matthest

7 ms·

61.
by matthest 2y ago
Well let's look at ridesharing as an example. It's basically dominated by Uber and Lyft, i.e., minimal competition. The nature of the market is that you need a large network of drivers to succeed. That network is a powerful barrie
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by matthest 2y ago
Those are valid examples, but conflated with the problem that there is limited competition in all the industries you mentioned. Which makes monopolies much easier for the existing companies with power. Counter examples of capitalist industr
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by matthest 2y ago
I guess it depends on which definition you use at this point, but Adam Smith's original definition of capitalism fundamentally required free markets. Of course, what we have today is not Adam Smith's capitalism.
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by matthest 2y ago
As a non-robotics/AI expert, does anyone know if this reconciles with the article from yesterday about how China is leading the race in robotics? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43331358
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by matthest 2y ago
Copy/pasting from below: The bet would be that in the long run (talking 5-10 years down the road after the EU has built their defense), the EU would still be more likely to ally with the US than China. The current administration perhap
66.
by matthest 2y ago
The bet would be that in the long run (talking 5-10 years down the road after the EU has built their defense), the EU would still be more likely to ally with the US then China. The current administration perhaps thinks that alienating them
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by matthest 2y ago
I don't agree with the execution, but here's what I think this is what Trump is really trying to do: Right now, it's basically the US vs Russia and China. But what Trump is betting on is that it could be the US + EU + Russia
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by matthest 2y ago
When you eat at a restaurant, are you making an informed choice? I'd argue no. I have no idea if the cook that made my meal 30 seconds ago actually followed proper safety guidelines. However, I think in general, the probability is dece
69.
by matthest 2y ago
We're actually in complete agreement over this scenario. In my original comment, I discussed why you can't have no regulations in an industry that's highly concentrated. Deregulating only works if and only if the underlying
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by matthest 2y ago
I'm pro airline regulation given the current state of the market. But you could also argue the airline industry is fairly concentrated. There are only so many airlines. If a Delta flight crashes, you might still fly Delta again in the
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by matthest 2y ago
It's not so much a theory as it is an attempt to understand what we already observe in the real world. Why is it that restaurants, barbers, car washes, and other small business industries have thrived for so long despite minimal regula
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by matthest 2y ago
However, in reality, barbers (at least in the US) are not dangerous places. If a barber starts acting in a way that makes their customers come down with infections, customers will take their business to the other barber down the street. If
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by matthest 2y ago
As a half-Libertarian, the problem with a lot of libertarian logic is that it's too black and white. Less government/regulation is good if and only if the underlying market is highly competitive. High competition protects consum
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by matthest 2y ago
Love to see it. Regenerative farming is about to make a comeback in America.
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by matthest 2y ago
Agreed. But in the modern era, the abandoning of the Gold Standard so Gov could print money to fight in Vietnam was as major catalyst.
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by matthest 2y ago
https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/a-guide... From CBPP, a left-leaning think tank: "The years from the end of World War II into the 1970s were ones of substantial economic growth and broadl
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by matthest 2y ago
You can thank Nixon and the abandoning of the Gold Standard in 1971 for this problem. It allowed government to print $ unchecked. When new $ gets printed, it goes to the corporations/rich first , causing inflation for everyone else. T
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by matthest 2y ago
Yes. The explanation of "it's just something the brain drums up to make death more comforting" has always seemed like something people will laugh at 100 years from now.
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by matthest 2y ago
Many researchers consider death bed visioning (when the dying sees a loved one in their waning moments) as not a hallucination, definitionally speaking. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/magazine/death
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by matthest 2y ago
Assuming LLMs eventually get really really good at this. Do you see this destroying prediction-based markets (i.e. the stock market and Polymarket)? Markets exist because there's uncertainty about the future. If LLMs can predict with e
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by matthest 2y ago
TLDR: China is now more capitalist than the US when it comes to tech.
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Lina Khan: DeepSeek Serves as a Warning About Big Tech(nytimes.com)
5 points by matthest 2y ago|2 comments
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by matthest 2y ago
This is completely tangential, but does anyone know if AI is creating any new jobs? Thinking of the OCR vendors who get replaced. Where might they go? One thing I can think of is that AI could help the space industry take off. But wondering
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by matthest 2y ago
I think in theory it's a good thing that companies shift with the political winds. Companies technically have disproportionate power. It's better that they shift according to the will of the people. The alternative, that compani
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by matthest 2y ago
The path we're on was inevitable the second man discovered fire. No matter which way you look at it, we live on a planet where resources are scarce. Which means there will be competition. Which means there will be innovation in weaponr
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by matthest 2y ago
Brilliant. Someone should do this same concept but for short-form essays. So like Twitter, but with 3-4 paragraph essays.
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by matthest 2y ago
I think it's the opposite, despite the people who are extra loud about it. Trump admires Xi and Elon loves China. The people at the very top are more China-friendly than the last administration.
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by matthest 2y ago
In my limited experience, the summaries often include a lot of false information.
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by matthest 2y ago
Good summary. Also worth noting that Denver is experiencing something similar. Not the same context, but also an increase of new supply leading to lowered prices: https://www.denverpost.com/2025/01/24/metro-de
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by matthest 2y ago
Supply and demand 101 is undefeated.

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