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> It is inconceivable for this demographic to think of a product that can enrich both the corporation and the users. Would you care to provide an example of su
by DetectDefect 8mo ago
> It is inconceivable for this demographic to think of a product that can enrich both the corporation and the users.
Would you care to provide an example of such a product, to dissuade this perceived demographic cohort? I am not so certain your creative name calling will yield much results, however.
- maxerickson 8mo agoIt's literally everything that people in relatively free markets buy. Microsoft Windows is a great example that people will get really angry about, but like bubble gum also enriches the producer, seller and buyer.
- simianwords 8mo agoIt’s concerning that this was even a question!!!
- ipaddr 8mo agoThose are not great examples. Bubble gum puts the buyer in a worse dental health situation. Windows is a monopoly that controls the desktop market and the buyer would have been better off with a richer market with a variety of options. You could have said cigarettes. They provide the same pleasure benefits as gum with unhealthy outcomes for the buyer.
- maxerickson 8mo agoYou are making the mistake of asserting that the buyer exactly shares your values. With Windows, I didn't assert that it was the value maximizing case, merely that it benefits both parties. Which it does, mostly likely to the advantage of the buyers.
- DetectDefect 8mo agoBy the same logic, an inmate in prison is benefiting from incarceration because they are receiving food and housing. Obviously, the costs of being imprisoned is greater than any "enrichment" from it, and this is exactly the case with Windows and almost all technology.
- maxerickson 8mo agoI would you my statement about relatively free markets addresses that. Businesses that expand their licensing agreements with Microsoft aren't doing it because they are being coerced.
- DetectDefect 8mo ago"Free" market coercion is probably the only reason companies like Microsoft are still in business.
- simianwords 8mo agoChatGPT
- DetectDefect 8mo agoThis "enrichment" is wildly asymmetrical to users, however.
- simianwords 8mo agoFor sure I get much much more value out of it than I pay
- DetectDefect 8mo agoThat is not the asymmetrical power dynamic described between you and technology.
- simianwords 8mo ago“Power dynamic” yet another metaphysical concern
- DetectDefect 8mo agoConcern for metaphysics is shared by many great thinkers, including Aristotle and Kant, so your unwillingness to even apprehend it is disappointing.
- simianwords 8mo agonext time you buy shampoo from the store, please do think about Aristotle and Kant
- brianf0 8mo agoI mean… you don’t need to look very hard. Smart phones? Google Maps? Is your life not enhanced by these products?
- DetectDefect 8mo agoNot really. The provide convenience, sure, but fundamentally all technology creates dependence and limits freedom by influencing behavior in subtle ways, while disproportionately benefiting the technology owner/operator.
- simianwords 8mo agoYou are part of the demographic I described.
- DetectDefect 8mo agoCool. Got anything interesting to say to us, besides expressing your disbelief at our mere existence?
- brianf0 8mo agoHow does, say, refrigeration create dependence and limit freedom? What are we “supposed” to be like?
- carlosjobim 8mo ago> Would you care to provide an example of such a product Go to a pharmacy and look at the shelves and you will find such products. All made by companies looking for a profit. Or just look everywhere around you, and you will see things made by corporation for their profit, which you have purchased to enrich your own life.
- DetectDefect 8mo agoA pharmacy is a terrible example, as medicine is grossly overpriced for exactly the reason you state. The "users" may be getting "enriched" but the pharmacy is profiting a substantial order of magnitude more.
- carlosjobim 8mo agoHow could any pharmaceutical seller profit more than a patient whose life is saved by medicine? There is no profit that is larger than your survival and your health. It's not even comparable. How can you value money above your own life? Besides, most life saving and health saving medicine is cheap, so it doesn't matter if some revolutionary committee thinks they are "overpriced".