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Comparing this to indentured servitude is pretty silly. A serf has to eat. If all your friends and family are on Facebook and refuse to interact with you via
by abraininavat 14y ago
Comparing this to indentured servitude is pretty silly. A serf has to eat. If all your friends and family are on Facebook and refuse to interact with you via any other means, that is not the same as being forced.
- Jtsummers 14y agoHe isn't comparing it to forced labor of some sort. He's comparing it to the nature of the social relationship between the users/service provides.
- abraininavat 14y agoWhat? Ignoring the fact that I can't figure out what your second sentence means, obviously he's comparing it to forced labor. That's what we're talking about.
- Jtsummers 14y agoTrying to clarify what I mean, I'll probably give up after this as I'm on my 3rd day of very little sleep so perhaps I'm just incoherent. My reading of his linked essay is as a discussion of the power dynamic between users and companies they rely on. This is compared with a romanticized version of feudalism. While the users are not compelled to actually use these services, once they enter into them they are at the mercy of the companies (feudal lords) to not take advantage of their much greater position of power (like his version of the early feudal era serfs).