pointing out problems with his proposals (which there are plenty, I agree), instead of personal attacks. You won't get nothing out of personal attack, only two sides that won't be able to talk to each other.
tentacleuno 5y ago
> Continue to let huge ad companies (stop calling them tech companies) rent seek and nickel and dime you on everything What is he referring to here, out of curiosity? Does a company like Google own an apartment complex, or is it some sort of on-site housing programme?
- _ink_ 5y ago
  AirBnb and the like maybe?
- johnday 5y ago
  This isn't referring to housing. Rent-seeking is a broader term related to charging people for something that they have no reason to pay for and no ability to avoid. I see why the confusion arose though, "actual" housing is also mentioned in the article in a different context.
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    Yes, article is a bit all over the place.
- vetinari 5y ago
  "Rent seeking" has nothing to do with housing. It is about manipulating the environment (legislative, market, etc), so you get a cut from a transactions. E.g. make a state-mandated standard, that others have to license and profiting from such a licensing is the "rent".
- nosianu 5y ago
  "Rent" as a word here refers to "regular payments to use something", of which rents for housing are only one specific example. For example, printer manufacturers who force you to buy only their (incredibly expensive) ink, or razor makers who benefit from regular purchases of blades. The term "rent-seeking" has an even broader scope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking > Rent-seeking is the effort to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking results in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth-creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, and potential national decline. In the case of the razor manufacturers they can at least claim that it's completely natural (I'm not sure how far they go to prevent cheaper blades to be made available for their particular razors?), but often the regular payments are artificially forced through contract clauses, laws, patents, copyright (I guess?), and/or through technical means. In the case of printer manufacturers, they started adding electronics to the cartridges that force you to buy only cartridges made by that specific printer manufacturer. Basically, it is a goal of many businesses to end up as a "rent-seeker". Have a wall that keeps out competition and a large number of customers forced to regularly buy from you ("regularly" is key, for constant predictable cash-flow and an easy life free of competitive pressure and uncertainty - for the rent-seeker).
funwares 5y ago
>I wish you short sighted fucks in the PMC could actually do something about it. What is the PMC the author is referring to here?
- dabbledash 5y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional–managerial_class https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional–managerial_clas...
- bsenftner 5y ago
  I doubt the suck-ups of the world have the bravery to risk their incomes.
pixelpoet 5y ago
More than a little hypocritical to complain about crypto scams, when he himself created this "cheap eth" coin, gave himself a bajillion coins in the fork code without telling anyone, and then started shilling it in his stream. More info: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26175655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26175655
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  Maybe to show how easy it is? And how any crypto is ponzi?
  - goatsecxkirk 5y ago
    No. He didn't do it as a joke or anything.
- ihusasmiiu 5y ago
  He said he likes capitalism after all.
- tulsidas 5y ago
  ad hominem
- chrisvalleybay 5y ago
  I've followed many of these streams and this at least started out as a research project. If you watch the recorded streams on YouTube on CheapETH it's clear this is not meant to be a serious project of any kind. I don't see this as affecting his integrity on any level. Edit: grammar
- johmue 5y ago
  doesn't matter if it's true
- georgehotz 5y ago
  Did you hear about the startup founder who gave themselves a bajillion shares of their company? Now, if I dumped into entry liquidity SPAC style...that's a different story. But please be more precise in your criticism, I'm not sure you are criticizing what you think you are. I love critics, I just wish they were smarter. HN used to be better than this. https://cheapeth.org/whalegate.html https://cheapeth.org/whalegate.html
Wronnay 5y ago
WTF? That guy is literarry a capitalist himself with a company full of shitty gatekeeping tactics ("solve a programming challenge before you even apply") and now he writes some communist shit? Please - take his money away till he finds to himself again.
- bobthechef 5y ago
  What was his trigger? Is he whining because he lived by the sword and now he’s dying by the sword?
  - sva_ 5y ago
    Sounds like a late-night rant to me
