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249 points randycupertino | 2 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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stego-tech ◴[] No.45949690[source]
I feel kinda bad for the writer, because it's a good question: no, curing patients is not a good business model, just like public transit is not a good business model.

What a lot of folks neglect are N+1-order effects, because those are harder to quantify and fail to reach the predetermined decision some executive or board or shareholder has already made. Is curing patients a bad business model? Sure, for the biotech company it is, but those cured patients are far more likely to go on living longer, healthier lives, and in turn contribute additional value to society - which will impact others in ways that may also create additional value. That doesn't even get into the jobs and value created through the R&D process, testing, manufacturing, logistics of delivery, ongoing monitoring, etc. As long as the value created is more than the cost of the treatment, then it's a net-gain for the economy even if it's a net loss for that singular business.

If all you're judging is the first-order impacts on a single business, you're missing the forest for the trees.

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charcircuit ◴[] No.45949906[source]
>just like public transit is not a good business model.

Uber has almost a 200B market cap for offering private transit. There is a working business model for transit.

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1. richbell ◴[] No.45949919[source]
Uber's business model is to be a loss leader to hamper competition, then jack up rider rates and lower drive rates. This is technically a 'working' business model, but hardly one that benefits the people.
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2. exasperaited ◴[] No.45950048[source]
Uber more generally exists not as a service provider but as an international legislative bulldozer: everywhere will be reduced to the misery of the land of the free. They exist only to fuck up worker protections in every form they take.