pluralistic

pluralistic, 25 days ago to random

Anything that can't go on forever eventually stops. Monopolies are intrinsically destabilizing and inevitably implode...eventually. Guessing which of the loathesome monopolies that make us all miserable will be the first domino is a hard call, but Ticketmaster is definitely high on my list.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/30/nix-fix-the-tix/#something-must-be-done-there-we-did-something

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pluralistic, 25 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Live Nation/Ticketmaster is buying Congress; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/30/nix-fix-the-tix/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 26 days ago to random

Cigna - like all private health insurers - has two contradictory imperatives:

I. To keep its customers healthy; and

II. To make as much money for its shareholders as is possible.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

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pluralistic, 26 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Cigna's nopeinator; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 28 days ago to random

One of my weirder and more rewarding hobbies is collecting definitions of "conservativism," and one of the jewels of that collection comes from Corey Robin's must-read book The Reactionary Mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reactionary_Mind

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/27/for-the-little-people/#alden-capital

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pluralistic, 28 days ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: The tax sharks are back and they're coming for your home; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/27/for-the-little-people/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

This is huge: yesterday, the FTC finalized a rule banning noncompete agreements for every American worker. That means that the person working the register at a Wendy's can switch to the fry-trap at McD's for an extra $0.25/hour, without their boss suing them:

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/capri-v-tapestry/#aiming-at-dollars-not-men

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Antitrust is a labor issue; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/25/capri-v-tapestry/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

All digital businesses have the technical capacity to enshittify: the ability to change the underlying functions of the business from moment to moment and user to user, allowing for the rapid transfer of value between business customers, end users and shareholders:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: The specific process by which Google enshittified its search; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

If AI has a future (a big if), it will have to be economically viable. An industry can't spend 1,700% more on Nvidia chips than it earns indefinitely - not even with Nvidia being a principle investor in its largest customers:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39883571

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: "Humans in the loop" must detect the hardest-to-spot errors, at superhuman speedInside: "Humans in the loop" must detect the hardest-to-spot errors, at superhuman speed; and more!; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Anyone who says "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product" has been suckered in by Big Tech, whose cargo-cult version of markets and the discipline they impose on companies.

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/#dont-buy-it

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Paying for it doesn't make it a market; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/22/kargo-kult-kaptialism/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

ceci n'est pas une bannière

#StreetFurniture #Recursion #Torino

pluralistic, 1 month ago to beer

Cyberpunk was a warning, not a suggestion

#beer #serbian #cyberpunk

pluralistic, 1 month ago to aitools

It was all downhill after 2018.

#ad #torino #ComputingHistory

pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Goldface

#torino #faces

pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Goldfinger

#wwi #torino #unhygienic

pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Pronto

#payphone #2600 #torino #turin

pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today in "Capitalists Hate Capitalism" news: The Appeal has published the first-ever survey of national prison commissary prices, revealing just how badly the prison profiteer system gouges American's all-time, world-record-beating prison population:

https://theappeal.org/locked-in-priced-out-how-much-prison-commissary-prices/

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/20/captive-market/#locked-in

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Greedflation, but for prisoners; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/20/captive-market/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Combine Angelou's "When someone shows you who they are, believe them" with the truism that in politics, "every accusation is a confession" and you get: "Every time someone accuses you of a vice, they're showing you who they are and you should believe them."

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer

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pluralistic, 1 month ago to random

Today's threads (a thread)

Inside: Precaratize bosses; and more!

Archived at: https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/

#Pluralistic

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pluralistic, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

This week on my podcast, I read "Capitalists Hate Capitalism," my latest column for @Locusmag:

https://locusmag.com/2024/03/cory-doctorow-capitalists-hate-capitalism/

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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/18/in-extremis-veritas/#the-winnah

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