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  His complaint wasn't about capitalism existing (he explicitly mentioned that he "liked capitalism"), but the fact that people are getting very very rich from zero-sum (HFT) or negative-sum (advertising) games. Most justifications for capitalism rely on the assumption that commerce is an overall positive-sum game.
nbzso 5y ago
I cannot deny the observation. I am not from the privileged, ivy league educated, nurtured and after all I am not an American, but I see the same patterns in Europe and cannot come up with any constructive suggestions. As you can see, I don't search approval. I write from a big distance and react. And seeing the individuals attacking the character of the messenger without getting the message makes me sad. Really sad. When I started creating things for the web I had no idea that my web-browser in 2021 will look like Christmas Tree from installed plugins and I will modify countless settings in about:config. All of this to have somewhat private browsing experience. All of this because, we as society cannot find a way to impose regulations and restrictions over a bunch of greedy advertising corporations. https://geohot.github.io/blog/jekyll/update/2021/08/06/consumption.html https://geohot.github.io/blog/jekyll/update/2021/08/06/consu...
djbebs 5y ago
I read it. Its at best unhelpful and misguided and at worst actively harmful to the stated goals. Ultimately he is advocating for a political solution for what he believes is an economic problem. The issue here is that the cause of the problems he wants to resolve is not an economic problem at all, but a political choice. The proposal of preventing companies from purchasing property, for example is a clear cut example. I want to be clear here, any shortage of housing anywhere in the developed world is the direct result of government policy intended to drive that shortage, not due to physical space limitations, or limitations driven by corporate greed (beyond where that intersects with politics)
- istinetz 5y ago
  >Ultimately he is advocating for a political solution for what he believes is an economic problem. >Three policy proposals: >A 500% tax on advertising. [...] >1% tax on the full amount of every trade. [...] How is that a "political solution to an economic problem"? What would a non political solution look like to you? Why is it bad that it's a political solution to an economic problem? If it works, it works.
  - beepbooptheory 5y ago
    A non political solution would be the transition away from capitalism to a different kind of relation between labor and society. It should be clear at this point that capitalism can tolerate a pretty broad spectrum of political arrangements, from 'socialist' countries to dictatorships, and especially everything in between. You can change your frontend to be all kinds of ways, and that will create vastly different user experiences. But at the end of the day we are still tied to the backend, the infrastructure, the "business logic".
    - JKCalhoun 5y ago
      I'm not sure how you transition away from capitalism without government involvement? Some kind of "people's movement" to embrace, oh, I don't know, coops?
op00to 5y ago
This reads like a spoiled brat who just realized something is going on in the world, but is wholly unable to understand the real world repercussions of his “genius” suggestions.
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  As someone who (partially) relies on online advertising to make a living (in eCommerce, not tech), I think kneecapping the industry does make some sense. Modern online ads are a tool for selling low-quality goods to impulsive people at high prices. Do we really need them?
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    Yes, in reference to a comment in the linked post, I asked myself whether advertising was in fact in any way beneficial to society and I confess I come up empty.
rspoerri 5y ago
And i thought separation of church and goverment has mostly been archived. At least in Switzerland. I would advocate separating capitalism from goverment. But thats equally unrealistic as church/gov separation was 200 years ago.
- mmarq 5y ago
  What does it even mean to separate capitalism from government?
  - yarcob 5y ago
    I assume they mean to make sure the people who make the laws don't profit from them. Kinda hard to do in practice.
    - rspoerri 5y ago
      It would also mean that it's impossible to gain power in goverment by money or by owning "things" (factories etc.). Afaik historic greek democracy was more like that. People got into goverment by lottery. If you were chosen, you had to attend a 2 year training and then your spent 4 years in goverment.
      - brigandish 5y ago
        It's called sortition[1] and I think it'd be a wonderful method of choosing the 2nd house in a bicameral legislature like the UK's. Imagine replacing all the lords and bishops who've been placed there by heredity or backscratching with people chosen by sortition. That'd really hold the elected politicians to account. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
  - j7ake 5y ago
