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For now. Give it a few decades when all those used cars are no longer on the market. We're already entering the age where media is solely released on streamin

For now. Give it a few decades when all those used cars are no longer on the market. We're already entering the age where media is solely released on streaming platforms with no legal physical copies ever produced, let alone available to consumers. Cars will go much the same way. The only way to counter it would be some kind of legally enforceable "right to ownership", which could be argued is the next step after "right to repair". Relying on consumer choice is a libertarian fantasy, right up there with corporate self-regulation. Yes, both exist and have substantial impacts, but they lack the teeth to create sustainable economic systems that support a prosperous middle class. Only well-written government regulation can do the latter.

karaterobot 2y ago
If you give up in advance of an expected loss, you create that loss, whether your expectation was right or wrong. On the other hand, if people didn't buy these vehicles, the companies who sell them would have to stop or be outcompeted. If, in the future, companies again try the same tactic, rinse and repeat until they go away. I think we both agree about what the outcome will be, but I am placing much of the blame on the above attitude and behavior by consumers, rather than on some sort of invisible force of the universe that leads towards enshittification. We're the enshittifiers.
- ryandrake 2y ago
  You can't rely on uncoordinated action from individual consumers to solve a problem that is being created by coordinated, collaborating companies. If BMW came out with a car that gave you an electric shock every 5 minutes of driving, people would just not buy BMW and the problem would eventually work itself out. But if every car manufacturer slowly introduced it and normalized it, to the point where soon no other alternatives exist, then we'd all just accept it and buy cars that shock us.

karaterobot 2y ago

If you give up in advance of an expected loss, you create that loss, whether your expectation was right or wrong. On the other hand, if people didn't buy these vehicles, the companies who sell them would have to stop or be outcompeted. If, in the future, companies again try the same tactic, rinse and repeat until they go away. I think we both agree about what the outcome will be, but I am placing much of the blame on the above attitude and behavior by consumers, rather than on some sort of invisible force of the universe that leads towards enshittification. We're the enshittifiers.

ryandrake 2y ago
You can't rely on uncoordinated action from individual consumers to solve a problem that is being created by coordinated, collaborating companies. If BMW came out with a car that gave you an electric shock every 5 minutes of driving, people would just not buy BMW and the problem would eventually work itself out. But if every car manufacturer slowly introduced it and normalized it, to the point where soon no other alternatives exist, then we'd all just accept it and buy cars that shock us.