how would that situation have played out without capitalism?
Comment on Google has sent internet into ‘spiral of decline’, claims DeepMind co-founder
LemmysMum@lemmy.world 11 months ago
And if you follow the chain of causation to the top what do we find?
bort@feddit.de 11 months ago
laskoune@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Not everything is 100% capitalism or 0% capitalism In this case, unregulated capitalism and the basic human greed are responsible for this situation. Everybody wants to make a quick buck, never mind the consequences Also a full capitalist system would not have invented the internet as we know it or the World Wide Web or even the micro computing industry
Aceticon@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The purest Capitalism is Unregulated Capitalism: Regulated Capitalism means that there is some other ideology (in the basic sense of “set of ideas”) guiding the decisions about the where and how to regulate said Capitalism and having the power to impose itself on Capitalism (otherwise it wouldn’t be “regulating” it, just “advising” it, which would be promptly ignored).
The problem is exactly that the dominant political system we’ve had for the last 4 decades, often known as neoliberalism, is all about removing regulations on Capitalism (hence neoliberalism), so a movement to make Capitalism the one and only political ideology with any real power for every and all political decisions in Society, not merelly the one related to Trading. This is why it’s now common for mainstream politicians to hard all about “doing what’s best for businesses”, unconditionally and never once using the caveat that Society should only help businesses which are good for Society.
The problem is exactly that we’ve been moving to 100% Capitalism, with not other ideology providing oversight over it.
Maybe Capitalism does work well as a means to optimize resource allocation and bottom-up economic coordination for optimal results in some markets, but it most certainly doesn’t work well at maximizing outcomes for the greatest number, in terms of systemic survival (Capitalism brough up Polution, which it most definitelly wasn’t solved by it, and now Global Warming) and doesn’t even seem to work well in markets which aren’t highly liquid with no negative externalities (i.e. naturally very competitive and non poluting or otherwise damaging).
docclox@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Also a full capitalist system would not have invented the internet as we know it
We’d have had CompuServe, only bigger. Subscription only, walled garden environments.
Might have got something close to modern ubiquity with cable companies bundling search and forum functions in with the video, but it would still be heavily monetised and tightly controlled.
Darkenfolk@dormi.zone 11 months ago
Nope, Chuck Testa.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Yeah…not so simple.
Our system based on infinite growth for the investors is what fucks everything up. The incessant need for MORE places pressure on companies to fuck someone over for money once the initial innovative growth stage ends and the market gets saturated. They buy or crush what they the can. Usually the employees get it first with hiring cheaper labor, reduction in fringe and real benefits, rising costs for existing benefits, etc. Then the consumer gets hit next with enshittification. Shittier services, harder to access services, unbundling, more fees, shittier products, etc. often compounded with more in-your-face marketing.
Not_Alec_Baldwin@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Hmmm, someone could write a book about this!
echolomaniac@lemmy.world 11 months ago
And call it “The Money” or something.
avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 11 months ago
Someone wrote a book about this.
Maven@lemmy.sdf.org 11 months ago
You could make a religion out of this!
Pofski@sopuli.xyz 11 months ago
Another good examples of this I feel is how netflix is doing (and disney+ now as well). Year over year profits for shareholders have ruined what used to be good (or at least descent) businesses.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I figure it’s like cable companies. They get you hooked with a low price that puts the squeeze on competitors, then slowly jack up the fees on existing customers. It’s a safe bet when peer companies are also raising prices because where can the customers jump ship to that isn’t the exact same enshittified service? Plus, if there’s a series they’ve got you hooked on, are you going to want to leave or just rationalize that nobody else is better?
IMO we’re going to see more “subscribe for [extended time period]” and save $2/mo or maybe even timed contracts with abusive cancellation fees.
grayman@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The modern stock market sucks ass. I’m convinced that most of the problems with companies is tied to focusing on stock price.