    For example, working in certain positions of government for a few years can often land very lucrative jobs in finance companies like Goldman Sachs. There is a corrupting influence of finance companies on government civil servants to sway legislation towards the companies by hinting they will be rewarded later for it by employing them later in senior positions. A way to limit this corruption is to ban government civil servants from being able to take private jobs after their service.
fuoqi 5y ago
>1% tax on the full amount of every trade. Fuck off worthless HFT mega brain drain. Fuck off short termism in markets. I think a much better solution would be to mandate "slower" exchanges, i.e. exchanges would accumulate orders in a hidden queue and resolve them for example every 1 second, after that it would publicly publish all orders submitted to the last tick. For most market participants this change will be virtually unnoticeable, but it would eradicate HFT and all microseconds shavings associated with it.
- nix23 5y ago
  Why not? You pay taxes on every deal you make in the real world. And since you buy a part of a company that should be tax-worthy too. Tick-based exchange would probably just increase the problem (better prediction for ~HFT..or better call them HF-prediction then), but hey i really don't know, both solutions are better then none, i guess.
  - BobbyJo 5y ago
    If we can put a sales tax on bread then we can put it on stock. Totally agree. I think, in general, taxes/credits are much better solutions to problems of economic incentives because they only change the incentives as opposed to the structures of the market.
    - Redoubts 5y ago
      A lot of basic groceries are sales tax exempt.
- aldanor 5y ago
  That would create more opportunities for all sorts of gaming (e.g. place orders before update, remove them right after, etc). Since fast players would still exist, they would react first to each slow update, which means all other participants would always see a book that's pretty much always outdated, and very heavily so. HFTs are not a universal evil, they increase market efficiency and they pay for it.
antattack 5y ago
From the blog: "Three policy proposals: A 500% tax on advertising. It’s a zero sum game with no benefit to society. If you are paying for eyeballs, you pay a 500% tax. Force companies with these trash addictive business models to find a way to work for the average person, not pimp them out. 1% tax on the full amount of every trade. Fuck off worthless HFT mega brain drain. Fuck off short termism in markets. Separation of church and state. And that includes Harvard, Yale, and all the others. No funding, no loans, no Title IX BS. Separate!" I'm curious what event or thought process made #3 appear on the list.
- bsenftner 5y ago
  Most of the Ivy League, in addition to being the "Ivy League", were all founded as Christian institutions and have deep ties in their upper hierarchy due to theologians within the University having significant influence on their board of governors.
- cheschire 5y ago
  Perhaps it's a reference to the Yale and Harvard Divinity Schools? Federal school funding paying for things like this, then that leads to... anti-sexual discrimination rules being enforced? I am now very interested in what event happened as well.
- lyaa 5y ago
  I'm also curious, what has Title IX got to do with the rest? It has nothing to do with churches, does it?
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    I assume he is a Men's Rights activist.
    - fennecfoxen 5y ago
      Post author is ranting incoherently, but Title IX is a legit minefield; in particular, its implementations at universities have been pretty problematic. The root of the cause is a notorious "Dear Colleague" letter that came out in the early Obama administration. Due process around sexual misconduct allegations suffered greatly as a direct result of what it asked universities to do. Aside from individual opportunities for unfairness, it turns out when schools have policies that can get you fired or expelled without a chance to defend yourself (let alone have an attorney) then this gives rise to abuses of the system — many of the same kinds of abuses with similar unfortunate racial impacts that we see when off-campus justice systems are abused. Ironically, many of the successful lawsuits about unfair expulsions are themselves Title IX lawsuits. For some introductory coverage see also: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/title-ix-sexual-misconduct-on-campus-cbsn-documentary/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/title-ix-sexual-misconduct-on-c...
johnwheeler 5y ago
Bit of an ego on that guy.
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  I suppose we all appear egotistical when we rant.
- howaboutnope 5y ago
  Yeah, who does he think he is, some kind of human being?
watol 5y ago
I agree with his first proposal. My view is that the big AdTechs (mainly Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktoks and the likes) are one of the worst poisons that humanity has ever created. They brainwash you, destroy democracies, create drama in order to shove ads down your throat. And then they turn around and pat themselves on the back pretending to be good actors "making the world a better place". Leaders of those companies pretending to be good humanitarian beings drive me absolutely crazy. I hope that we eventually all see them for that they are.
