5 ms·

If only we had an open, decentralised mechanism to figure out what's a better use of a limited resource is. Oh wait. That's exactly what "cost" is.

Taywee 5y ago
Yeah, "cost" is one of the fundamental terms of economics. So is "externality".
- josephcsible 5y ago
  What's the externality of using electricity?
  - Taywee 5y ago
    Pollution (most electricity production is still coal-based), raising electricity prices for everybody else, contributing to an ongoing energy crisis (electricity is going to start being rationed in Kazakhstan). Electricity is a finite resource.
  - FartyMcFarter 5y ago
    Depends on the situation. If there's a shortage (or near-shortage) of supply, the externality could be causing a partial or total blackout.
depaya 5y ago
Put down your Ayn Rand novel for a second and gain some empathy. A few rich crypto miners pricing many people out of electricity is inhumane.
oblio 5y ago
Yup, I'm sure that every time we've let the market do its thing, nobody suffered. I don't really want to get into too much of what's very gross territory, but let's say that a long time ago a certain nation controlling another nation decided that the food from said controlled nation was economically most useful being sold somewhere else. The locals couldn't afford the "cost". I'll let you put 2 and 2 together for the rest.
- golergka 5y ago
  > a certain nation controlling another nation decided that the food from said controlled nation was economically most useful being sold somewhere else. > The locals couldn't afford the "cost". That sounds like one of the many soviet famines, which happened exactly because there wasn't an open and free market for said food.
  - oblio 5y ago
    Ireland. It was Ireland.
malermeister 5y ago
Except that mechanism optimizes for profitability, not for social good. In this example it prioritizes made-up computer money for already rich people over a Kazakh citizen having heating or being able to refrigerate food. It's a terrible mechanism for most things.

Taywee 5y ago

Yeah, "cost" is one of the fundamental terms of economics. So is "externality".

josephcsible 5y ago
What's the externality of using electricity?
- Taywee 5y ago
  Pollution (most electricity production is still coal-based), raising electricity prices for everybody else, contributing to an ongoing energy crisis (electricity is going to start being rationed in Kazakhstan). Electricity is a finite resource.
- FartyMcFarter 5y ago
  Depends on the situation. If there's a shortage (or near-shortage) of supply, the externality could be causing a partial or total blackout.

depaya 5y ago

Put down your Ayn Rand novel for a second and gain some empathy. A few rich crypto miners pricing many people out of electricity is inhumane.

oblio 5y ago

Yup, I'm sure that every time we've let the market do its thing, nobody suffered. I don't really want to get into too much of what's very gross territory, but let's say that a long time ago a certain nation controlling another nation decided that the food from said controlled nation was economically most useful being sold somewhere else. The locals couldn't afford the "cost". I'll let you put 2 and 2 together for the rest.

golergka 5y ago
> a certain nation controlling another nation decided that the food from said controlled nation was economically most useful being sold somewhere else. > The locals couldn't afford the "cost". That sounds like one of the many soviet famines, which happened exactly because there wasn't an open and free market for said food.
- oblio 5y ago
  Ireland. It was Ireland.

malermeister 5y ago

Except that mechanism optimizes for profitability, not for social good. In this example it prioritizes made-up computer money for already rich people over a Kazakh citizen having heating or being able to refrigerate food. It's a terrible mechanism for most things.