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Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

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11–20 of 213 posts

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#11
post #7

>Yanis Varoufakis proposes that capitalism has died — but it wasn’t replaced by socialism. Rather, capitalism has given way to feudalism: This to me is what is really happening. A good symbol of this is income inequality and to a lesser extent, no real action on climate change. Eventually, the "lords" will be in their castles were we most people bake. The "knights" could be the tech people.

Capitalism is not dead, then. The destination of unregulated capitalism has always been feudalism.

Unfortunately the lords think they will be able to survive in little mansions and that climate change will never make them miserable personally. So they have spent small amounts of capital brainwashing rubes against taking any action so they can continue raking in large amounts of capital with destructive practices.

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#12
While I dislike the elecronification trend, cars are definitely better than they were 30-40 years ago, in a completely different league when it comes to reliability. Plenty of people also like the touchscreens or seemingly superflous features like Tesla's dog mode. Not gearheads but many normies genuinely do.

To the extent that cars did get worse, it was mostly to meet stringent emissions regulations, not computers or capitalism. So yeah, maybe worse for owners but better for people around them.

Sadly, it seems like capitalism, yet again, delivered what people really wanted, whether it's shitty toy cars or algorithmic Tik Tok feed. It held a mirror to the society and we don't like what we're seeing.

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#13
post #12

While I dislike the elecronification trend, cars are definitely better than they were 30-40 years ago, in a completely different league when it comes to reliability. Plenty of people also like the touchscreens or seemingly superflous features like Tesla's dog mode. Not gearheads but many normies genuinely do. To the extent that cars did get worse, it was mostly to meet stringent emissions regulations, not computers o…

> It held a mirror to the society and we don't like what we're seeing.

That mirror is heavily influencing the way we behave.

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#14
post #10

More of this from the aging generations, huh? https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/comic-book-c... Same with jazz, DnD, same with rock music, same with rap No one seems to have much rage for the environment, just their mind palace

Do you have a cogent argument as to why technofeudalism is either not sweeping the world, or is ultimately beneficial to its serfs?

“Light my strawman on fire for me.”

Grandpa’s definitions do not need to be our definitions.

People are playing some banal brinksmanship game “oooh that fall afoul of some vague mutable truth we’ve been conditioned to believe is immutable; get im fellas!”

What are you all going to do to STOP the problems? Debating the diagnosis is allowing it to spread. Only real change in agency will stop it and no one seems into that.

So why sit here thinking answering your questions is useful?

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#15
post #12

While I dislike the elecronification trend, cars are definitely better than they were 30-40 years ago, in a completely different league when it comes to reliability. Plenty of people also like the touchscreens or seemingly superflous features like Tesla's dog mode. Not gearheads but many normies genuinely do. To the extent that cars did get worse, it was mostly to meet stringent emissions regulations, not computers o…

>Plenty of people also like the touchscreens or seemingly superflous features

There was a recent story about how people do not like the touchscreens and tech in their cars.

https://www.theverge.com/23801545/car-infotainment-customer-...

Personally I'm not a fan of most of the recent car tech, it's often trying too hard and not making things any easier for people.

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#17
>Today, we live in a rentier's paradise. People don't aspire to create value – they aspire to capture it... don't provide a service, just figure out a way to interpose yourself between the provider and the customer

I think the customer has just changed. Consumers don't have money anymore. Businesses do. Maybe said a different way, for the highest margin products you are targeting businesses.

A consumer spending 100k is a often a lifetime purchase. A business spending that may just be so they can improve efficiency by 5% or hang onto onto their budget next year.

Your competition are large companies taking small amounts of value from a huge number of customers. Consumers have gotten used to "not paying" (e.g. paying through ad views) and, for that reason, a more traditional exchange has become difficult.

This problem seems to be that consumer companies are moving toward an extraction at scale model. It is less market choice but often produces a free or subsidized product.

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#18
post #12

While I dislike the elecronification trend, cars are definitely better than they were 30-40 years ago, in a completely different league when it comes to reliability. Plenty of people also like the touchscreens or seemingly superflous features like Tesla's dog mode. Not gearheads but many normies genuinely do. To the extent that cars did get worse, it was mostly to meet stringent emissions regulations, not computers o…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_r5UJrxcck

Malibu vs Bel Air crash test.

You better believe that modern cars are better, its incredible how _BAD_ cars were before we cared about safety.

And that's just safety. Today's cars have better MPG, go faster, have more power, easier to maintain, consistently hit 150,000 miles, etc. etc.

Re: Autoenshittification. How the computer killed capitalism. – by Cory Doctorow

#19

More of this from the aging generations, huh? https://exhibits.library.duke.edu/exhibits/show/comic-book-c... Same with jazz, DnD, same with rock music, same with rap No one seems to have much rage for the environment, just their mind palace

> No one seems to have much rage for the environment, just their mind palace

Even so, are we better off if people decide to stop driving, however misguided their reasons?

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