First, I really respect Frank. He’s an amazing designer and have enjoyed using what he’s made in the past (Abstract, etc). I have a different take thought and

First, I really respect Frank. He’s an amazing designer and have enjoyed using what he’s made in the past (Abstract, etc). I have a different take thought and it’s not so bleak, and believe a few different topics are conflated in the post. - Everything in life trends towards the lowest common denominator. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means companys optimize for mass appeal (e.g. they want Walmart volume, not low boutique sales). - Information asymmetry is actually not as bad as the post would make you believe. 5-star rated system for seller & products (and buyer comments) exist preciously to prevent information asymmetry. This helps buyers make informed purchasing decisions. You see this from: Amazon, Yelp, Uber, Airbnb, etc. What I think is getting conflated is: - Launching a new physical good (not just software) has never been easier. In tech, we got accustomed to how easily it became to launch a 1-person SaaS over the last decade (i.e. “indie hacker” movement). The same is now happening with physical goods. - Curation matters. Nordstrom has the legendary return policy where they will take back any good sold. This is in part able to be done because Nordstrom is hand selecting any good they sell. Which means they are vetting it coming from a reputable supplier and has a certain degree of quality. In an economy where it’s just one big open marketplace (which is directionally where we are going), customers lose the relationship they once had with a merchant who performed the trusted curation of product selection for them.