5 ms·

I honestly think the world is a poorer place for having had a single US company dominate so many areas of digital technology for so long. I hope that in anothe

I honestly think the world is a poorer place for having had a single US company dominate so many areas of digital technology for so long. I hope that in another 25 years giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple and so on are just small players in a globally inter-operable, open and diverse technological world.

Arainach 3y ago
There has never been such a world, in any industry. Capitalism abhors competition. Absent strong government regulation monopolies are inevitable. I would argue that a strong unified platform (Windows, the web, whatever) is good for user and developer experience.
- nonrandomstring 3y ago
  > There has never been such a world, Book publishing. Fine art. Music. Poetry. Travel and tourism. Food.... need I go on? > Capitalism abhors competition "One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition." [0] > I would argue that a strong unified platform ... the web, whatever) is good for user and developer "The Web" was [1] a standard, not a company or "platform". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism [1] I say "was", because companies like Google practically destroyed it, leading the creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee to tragically denounce the Web as having "failed humanity". (I disagree the Web did not fail humanity, greedy companies did.)
  - Arainach 3y ago
    >Book publishing. Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan combine for 77-91% of the market: https://www.statista.com/topics/9280/book-publishing/#topicOverview https://www.statista.com/topics/9280/book-publishing/#topicO... >Fine art. This isn't an industry, just a tax evasion scheme for rich people >Music. 3 players control 70% of recording: https://musically.com/2023/04/26/music-copyright-publishes-its-market-share-analysis-for-2022/ https://musically.com/2023/04/26/music-copyright-publishes-i... >Poetry. Not an industry, never has been >Travel and tourism. Airlines consolidate and consolidate, rail is nationalized, taxis have been cannibalized by Lyft/Uber - what's your argument here? >Food.... https://www.good.is/Business/food-brands-owners-rp https://www.good.is/Business/food-brands-owners-rp
    - xcdzvyn 3y ago
      > taxis have been cannibalized by Lyft/Uber - what's your argument here? Once the market figured out how to sidestep government regulation of the ride-hailing industry, it got significantly cheaper, easier, and more accessible?
      - azinman2 3y ago
        And consolidated to one or two players.
      - jwestbury 3y ago
        > significantly cheaper On the back of VC funding and operating at a loss? This isn't a great argument, TBH, and prices have increased to the point that they're generally in line with "real" taxis in places I've been -- and still without Uber and Lyft having become profitable.
    - nonrandomstring 3y ago
      I take it that your catalogue of the failures of modern "capitalism" is not an argument in favour of it, but you concurring with me that it's destructive. That we are in a catastrophic local minima in 5,000 years of human history isn't a great argument that "no such world ever existed". That would be parochialism [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parochialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parochialism
      - Arainach 3y ago
        There is no period in recorded history where an economy was dominated with a number of small players of roughly equal status in competition for an extended duration. 5,000 years of human history is roughly as long as we have the concept of an economy. Before that, you had access to the people in your immediate vicinity and "competition" for services was not a concept.
  - jonnycomputer 3y ago
    > Capitalism abhors competition >>"One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition." This is just unserious.
qp11 3y ago
They are dominated by the mindless calculus of Wall St, injected deep into their programming. If they deviate from what Wall St wants they loose. So they dont dominate. They are dominated.
sebazzz 3y ago
That's what you get when government(s) just sit back and hope the market sorts it out.
takeda 3y ago
What is needed is what Cory Doctorow is saying. https://youtu.be/rimtaSgGz_4 https://youtu.be/rimtaSgGz_4 We need to push politicians to fix the antitrust law. It isn't just Google that is benefiting from this now toothless law.

Arainach 3y ago

There has never been such a world, in any industry. Capitalism abhors competition. Absent strong government regulation monopolies are inevitable. I would argue that a strong unified platform (Windows, the web, whatever) is good for user and developer experience.

nonrandomstring 3y ago
> There has never been such a world, Book publishing. Fine art. Music. Poetry. Travel and tourism. Food.... need I go on? > Capitalism abhors competition "One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition." [0] > I would argue that a strong unified platform ... the web, whatever) is good for user and developer "The Web" was [1] a standard, not a company or "platform". [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism [1] I say "was", because companies like Google practically destroyed it, leading the creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee to tragically denounce the Web as having "failed humanity". (I disagree the Web did not fail humanity, greedy companies did.)
- Arainach 3y ago
  >Book publishing. Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan combine for 77-91% of the market: https://www.statista.com/topics/9280/book-publishing/#topicOverview https://www.statista.com/topics/9280/book-publishing/#topicO... >Fine art. This isn't an industry, just a tax evasion scheme for rich people >Music. 3 players control 70% of recording: https://musically.com/2023/04/26/music-copyright-publishes-its-market-share-analysis-for-2022/ https://musically.com/2023/04/26/music-copyright-publishes-i... >Poetry. Not an industry, never has been >Travel and tourism. Airlines consolidate and consolidate, rail is nationalized, taxis have been cannibalized by Lyft/Uber - what's your argument here? >Food.... https://www.good.is/Business/food-brands-owners-rp https://www.good.is/Business/food-brands-owners-rp
  - xcdzvyn 3y ago
    > taxis have been cannibalized by Lyft/Uber - what's your argument here? Once the market figured out how to sidestep government regulation of the ride-hailing industry, it got significantly cheaper, easier, and more accessible?
    - azinman2 3y ago
      And consolidated to one or two players.
    - jwestbury 3y ago
      > significantly cheaper On the back of VC funding and operating at a loss? This isn't a great argument, TBH, and prices have increased to the point that they're generally in line with "real" taxis in places I've been -- and still without Uber and Lyft having become profitable.
  - nonrandomstring 3y ago
    I take it that your catalogue of the failures of modern "capitalism" is not an argument in favour of it, but you concurring with me that it's destructive. That we are in a catastrophic local minima in 5,000 years of human history isn't a great argument that "no such world ever existed". That would be parochialism [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parochialism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parochialism
    - Arainach 3y ago
      There is no period in recorded history where an economy was dominated with a number of small players of roughly equal status in competition for an extended duration. 5,000 years of human history is roughly as long as we have the concept of an economy. Before that, you had access to the people in your immediate vicinity and "competition" for services was not a concept.
- jonnycomputer 3y ago
  > Capitalism abhors competition >>"One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition." This is just unserious.

qp11 3y ago

They are dominated by the mindless calculus of Wall St, injected deep into their programming. If they deviate from what Wall St wants they loose. So they dont dominate. They are dominated.

sebazzz 3y ago

That's what you get when government(s) just sit back and hope the market sorts it out.

takeda 3y ago

What is needed is what Cory Doctorow is saying. https://youtu.be/rimtaSgGz_4 https://youtu.be/rimtaSgGz_4 We need to push politicians to fix the antitrust law. It isn't just Google that is benefiting from this now toothless law.