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I don’t get the argument of tech not being able to affect prices. Having an AI research assistant or tutor surely should reduce the ridiculous prices of colleg

I don’t get the argument of tech not being able to affect prices. Having an AI research assistant or tutor surely should reduce the ridiculous prices of college textbooks and the need for TAs no? Also how does virtual and reimagined medical care not disrupt this? Go look at OneMedical and Amazon and they seem to be bringing costs down significantly. Didn’t Charlie Munger say something about how high prices create the illusion of scarcity and quality?

twelve40 4y ago
> Having an AI research assistant or tutor surely should reduce the ridiculous prices of college textbooks and the need for TAs no? Not clear: the textbook prices have been detached from reality for many years now not because there weren't alternative ways to get the knowledge all along. But because they are a part of a bloated system that works to extract more and more money by gatekeeping (formal degrees), upselling, cross-selling, making deals. That this system will disappear or become irrelevant overnight because of better tooling is not obvious. MIT had a bunch of classes online forever, a determined person could get all the content for a full degree almost for free for many years, yet people still flock to colleges and pay more money than ever to be a part of that (broken) system. > Go look at OneMedical and Amazon and they seem to be bringing costs down significantly If this was happening industry-wide, it would probably be noticeable on his "Medical care services" graph line, which instead is shooting way up? Maybe it's crap and I don't have any better data, but do you?
- thenerdhead 4y ago
  I don’t think you’d see the change immediately as many of these companies just shifted strategies to be digital in the last few years and continued to increase prices. I’d expect that to slowly reverse over the next decade or two. If not, then there was plenty of successful lobbying.

twelve40 4y ago

> Having an AI research assistant or tutor surely should reduce the ridiculous prices of college textbooks and the need for TAs no? Not clear: the textbook prices have been detached from reality for many years now not because there weren't alternative ways to get the knowledge all along. But because they are a part of a bloated system that works to extract more and more money by gatekeeping (formal degrees), upselling, cross-selling, making deals. That this system will disappear or become irrelevant overnight because of better tooling is not obvious. MIT had a bunch of classes online forever, a determined person could get all the content for a full degree almost for free for many years, yet people still flock to colleges and pay more money than ever to be a part of that (broken) system. > Go look at OneMedical and Amazon and they seem to be bringing costs down significantly If this was happening industry-wide, it would probably be noticeable on his "Medical care services" graph line, which instead is shooting way up? Maybe it's crap and I don't have any better data, but do you?

thenerdhead 4y ago
I don’t think you’d see the change immediately as many of these companies just shifted strategies to be digital in the last few years and continued to increase prices. I’d expect that to slowly reverse over the next decade or two. If not, then there was plenty of successful lobbying.