- nbzso 5y ago
  > My view is that the big AdTechs (mainly Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktoks and the likes) are one of the worst poisons that humanity has ever created. They brainwash you, destroy democracies, create drama in order to shove ads down your throat. In my humble opinion they are worst than that. They are a gateway for ultimate mind control, on a scale and effectiveness never seen before in human history. Selling ads and making money is scratching the surface of this complex and ever expanding machines of power and deception. My theory is that Governments and Old Perception Gatekeepers are realizing this in full scale, but instead of regulating or stopping, they want full access to the Perception Control Mainframes and Perception Spyware Receivers that we care around and keep alive 24/7. https://bit.ly/3nJmFTH https://bit.ly/3nJmFTH In the recent years the coordinated attacks from Governments on free speech and encryption increased drastically. Recent example is Apple's attempt to normalize on device private user data processing and policing with Government approved criteria trough third party private corporation "partnership". Setting an example to be followed by others. https://bit.ly/3nFE2ox https://bit.ly/3nFE2ox This is the beginning of Big Tech and Big Government convergence that will form the future of mankind. One unified social system presented to the masses as an inevitable implementation for a common good. The sad part is that we are now working not only for AdTech companies, we are working for the Global Surveillance Apparatus and accept that this is the only way forward. >And then they turn around and pat themselves on the back pretending to be good actors "making the world a better place". Leaders of those companies pretending to be good humanitarian beings drive me absolutely crazy. Sounds pretty political to me. To survive and protect their existence and profits FAANG invested tons of money in lobbing and now have Political partnerships and Politicized UX. Users are like party members, they are not only using the tech, they participate in brand awareness exercises and protect whichever brand they are selected to belong. For me FAANG are implementing Edward Bernays abusive psychology on steroids, without any remorse or ethical boundaries what so ever. They simply don't care. Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn. And taking big money from the process. P.S. As I recently stated, down-voting only makes the message more relevant.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
timdaub 5y ago
> Continue to let huge ad companies (stop calling them tech companies) rent seek and nickel and dime you on everything +1 for calling FAANG ad companies
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  Yes, that was one point of his that I recognized that individuals can act on. As an example, cancel your monthly Netflix, Spotify, etc. Wasn't a lot we could do about the others.
  - justzisguyuknow 5y ago
    Isn't the whole point of paying for Netflix/Spotify that you don't get ads?
    - JKCalhoun 5y ago
      I was reacting to renting, not owning, being nickeled and dimed by modern corporate America.
- tompazourek 5y ago
  Is Apple an ad company?
tomxor 5y ago
> I don’t think they see themselves as scammers, I think they actually think quite highly of themselves [...] “Perception is reality” Wilfully deceitful people are rare, the rest of us are exceptionally good at justifying our actions to ourselves - Undiluted honest self judgement can be self destructive, but eating gobfuls of bluepills is also extremely dangerous to society - I believe there is a middle-ground, awareness of this "cognitive bias" is the first step.
imtringued 5y ago
I completely dislike his tone but I like these three words he wrote "Perception is reality". Bank accounts, bonds, stocks, crypto are all in the perception category. The first three try to model a real world process but they are not the real world. The latter is perceived to be outside the bounds of the real world. In fact, people try to abuse flaws in the simulation (the model). The real world decays but money does not. So during a recession people flood into the security of money, that money is supposed to be the perception of the real world, people are flooding into a perception of security that doesn't exist. Strangely enough, the real world keeps getting worse but its perception keeps getting better.
q1w2 5y ago
This post is childish and has no depth or merit. It reads like a teenager's rant with blending of angst and conflating of ideas and emotions.
specialist 5y ago
> [advertising is] a zero sum game with no benefit to society. aka Negative sum game.
moneytide1 5y ago
I remember an interview with Mr. Hotz describing his negotiations with Tesla about the acquisition of self-driving technology he said something to the effect of "I don't need a bigger piece of the pie - I just want the pie to taste really good."

