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to put a finer point on it: capitalism. That's still an extremely blunt point. While we can imagine some alternative world where we all live in a communist uto
by chongli 2y ago
to put a finer point on it: capitalism.
That's still an extremely blunt point. While we can imagine some alternative world where we all live in a communist utopia and the internet is the great free place it was in its early days, it's not so easy to build such a society. All the attempts I'm aware of either didn't scale (small, local communes) or were large-scale disasters resulting in the deaths of millions.
What we have now is no paradise, but it's not a disaster either. It's balanced on the razor's edge of disaster, however.
- Terr_ 2y agoI'm assuming parent-poster means "publicly-traded corporations with limited-liability and low friction on transfers of ownership." However you're right that "capitalism" encompasses many potential different varieties and actors. For example, family-owned businesses are equally "capitalism", but they don't show up much in this kind of product-degradation story.
- chongli 2y agoFor example, family-owned businesses are equally "capitalism", but they don't show up much in this kind of product-degradation story. Family owned businesses can be sold to private equity just like any other. Instant Pot was a family owned business started by the inventor and it was famously sold to private equity who then proceeded to raid its assets and bankrupt the company.
- Terr_ 2y agoI mean they don't know up as perpetrators. In contrast, I've never heard a complaint about a previously-respected product run by a private-equity firm that became ruined after it was taken private by a closely-held family business.