5 ms·

With a name like Paris Marx you hardly need to question where this author's bias lies. Right now with my smartphone (a device you can be sure would never have b

by briga 4y ago

With a name like Paris Marx you hardly need to question where this author's bias lies. Right now with my smartphone (a device you can be sure would never have been invented on a government committee) I can stream any song released in the past 100 years, I can get detailed step-by-step instructions on how to drive to the other side of the continent, I have access to the biggest encyclopedias that have ever existed, I can learn any programming language for free, I can keep up to date 24/7 with current events (even if the government doesn't approve of the news outlets I'm looking at), I can make a living working remotely (with software developed by private companies), I can order literally any item and have it delivered straight to my door, the list goes on... Having worked as a software engineer, it's a miracle that any of this works at all. Adding in 7 layers of government bureaucracy sounds like a good way to have the whole edifice come crumbling down, not to mention stifling any sort of innovation that might be left in tech. I guess my point is, if there was every anything that has done more to liberate the average human being, it is the internet. I just don't buy the argument that any of this would have happened without free market competition, or that the state of the internet not is somehow worse than it would be otherwise.

the_only_law 4y ago
> With a name like Paris Marx you hardly need to question where this author's bias lies Surely. Look at all these confirmed Marxists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx_(surname)#Notable_people_with_the_surname https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx_(surname)#Notable_people_... So many in entertainment. I guess people were right about communists running hollywood. And some people were so clever they had the name before Karl Marx was even born!
- briga 4y ago
  Well I mean obviously political beliefs are not heritable. But this guy does seem to have made a name for himself as an internet socialist, judging by his other publications
Karrot_Kream 4y ago
Come _on_ Marx is just a last name. You gotta make a better argument than that.
- briga 4y ago
  You mean like the entirety of my post after that quip?
  - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
    Like "Adding in 7 layers of government bureaucracy sounds like a good way to have the whole edifice come crumbling down, not to mention stifling any sort of innovation that might be left in tech."? I don't agree with this article but you gotta have something better than "government slow, private fast".
    - briga 4y ago
      Why, to please you? You aren’t really adding anything to this discussion
      - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
        What makes the government more bureaucratic than a business? Have you looked at the corporate structure of the telecos, like Comcast or Verizon? It's layers upon layers of bureaucracy. Can you explain why the government is somehow guaranteed to be worse than a business?
        throwaway0a5e 4y ago
        >What makes the government more bureaucratic than a business? It's telling that you rattled off a list of companies that have local monopolies or duopolies where they operate. Look at the incentives at various points in these organizations and the answer should be glaringly obvious. The government lacks big stakeholders at the top insisting upon being in the black. Bureaucracy always wants to expand. A C-suite who wants to make a fuckton of money counterbalances that more directly than the feedback loops that control costs in government. If you want to reduce the number of variables further look at the contrast between local governments (who are less abstracted away from the source of their money) across municipalities of varying wealth.
arandomhuman 4y ago
While that is true, and the author seems biased supporting some degree of federal/international government ownership of the internet while also having borderline satirical levels of tracking, popups and subscriptions on their site. I think saying that the internet is completely healthy at the more abstract level of humans communicating to each other without borders would be incorrect. Search engines funnel the typical 'surfer' into platforms rife with newsfeeds algorithmically curated to influence them for engagement or garbage SEO spam networks attempting to get every last cent of advertising revenue they can acquire. There is a genuine issue with discoverability on the internet directing people towards content that is meaningful.
- briga 4y ago
  Oh to be sure there are all sorts of problems with the internet today. And the government certainly has a role to play in making the internet better. I’m just not convinced that the solution is centralizing and socializing the tech giants.
- krapp 4y ago
  > While that is true, and the author seems biased supporting some degree of federal/international government ownership of the internet while also having borderline satirical levels of tracking, popups and subscriptions on their site. It isn't "their" site. They are the author of an article published to that site, not the site's owner. They aren't responsible for whatever tracking/popup/what have you Jacobin chooses to employ.
  - arandomhuman 4y ago
    The author has some agency in the quality of the website due to his expertise and subject matter of the article. Food for thought https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/ https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/
    - krapp 4y ago
      You would prefer the author refuse a platform which gives their work an audience? Because that platform uses methods of advertising which have become perfectly standard across the web? Their job was to write a book review, which they did.
tbrownaw 4y ago
> With a name like Nominative determinism is for fictional worlds. > I guess my point is, if there was every anything that has done more to liberate the average human being, it is the internet. I just don't buy the argument that any of this would have happened without free market competition, or that the state of the internet not is somehow worse than it would be otherwise. The Eternal September is a real phenomenon. That's a particular "worse" aspect, even if the overall effect of that sharing of the wealth is massively positive.
- briga 4y ago
  Care to elaborate?
skocznymroczny 4y ago
jacobin.com is a notable far-left website in general

