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> Arguably, there is nothing more important for a human being as an sentient organism than an endorphin fix obtained from various sources: love, surprise, food,
by weland 13y ago
> Arguably, there is nothing more important for a human being as an sentient organism than an endorphin fix obtained from various sources: love, surprise, food, etc.
On one hand, the balance of values is more complex than "there is nothing more important than the endorphin fix that allows you to translate your values into pleasures for your brain". Hookers and weed give you ten times the endorphin fix Snapchat gives you, and yet there aren't too many people who would eagerly applaud investment in that.
So no, I don't think that I am intellectually dishonest in claiming that the umpteenth incremental improvement over a photo sharing app significantly improves people's lives. Snapchat isn't shaping the form of future communication, it doesn't bring people closer together any closer than IRC already does, it's not encouraging communities anymore than a dinner conversation is. It just makes sexting somewhat trendier, and twenty years from now we will look upon Snapchat the same way that we now look at elm.
On the other hand, Snapchat is not the same as "the messaging apps". I'm not claiming messaging applications in general are useless; I'm claiming that Snapchat is just a slightly trendier one. The money that were invested in it, while creating financial profit in the short term, are hardly used for any significant impact. Some people will end up with fuller pockets, big deal.
- vdaniuk 13y agoI see no problem with investing in weed and prostitution if it is beneficial for all(impossible) or most stakeholders. Yes, Snapchat provides small incremental improvement of people's lives. But it does it for 25M users, mind that. And that incremental improvement is considered to be worth more 3B dollars. Why? Because you can attach a business model to that improvement and extract revenues. It is simultaneously filling pockets of some people and providing value for users. If you don't think that sexting is valuable, that is your personal opinion. Millions of people think otherwise.
- weland 13y ago> Why? Because you can attach a business model to that improvement and extract revenues. I don't think that is a reason to attach more value to something. I realize this is not everyone's opinion, of course.