120 points by trevcanhuman 5y ago

> A 500% tax on advertising. It’s a zero sum game with no benefit to society. I don't think a tax is going to fix the underlying problem, which is that ad publishers have no responsibility for the ads they show. The problem is that the scummiest advertisers can afford to pay the highest prices. Someone who defrauds you can always afford to pay more for advertising than someone who actually provides a service.

tentacleuno 5y ago
> I don't think a tax is going to fix the underlying problem, which is that ad publishers have no responsibility for the ads they show. The tax would get passed on to the entity paying for the advertisement. Then "advertising" would probably turn into a dirty word, we'll have "suggestions" and some sort of legal ducking and diving to avoid paying the tax at all. Advertising plagues the web.
awillen 5y ago
> Someone who defrauds you can always afford to pay more for advertising than someone who actually provides a service. This is just demonstrably not true. Look at the biggest advertisers in the world - they're giant corporations that sell good/services.
- jasonzemos 5y ago
  It's demonstrably true for the Trump campaign.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]

legerdemain 5y ago

Some policy proposals from a person whose education in the humanities began and ended with listening to Green Day's "American Idiot."

vetinari 5y ago
If you want to be constructive, consider pointing out problems with his proposals (which there are plenty, I agree), instead of personal attacks. You won't get nothing out of personal attack, only two sides that won't be able to talk to each other.

tentacleuno 5y ago

> Continue to let huge ad companies (stop calling them tech companies) rent seek and nickel and dime you on everything What is he referring to here, out of curiosity? Does a company like Google own an apartment complex, or is it some sort of on-site housing programme?

_ink_ 5y ago
AirBnb and the like maybe?
johnday 5y ago
This isn't referring to housing. Rent-seeking is a broader term related to charging people for something that they have no reason to pay for and no ability to avoid. I see why the confusion arose though, "actual" housing is also mentioned in the article in a different context.
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  Yes, article is a bit all over the place.
vetinari 5y ago
"Rent seeking" has nothing to do with housing. It is about manipulating the environment (legislative, market, etc), so you get a cut from a transactions. E.g. make a state-mandated standard, that others have to license and profiting from such a licensing is the "rent".
nosianu 5y ago
"Rent" as a word here refers to "regular payments to use something", of which rents for housing are only one specific example. For example, printer manufacturers who force you to buy only their (incredibly expensive) ink, or razor makers who benefit from regular purchases of blades. The term "rent-seeking" has an even broader scope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking > Rent-seeking is the effort to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating new wealth. Rent-seeking results in reduced economic efficiency through misallocation of resources, reduced wealth-creation, lost government revenue, heightened income inequality, and potential national decline. In the case of the razor manufacturers they can at least claim that it's completely natural (I'm not sure how far they go to prevent cheaper blades to be made available for their particular razors?), but often the regular payments are artificially forced through contract clauses, laws, patents, copyright (I guess?), and/or through technical means. In the case of printer manufacturers, they started adding electronics to the cartridges that force you to buy only cartridges made by that specific printer manufacturer. Basically, it is a goal of many businesses to end up as a "rent-seeker". Have a wall that keeps out competition and a large number of customers forced to regularly buy from you ("regularly" is key, for constant predictable cash-flow and an easy life free of competitive pressure and uncertainty - for the rent-seeker).

funwares 5y ago

>I wish you short sighted fucks in the PMC could actually do something about it. What is the PMC the author is referring to here?

dabbledash 5y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional–managerial_class https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional–managerial_clas...
bsenftner 5y ago
I doubt the suck-ups of the world have the bravery to risk their incomes.

pixelpoet 5y ago

More than a little hypocritical to complain about crypto scams, when he himself created this "cheap eth" coin, gave himself a bajillion coins in the fork code without telling anyone, and then started shilling it in his stream. More info: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26175655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26175655

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
Maybe to show how easy it is? And how any crypto is ponzi?
- goatsecxkirk 5y ago
  No. He didn't do it as a joke or anything.
ihusasmiiu 5y ago
He said he likes capitalism after all.
tulsidas 5y ago
ad hominem
chrisvalleybay 5y ago
I've followed many of these streams and this at least started out as a research project. If you watch the recorded streams on YouTube on CheapETH it's clear this is not meant to be a serious project of any kind. I don't see this as affecting his integrity on any level. Edit: grammar
johmue 5y ago
doesn't matter if it's true
georgehotz 5y ago
Did you hear about the startup founder who gave themselves a bajillion shares of their company? Now, if I dumped into entry liquidity SPAC style...that's a different story. But please be more precise in your criticism, I'm not sure you are criticizing what you think you are. I love critics, I just wish they were smarter. HN used to be better than this. https://cheapeth.org/whalegate.html https://cheapeth.org/whalegate.html

