We, as an industry, need to stop seeing users as a resource from which to extract value.
I mean, yes, but... at the end of the day this is a capitalist society, and if you want to build, say, Google, you do not get your funding by convincing a central planner that this will benefit people, you get your funding by convincing an investor that you can make them rich.
The question is how can we preserve the best interests of our users while creating profitable businesses, which is a hard problem that I do not know the solution to.
There's a zillion alternatives to capitalism. Those of us whose imagination got sucked out of our heads, unfortunately seem incapable of exiting a framework like neoliberalism's "capitalism vs. Soviet Union". As if there's nothing to drink beyond Coke vs Pepsi.
Comments
I mean, yes, but... at the end of the day this is a capitalist society, and if you want to build, say, Google, you do not get your funding by convincing a central planner that this will benefit people, you get your funding by convincing an investor that you can make them rich.
The question is how can we preserve the best interests of our users while creating profitable businesses, which is a hard problem that I do not know the solution to.
capitalist society is not a static - we can and must change this to benefit people
Ok, but what does that mean? Change how?
There's a zillion alternatives to capitalism. Those of us whose imagination got sucked out of our heads, unfortunately seem incapable of exiting a framework like neoliberalism's "capitalism vs. Soviet Union". As if there's nothing to drink beyond Coke vs Pepsi.