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Scale Ruins Everything

(coldwaters.substack.com)
175 points drc500free | 3 comments | 14 Oct 24 17:34 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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daxfohl ◴[14 Oct 24 20:15 UTC] No.41841448[source]▶
Given that we've been throwing cash at every conceivable idea for the last ten plus years, yet when speaking of unicorns we still have to refer back to airbnb and uber, seems like we're well past "peak unicorn" and well into the "horse with a mild concussion" era.
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Terr_ ◴[14 Oct 24 20:21 UTC] No.41841513[source]▶
It's also disconcerting how much their success seems to hinge on using technology as a lever to break laws or social expectations, as opposed to technology as something that itself empowers humans to be more productive.
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ahmeneeroe-v2 ◴[14 Oct 24 20:55 UTC] No.41841888[source]▶
Pretty hard for me to lament laws being broken when the laws boil down to "you're not allowed to compete with this monopoly".
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sgdfhijfgsdfgds ◴[14 Oct 24 21:05 UTC] No.41841992{3}[source]▶
Do you lament e.g. Uber knowingly breaking laws, and then in the knowledge that they are knowingly breaking laws and under scrutiny for doing so, also actively building functionality into their systems that helps them criminally evade scrutiny?

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/uber-files-leak...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/technology/uber-greyball-...

This is a level of deliberate, optional fraud that goes a step beyond, is it not? It's organised crime.

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1. cyberax ◴[14 Oct 24 21:25 UTC] No.41842196{4}[source]▶
Eh. If they break laws to bust the monopolies, more power to them.
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2. sgdfhijfgsdfgds ◴[14 Oct 24 21:29 UTC] No.41842239[source]▶
I do so love the HN culture that laws are for little people.
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3. kelnos ◴[14 Oct 24 21:58 UTC] No.41842467[source]▶
Uber was the little person when they started out, busting those monopolies.

They should absolutely be held to a higher standard today, now that they are more or less one of those monopolies.