Wronnay 5y ago

WTF? That guy is literarry a capitalist himself with a company full of shitty gatekeeping tactics ("solve a programming challenge before you even apply") and now he writes some communist shit? Please - take his money away till he finds to himself again.

bobthechef 5y ago
What was his trigger? Is he whining because he lived by the sword and now he’s dying by the sword?
- sva_ 5y ago
  Sounds like a late-night rant to me
AussieWog93 5y ago
His complaint wasn't about capitalism existing (he explicitly mentioned that he "liked capitalism"), but the fact that people are getting very very rich from zero-sum (HFT) or negative-sum (advertising) games. Most justifications for capitalism rely on the assumption that commerce is an overall positive-sum game.

nbzso 5y ago

I cannot deny the observation. I am not from the privileged, ivy league educated, nurtured and after all I am not an American, but I see the same patterns in Europe and cannot come up with any constructive suggestions. As you can see, I don't search approval. I write from a big distance and react. And seeing the individuals attacking the character of the messenger without getting the message makes me sad. Really sad. When I started creating things for the web I had no idea that my web-browser in 2021 will look like Christmas Tree from installed plugins and I will modify countless settings in about:config. All of this to have somewhat private browsing experience. All of this because, we as society cannot find a way to impose regulations and restrictions over a bunch of greedy advertising corporations. https://geohot.github.io/blog/jekyll/update/2021/08/06/consumption.html https://geohot.github.io/blog/jekyll/update/2021/08/06/consu...

djbebs 5y ago

I read it. Its at best unhelpful and misguided and at worst actively harmful to the stated goals. Ultimately he is advocating for a political solution for what he believes is an economic problem. The issue here is that the cause of the problems he wants to resolve is not an economic problem at all, but a political choice. The proposal of preventing companies from purchasing property, for example is a clear cut example. I want to be clear here, any shortage of housing anywhere in the developed world is the direct result of government policy intended to drive that shortage, not due to physical space limitations, or limitations driven by corporate greed (beyond where that intersects with politics)

istinetz 5y ago
>Ultimately he is advocating for a political solution for what he believes is an economic problem. >Three policy proposals: >A 500% tax on advertising. [...] >1% tax on the full amount of every trade. [...] How is that a "political solution to an economic problem"? What would a non political solution look like to you? Why is it bad that it's a political solution to an economic problem? If it works, it works.
- beepbooptheory 5y ago
  A non political solution would be the transition away from capitalism to a different kind of relation between labor and society. It should be clear at this point that capitalism can tolerate a pretty broad spectrum of political arrangements, from 'socialist' countries to dictatorships, and especially everything in between. You can change your frontend to be all kinds of ways, and that will create vastly different user experiences. But at the end of the day we are still tied to the backend, the infrastructure, the "business logic".
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    I'm not sure how you transition away from capitalism without government involvement? Some kind of "people's movement" to embrace, oh, I don't know, coops?

op00to 5y ago

This reads like a spoiled brat who just realized something is going on in the world, but is wholly unable to understand the real world repercussions of his “genius” suggestions.

AussieWog93 5y ago
As someone who (partially) relies on online advertising to make a living (in eCommerce, not tech), I think kneecapping the industry does make some sense. Modern online ads are a tool for selling low-quality goods to impulsive people at high prices. Do we really need them?
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  Yes, in reference to a comment in the linked post, I asked myself whether advertising was in fact in any way beneficial to society and I confess I come up empty.

rspoerri 5y ago

And i thought separation of church and goverment has mostly been archived. At least in Switzerland. I would advocate separating capitalism from goverment. But thats equally unrealistic as church/gov separation was 200 years ago.

mmarq 5y ago
What does it even mean to separate capitalism from government?
- yarcob 5y ago
  I assume they mean to make sure the people who make the laws don't profit from them. Kinda hard to do in practice.
  - rspoerri 5y ago
    It would also mean that it's impossible to gain power in goverment by money or by owning "things" (factories etc.). Afaik historic greek democracy was more like that. People got into goverment by lottery. If you were chosen, you had to attend a 2 year training and then your spent 4 years in goverment.
    - brigandish 5y ago
      It's called sortition[1] and I think it'd be a wonderful method of choosing the 2nd house in a bicameral legislature like the UK's. Imagine replacing all the lords and bishops who've been placed there by heredity or backscratching with people chosen by sortition. That'd really hold the elected politicians to account. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition
- j7ake 5y ago
  For example, working in certain positions of government for a few years can often land very lucrative jobs in finance companies like Goldman Sachs. There is a corrupting influence of finance companies on government civil servants to sway legislation towards the companies by hinting they will be rewarded later for it by employing them later in senior positions. A way to limit this corruption is to ban government civil servants from being able to take private jobs after their service.

