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So big tech gave all this stuff away without asking or taking any sort of compensation (i.e. free), and yet they've managed to accumulate levels of influence an

by krono 5y ago

So big tech gave all this stuff away without asking or taking any sort of compensation (i.e. free), and yet they've managed to accumulate levels of influence and wealth previously only beholden to sovereign states. Coincidentally, around the same time big tech came into being, the nation that birthed, nurtured, and protected them started losing its world dominance to rival sovereignties that took the opposite approach in dealing with these generous givers by monitoring their behaviour, limiting their power and influence over the nation and its citizens, enforcing compliance with national policy (for good or bad), and extracting a fair share of the profits in return for their use of public infrastructure.

danielmarkbruce 5y ago
They took the money they made in search ads and built a lot of products they give away, yes. The wealth is all from search ads. The US had a little moment of time where it was the dominant power. It wasn't the dominant power in 1900 and it won't be in 2050. The idea that the decline is because of Google etc defies a much simpler explanation. As soon as China moved off of straight communism they were bound for dominance due to their population and general work ethic. There is no reason that over the long term China should have lower GDP per person than the US. Hence they'll have about 4x the total GDP and be able to spend 4x as much on military due to their 4x population size v US.