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Here’s a thought - before the advent of modern fertiliser and high yield seeds we simply could not feed everyone. Famine was common, and when it struck people d

Here’s a thought - before the advent of modern fertiliser and high yield seeds we simply could not feed everyone. Famine was common, and when it struck people died. This is one of the many things that kept the population in check. Where do you expect to get your fertiliser from? Your local artisanal fertiliser maker? Perhaps you think you’ll go old school and use human refuse, despite it having much less nitrogen content than ammonia based ones? People want to live in well built homes that are warm in winter and cool in summer. Do you know of a way to build that without concrete and steel? Assuming you don’t, where will you get your concrete and steel from? Your local steelsmith, forging one steel ingot at a time? And fertiliser, concrete and steel - those can’t be made without fossil fuels. Where do you propose to get those? You’ll head down to the local coal mine whenever you need some? Society cannot function without these materials. These materials are produced at scale, at high efficiency thanks to the megacorps mentioned previously. If there was an artificial limit on the size of corps, they would not be able to achieve the scale needed to make this economical. Food and housing would be scarce. Lastly, calling someone a serf breaks HN guidelines. If you’re going to condescend to someone, at least don’t do it when your statement is so stunningly wrong.

akira2501 4y ago
> Your local artisanal fertiliser maker? You leave no room for small to medium sized businesses? Your position is that in order to have fertilizer, you have to have mega corporations? > where will you get your concrete and steel from? I get my concrete from a business down the street. They buy materials, mix it locally, and deliver it for me. No mega corporations needed. Steel? In what context? Raw mineral? Refined ingots? Manufactured products? You're confusing an entire supply chain for a single entity. > Where do you propose to get those? The ground. Or, again, do you suppose that only three companies in the world can possibly do this? How do you account for the massive mergers and acquisitions in this space over the past few decades? Those were necessary to continue pumping liquid out of the ground? > These materials are produced at scale, at high efficiency thanks to the megacorps mentioned previously. Those materials will be produced at scale because there are enough mines to do it. You still haven't made a cogent case as to why megacorporations are more efficient or are required for this to happen. > calling someone a serf breaks HN guidelines. And you'll notice I didn't do that. I said it displays a certain type of mentality. Did you listen, or did you rush to be offended? > at least don’t do it when your statement is so stunningly wrong. Again.. it's a _very_ simple question: Can you make the case that mega corporations were necessary or that they actually are more efficient? You have completely failed to do that here.
- nindalf 4y ago
  Economies of scale exist. Once those economies of scale lower prices, they allow previously nonexistent commerce to now become viable. Larger firms will benefit more from economies of scale than relatively smaller firms, meaning their products and services will be cheaper. For most of the major products I mentioned, scale matters. All of those are dominated by large corporations thanks to the economies of scale. That's one side. The other side is finance - certain processes are only viable with large capital expenditure, which only large companies can manage. For example, setting up a semiconductor foundry at the leading edge needs tens of billions of dollars of investment. Setting up a resource extraction operation would be cheaper but still require tens to hundreds of millions. You seem to love the idea that a small firm can do anything. Great. Go out and do it, prove me wrong. Why don't you try to set up an artisanal semiconductor foundry? The day your company (or any small company) manages to compete with TSMC on price and process node, I'll eat my hat. But if you can only talk the talk and not walk the walk, don't bother responding.

akira2501 4y ago

> Your local artisanal fertiliser maker? You leave no room for small to medium sized businesses? Your position is that in order to have fertilizer, you have to have mega corporations? > where will you get your concrete and steel from? I get my concrete from a business down the street. They buy materials, mix it locally, and deliver it for me. No mega corporations needed. Steel? In what context? Raw mineral? Refined ingots? Manufactured products? You're confusing an entire supply chain for a single entity. > Where do you propose to get those? The ground. Or, again, do you suppose that only three companies in the world can possibly do this? How do you account for the massive mergers and acquisitions in this space over the past few decades? Those were necessary to continue pumping liquid out of the ground? > These materials are produced at scale, at high efficiency thanks to the megacorps mentioned previously. Those materials will be produced at scale because there are enough mines to do it. You still haven't made a cogent case as to why megacorporations are more efficient or are required for this to happen. > calling someone a serf breaks HN guidelines. And you'll notice I didn't do that. I said it displays a certain type of mentality. Did you listen, or did you rush to be offended? > at least don’t do it when your statement is so stunningly wrong. Again.. it's a _very_ simple question: Can you make the case that mega corporations were necessary or that they actually are more efficient? You have completely failed to do that here.

nindalf 4y ago
Economies of scale exist. Once those economies of scale lower prices, they allow previously nonexistent commerce to now become viable. Larger firms will benefit more from economies of scale than relatively smaller firms, meaning their products and services will be cheaper. For most of the major products I mentioned, scale matters. All of those are dominated by large corporations thanks to the economies of scale. That's one side. The other side is finance - certain processes are only viable with large capital expenditure, which only large companies can manage. For example, setting up a semiconductor foundry at the leading edge needs tens of billions of dollars of investment. Setting up a resource extraction operation would be cheaper but still require tens to hundreds of millions. You seem to love the idea that a small firm can do anything. Great. Go out and do it, prove me wrong. Why don't you try to set up an artisanal semiconductor foundry? The day your company (or any small company) manages to compete with TSMC on price and process node, I'll eat my hat. But if you can only talk the talk and not walk the walk, don't bother responding.