fuoqi 5y ago

>1% tax on the full amount of every trade. Fuck off worthless HFT mega brain drain. Fuck off short termism in markets. I think a much better solution would be to mandate "slower" exchanges, i.e. exchanges would accumulate orders in a hidden queue and resolve them for example every 1 second, after that it would publicly publish all orders submitted to the last tick. For most market participants this change will be virtually unnoticeable, but it would eradicate HFT and all microseconds shavings associated with it.

nix23 5y ago
Why not? You pay taxes on every deal you make in the real world. And since you buy a part of a company that should be tax-worthy too. Tick-based exchange would probably just increase the problem (better prediction for ~HFT..or better call them HF-prediction then), but hey i really don't know, both solutions are better then none, i guess.
- BobbyJo 5y ago
  If we can put a sales tax on bread then we can put it on stock. Totally agree. I think, in general, taxes/credits are much better solutions to problems of economic incentives because they only change the incentives as opposed to the structures of the market.
  - Redoubts 5y ago
    A lot of basic groceries are sales tax exempt.
aldanor 5y ago
That would create more opportunities for all sorts of gaming (e.g. place orders before update, remove them right after, etc). Since fast players would still exist, they would react first to each slow update, which means all other participants would always see a book that's pretty much always outdated, and very heavily so. HFTs are not a universal evil, they increase market efficiency and they pay for it.

antattack 5y ago

From the blog: "Three policy proposals: A 500% tax on advertising. It’s a zero sum game with no benefit to society. If you are paying for eyeballs, you pay a 500% tax. Force companies with these trash addictive business models to find a way to work for the average person, not pimp them out. 1% tax on the full amount of every trade. Fuck off worthless HFT mega brain drain. Fuck off short termism in markets. Separation of church and state. And that includes Harvard, Yale, and all the others. No funding, no loans, no Title IX BS. Separate!" I'm curious what event or thought process made #3 appear on the list.

bsenftner 5y ago
Most of the Ivy League, in addition to being the "Ivy League", were all founded as Christian institutions and have deep ties in their upper hierarchy due to theologians within the University having significant influence on their board of governors.
cheschire 5y ago
Perhaps it's a reference to the Yale and Harvard Divinity Schools? Federal school funding paying for things like this, then that leads to... anti-sexual discrimination rules being enforced? I am now very interested in what event happened as well.
lyaa 5y ago
I'm also curious, what has Title IX got to do with the rest? It has nothing to do with churches, does it?
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  I assume he is a Men's Rights activist.
  - fennecfoxen 5y ago
    Post author is ranting incoherently, but Title IX is a legit minefield; in particular, its implementations at universities have been pretty problematic. The root of the cause is a notorious "Dear Colleague" letter that came out in the early Obama administration. Due process around sexual misconduct allegations suffered greatly as a direct result of what it asked universities to do. Aside from individual opportunities for unfairness, it turns out when schools have policies that can get you fired or expelled without a chance to defend yourself (let alone have an attorney) then this gives rise to abuses of the system — many of the same kinds of abuses with similar unfortunate racial impacts that we see when off-campus justice systems are abused. Ironically, many of the successful lawsuits about unfair expulsions are themselves Title IX lawsuits. For some introductory coverage see also: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/title-ix-sexual-misconduct-on-campus-cbsn-documentary/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/title-ix-sexual-misconduct-on-c...

johnwheeler 5y ago

Bit of an ego on that guy.