by briga 4y ago

the_only_law 4y ago

> With a name like Paris Marx you hardly need to question where this author's bias lies Surely. Look at all these confirmed Marxists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx_(surname)#Notable_people_with_the_surname https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx_(surname)#Notable_people_... So many in entertainment. I guess people were right about communists running hollywood. And some people were so clever they had the name before Karl Marx was even born!

briga 4y ago
Well I mean obviously political beliefs are not heritable. But this guy does seem to have made a name for himself as an internet socialist, judging by his other publications

Karrot_Kream 4y ago

Come _on_ Marx is just a last name. You gotta make a better argument than that.

briga 4y ago
You mean like the entirety of my post after that quip?
- Karrot_Kream 4y ago
  Like "Adding in 7 layers of government bureaucracy sounds like a good way to have the whole edifice come crumbling down, not to mention stifling any sort of innovation that might be left in tech."? I don't agree with this article but you gotta have something better than "government slow, private fast".
  - briga 4y ago
    Why, to please you? You aren’t really adding anything to this discussion
    - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
      What makes the government more bureaucratic than a business? Have you looked at the corporate structure of the telecos, like Comcast or Verizon? It's layers upon layers of bureaucracy. Can you explain why the government is somehow guaranteed to be worse than a business?
      - throwaway0a5e 4y ago
        >What makes the government more bureaucratic than a business? It's telling that you rattled off a list of companies that have local monopolies or duopolies where they operate. Look at the incentives at various points in these organizations and the answer should be glaringly obvious. The government lacks big stakeholders at the top insisting upon being in the black. Bureaucracy always wants to expand. A C-suite who wants to make a fuckton of money counterbalances that more directly than the feedback loops that control costs in government. If you want to reduce the number of variables further look at the contrast between local governments (who are less abstracted away from the source of their money) across municipalities of varying wealth.

arandomhuman 4y ago

While that is true, and the author seems biased supporting some degree of federal/international government ownership of the internet while also having borderline satirical levels of tracking, popups and subscriptions on their site. I think saying that the internet is completely healthy at the more abstract level of humans communicating to each other without borders would be incorrect. Search engines funnel the typical 'surfer' into platforms rife with newsfeeds algorithmically curated to influence them for engagement or garbage SEO spam networks attempting to get every last cent of advertising revenue they can acquire. There is a genuine issue with discoverability on the internet directing people towards content that is meaningful.

briga 4y ago
Oh to be sure there are all sorts of problems with the internet today. And the government certainly has a role to play in making the internet better. I’m just not convinced that the solution is centralizing and socializing the tech giants.
krapp 4y ago
> While that is true, and the author seems biased supporting some degree of federal/international government ownership of the internet while also having borderline satirical levels of tracking, popups and subscriptions on their site. It isn't "their" site. They are the author of an article published to that site, not the site's owner. They aren't responsible for whatever tracking/popup/what have you Jacobin chooses to employ.
- arandomhuman 4y ago
  The author has some agency in the quality of the website due to his expertise and subject matter of the article. Food for thought https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/ https://motherfuckingwebsite.com/
  - krapp 4y ago
    You would prefer the author refuse a platform which gives their work an audience? Because that platform uses methods of advertising which have become perfectly standard across the web? Their job was to write a book review, which they did.

tbrownaw 4y ago

> With a name like Nominative determinism is for fictional worlds. > I guess my point is, if there was every anything that has done more to liberate the average human being, it is the internet. I just don't buy the argument that any of this would have happened without free market competition, or that the state of the internet not is somehow worse than it would be otherwise. The Eternal September is a real phenomenon. That's a particular "worse" aspect, even if the overall effect of that sharing of the wealth is massively positive.

briga 4y ago
Care to elaborate?

skocznymroczny 4y ago

jacobin.com is a notable far-left website in general