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Scale Ruins Everything

(coldwaters.substack.com)
175 points drc500free | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.199s | source
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daxfohl ◴[] 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_ ◴[] 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 ◴[] 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 ◴[] No.41841992[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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ahmeneeroe-v2 ◴[] No.41842183[source]
No, I don't care about that at all. Why do you care?

Someone, generations ago, made a law saying people in your town could only solicit car rides if they paid a special tax, and now you're out here vigorously defending that dead model.

State-enforced monopolies are often legalized corruption. I care more about that than some corporation using their resources to break that corruption.

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TimTheTinker ◴[] No.41842258[source]
> Why do you care?

Not OP, but I believe in the rule of law, and in a republic governed by elected officials.

It's not OK for powerful actors, especially companies, billionaires, and government officials, to willingly and knowingly break the law.

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1. ahmeneeroe-v2 ◴[] No.41842864[source]
Thank you. I do generally agree with you.

In this particular example with Uber, I see "powerful actors" many decades ago breaking our social contract by using the force of the government to implement a monopoly for their own profit and everyone else's expense. Legal, yes, in the strictest sense of the word, but certainly against what I value about my particular republic (USA).

So Uber here is more "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" than a company I actually admire.