JKCalhoun 5y ago
I suppose we all appear egotistical when we rant.
howaboutnope 5y ago
Yeah, who does he think he is, some kind of human being?

watol 5y ago

I agree with his first proposal. My view is that the big AdTechs (mainly Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktoks and the likes) are one of the worst poisons that humanity has ever created. They brainwash you, destroy democracies, create drama in order to shove ads down your throat. And then they turn around and pat themselves on the back pretending to be good actors "making the world a better place". Leaders of those companies pretending to be good humanitarian beings drive me absolutely crazy. I hope that we eventually all see them for that they are.

nbzso 5y ago
> My view is that the big AdTechs (mainly Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktoks and the likes) are one of the worst poisons that humanity has ever created. They brainwash you, destroy democracies, create drama in order to shove ads down your throat. In my humble opinion they are worst than that. They are a gateway for ultimate mind control, on a scale and effectiveness never seen before in human history. Selling ads and making money is scratching the surface of this complex and ever expanding machines of power and deception. My theory is that Governments and Old Perception Gatekeepers are realizing this in full scale, but instead of regulating or stopping, they want full access to the Perception Control Mainframes and Perception Spyware Receivers that we care around and keep alive 24/7. https://bit.ly/3nJmFTH https://bit.ly/3nJmFTH In the recent years the coordinated attacks from Governments on free speech and encryption increased drastically. Recent example is Apple's attempt to normalize on device private user data processing and policing with Government approved criteria trough third party private corporation "partnership". Setting an example to be followed by others. https://bit.ly/3nFE2ox https://bit.ly/3nFE2ox This is the beginning of Big Tech and Big Government convergence that will form the future of mankind. One unified social system presented to the masses as an inevitable implementation for a common good. The sad part is that we are now working not only for AdTech companies, we are working for the Global Surveillance Apparatus and accept that this is the only way forward. >And then they turn around and pat themselves on the back pretending to be good actors "making the world a better place". Leaders of those companies pretending to be good humanitarian beings drive me absolutely crazy. Sounds pretty political to me. To survive and protect their existence and profits FAANG invested tons of money in lobbing and now have Political partnerships and Politicized UX. Users are like party members, they are not only using the tech, they participate in brand awareness exercises and protect whichever brand they are selected to belong. For me FAANG are implementing Edward Bernays abusive psychology on steroids, without any remorse or ethical boundaries what so ever. They simply don't care. Some Men Just Want to Watch the World Burn. And taking big money from the process. P.S. As I recently stated, down-voting only makes the message more relevant.

deleted 5y ago

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timdaub 5y ago

> Continue to let huge ad companies (stop calling them tech companies) rent seek and nickel and dime you on everything +1 for calling FAANG ad companies

JKCalhoun 5y ago
Yes, that was one point of his that I recognized that individuals can act on. As an example, cancel your monthly Netflix, Spotify, etc. Wasn't a lot we could do about the others.
- justzisguyuknow 5y ago
  Isn't the whole point of paying for Netflix/Spotify that you don't get ads?
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    I was reacting to renting, not owning, being nickeled and dimed by modern corporate America.
tompazourek 5y ago
Is Apple an ad company?

tomxor 5y ago

> I don’t think they see themselves as scammers, I think they actually think quite highly of themselves [...] “Perception is reality” Wilfully deceitful people are rare, the rest of us are exceptionally good at justifying our actions to ourselves - Undiluted honest self judgement can be self destructive, but eating gobfuls of bluepills is also extremely dangerous to society - I believe there is a middle-ground, awareness of this "cognitive bias" is the first step.

imtringued 5y ago

I completely dislike his tone but I like these three words he wrote "Perception is reality". Bank accounts, bonds, stocks, crypto are all in the perception category. The first three try to model a real world process but they are not the real world. The latter is perceived to be outside the bounds of the real world. In fact, people try to abuse flaws in the simulation (the model). The real world decays but money does not. So during a recession people flood into the security of money, that money is supposed to be the perception of the real world, people are flooding into a perception of security that doesn't exist. Strangely enough, the real world keeps getting worse but its perception keeps getting better.

q1w2 5y ago

This post is childish and has no depth or merit. It reads like a teenager's rant with blending of angst and conflating of ideas and emotions.

specialist 5y ago

> [advertising is] a zero sum game with no benefit to society. aka Negative sum game.

moneytide1 5y ago

I remember an interview with Mr. Hotz describing his negotiations with Tesla about the acquisition of self-driving technology he said something to the effect of "I don't need a bigger piece of the pie - I just want the pie to taste really good."