3 ms·

This is a lot of words to describe rent seeking. Google, Amazon, Instagram/Meta, ultimately all of these are earning their outsized margins through market-domi

by msy 1mo ago

This is a lot of words to describe rent seeking. Google, Amazon, Instagram/Meta, ultimately all of these are earning their outsized margins through market-dominance enabled intermediation of commerce. I search for 'foo' and the top result is either Foo paying through the nose for what should really should be organic traffic or Bar 'buying' the click instead. In the absence of anti-trust the only winning move is to buy stock in the monopolists, their ability to extract these rents from an ever-growing proportion of the economy is only getting stronger.

seedless-sensat 1mo ago
It was only 600 words. I understand there is a push against AI bloated slop here, but I don't think we should discourage good prose. I just wanted to share that I find Seth's daily blog consistently excellent.
- Matumio 1mo ago
  Yes. I paused reading at some point just to marvel at the clarity of writing. It seems absurd to complain about length, it isn't long. Maybe we have different ideas what good writing is, but I'd say this is in the top percent. AI can mirror this style of writing, but it can't mirror the clarity of thought behind it.
- wavemode 1mo ago
  I don't think parent commenter is complaining about the length. "a lot of words to describe..." is a rhetorical device. Their comment is basically saying "you wrote this whole article complaining about Amazon, but what they're doing is common and systemic."
applicative 1mo ago
There is no rent seeking or monopolistic or technofeudal or enshittifying aspect of Amazon at all. The people who made their names beginning twenty years ago by marketing these expressions are losers who have simply been proven wrong. It is monotonous middle brow repetition See eg the left wing expose of the above mentioned brain death in Maher Aquanno https://archive.ph/YJaZr https://archive.ph/YJaZr better in their academic papers like Monopoly or Competition? Unraveling the Amazon Paradox https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/04866134261415639 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/04866134261415639
- oblio 1mo ago
  https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-antitrust-training-warns-staff-not-to-call-company-platform-2021-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-antitrust-training-wa... > There is no rent seeking or monopolistic or technofeudal or enshittifying aspect of Amazon at all. How so? Amazon search is almost probably worse than 10 years ago.
  - gopher_space 1mo ago
    He's not rejecting the claim, he's rejecting the terminology and probably the concepts. It's not a point of view I understand.
- AndyMcConachie 1mo ago
  Amazon regularly sends me spam emails.
latexr 1mo ago
Now show Seth’s audience (which has been accumulated for a long time) your explanation and theirs. I’d wager most people would be scratching their heads and rereading yours, while they’d breeze through Seth’s. In other words, your take may be shorter, but it’s not clearer or necessarily faster to read when aiming for comprehension. Seth doesn’t write for people who visit HN everyday.
cyansands 1mo ago
[flagged]

by msy 1mo ago

seedless-sensat 1mo ago

It was only 600 words. I understand there is a push against AI bloated slop here, but I don't think we should discourage good prose. I just wanted to share that I find Seth's daily blog consistently excellent.

Matumio 1mo ago
Yes. I paused reading at some point just to marvel at the clarity of writing. It seems absurd to complain about length, it isn't long. Maybe we have different ideas what good writing is, but I'd say this is in the top percent. AI can mirror this style of writing, but it can't mirror the clarity of thought behind it.
wavemode 1mo ago
I don't think parent commenter is complaining about the length. "a lot of words to describe..." is a rhetorical device. Their comment is basically saying "you wrote this whole article complaining about Amazon, but what they're doing is common and systemic."

applicative 1mo ago

There is no rent seeking or monopolistic or technofeudal or enshittifying aspect of Amazon at all. The people who made their names beginning twenty years ago by marketing these expressions are losers who have simply been proven wrong. It is monotonous middle brow repetition See eg the left wing expose of the above mentioned brain death in Maher Aquanno https://archive.ph/YJaZr https://archive.ph/YJaZr better in their academic papers like Monopoly or Competition? Unraveling the Amazon Paradox https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/04866134261415639 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/04866134261415639

oblio 1mo ago
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-antitrust-training-warns-staff-not-to-call-company-platform-2021-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-antitrust-training-wa... > There is no rent seeking or monopolistic or technofeudal or enshittifying aspect of Amazon at all. How so? Amazon search is almost probably worse than 10 years ago.
- gopher_space 1mo ago
  He's not rejecting the claim, he's rejecting the terminology and probably the concepts. It's not a point of view I understand.
AndyMcConachie 1mo ago
Amazon regularly sends me spam emails.

latexr 1mo ago

Now show Seth’s audience (which has been accumulated for a long time) your explanation and theirs. I’d wager most people would be scratching their heads and rereading yours, while they’d breeze through Seth’s. In other words, your take may be shorter, but it’s not clearer or necessarily faster to read when aiming for comprehension. Seth doesn’t write for people who visit HN everyday.

cyansands 1mo ago

[flagged]