Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

doctorow.medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 213 posts

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

#131

Post by ngneer »

Ancapistani wrote: post #35
blfr wrote: 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…

> 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. I'm going to have to strongly disagree here, particularly w/r/t reliability. We purchased my wife's vehicle new in 2014. While it's relatively well-regarded and we're happy with it overall, it's been far from trouble-free. We recently replaced the engi…

Please do, it is an insightful comment. Complexity is the enemy of reliability, 100%. I wish engineers were better at resisting it. Sadly, many stars must align for complexity to decrease.

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

#132

Post by api »

danaris wrote: post #43
carom wrote: post #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…

> I think the customer has just changed. Consumers don't have money anymore. Businesses do. ...You...recognize that's not a sustainable state of affairs, right? Ultimately, if consumers don't have money, the economy will start to collapse. The upper echelons can feed on each other for a while, but you need an economic base to support the whole edifice. Plus, if "consumers" are unable to get what they need for surviva…

It was sustainable as long as interest rates were near or at zero. Businesses could raise money seemingly forever, and could grow on the backs of other businesses raising easy money.

A lot of this could be a zero interest rate phenomenon.

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

#133

Post by pavel_lishin »

johntiger1 wrote: post #96

I think Cory is going a little too harsh on Uber/Amazon. People use them because they provide convenience and ease-of-use, and are willing to pay for a better customer experience. If anything, 'taxi medallions' are literally the original form of feudalism and collecting rent from doing nothing.

Amazon's "customer experience" is one of the reasons I no longer purchase from them.

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

#134

Post by rhyme-boss »

coldpie wrote: post #118
e_i_pi_2 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this idea of taking "taxation without representation" and using it at a lens for companies which are often as powerful as governments in some ways. I'm not sure what a good solution would be, but something like the BBB with more power seems like it's be useful so people can report companies and have them fined proportionally to their income so it's an effective deterrent.

> I'm not sure what a good solution would be Anti-trust enforcement. Each and every big-name company you can name needs to be broken up into at least 30 different business entities. The current FTC is taking the first steps in the right direction, but it's going to take a lot of time & effort to build that department back up after 30+ years of them being inactive.

- anti trust legislation

- reversal of Citizens United

- higher taxes on extremely rich businesses and individuals

All these things would help, but they are also government actions, which have been captured by business interests.

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

#135

Post by Night_Thastus »

>there's still not much discussion of why the car-makers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe, and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips.

I disagree with this statement - at the very least for safety. Modern safety systems are leagues ahead of anything from even 10 years ago - and microelectronic machines (MEMs) and all the various sensors and processors are key to making that possible. It's not just the obvious things like pedestrian and car collision detection and brake assist - it's also things like sensors that can better time the deployment of airbags.

Cars are only getting safer and safer. (Though there's obviously the problem with trucks and SUVs, but that's a side discussion)

Another aspect is fuel efficiency. In the name of fuel efficiency, many new systems had to be developed and older ones made more complex. We can't just have fixed valve timings anymore - we need varible valve timing. We can't just shoot out exhaust, we use EGR. And again, these systems need advanced sensors and processors more often then not. This complexity hurts the reliability of cars somewhat. But it's worth it to not only increase power, but also improve fuel efficiency.

Also, this isn't true at all:

>The only computer we know how to make is the Turing Complete Von Neumann Machine, which can run every program we know how to write.

I guess finite state automata just don't exist.

The rest of this article seems like a mess that almost doesn't deal with cars. There are some real, legitimate complaints with some modern cars. Some automakers have gone the route of touchscreens where physical controls would be far better for a variety of reasons. Subscriptions for features that don't cost the automaker anything after the fact is also awful. But the article rants on about (in my view) unrelated topics so much that it detracts from more concrete problems.

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

#136

Post by RosanaAnaDana »

ravenstine wrote: post #83
fefe23 wrote: post #38

> To make Medium work, we log user data. By using Medium, you agree to our Privacy Policy, including cookie policy. > Read the full story with a free account. Please don't link to Medium when you can link to, in this case, Pluralistic. https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-de... Medium.com has been thoroughly enshittified :)

I don't actually believe we should (yet?), but I kinda wish we'd just ban Medium.com both for its hostile UI and its generally low-quality TEDx-like content.

Also, the distinct and clear path it carved that went directly towards enshittification. Its not (only) that its so shitty, its that it once represented a truly better thing.

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

#137

Post by UncleOxidant »

Night_Thastus wrote: post #135

>there's still not much discussion of why the car-makers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe, and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips. I disagree with this statement - at the very least for safety. Modern safety systems are leagues ahead of anything from even 10 years ago - and microelectronic machines (MEMs) and all the various sensors and processors are key to making t…

> Cars are only getting safer and safer. (Though there's obviously the problem with trucks and SUVs, but that's a side discussion)

There are less and less cars and more and more SUVs, though, so it's kind of a central issue when discussing safety.

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

#138

Post by [deleted] »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #137
Night_Thastus wrote: post #135

>there's still not much discussion of why the car-makers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe, and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips. I disagree with this statement - at the very least for safety. Modern safety systems are leagues ahead of anything from even 10 years ago - and microelectronic machines (MEMs) and all the various sensors and processors are key to making t…

> Cars are only getting safer and safer. (Though there's obviously the problem with trucks and SUVs, but that's a side discussion) There are less and less cars and more and more SUVs, though, so it's kind of a central issue when discussing safety.

[deleted]

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

#139

Post by Night_Thastus »

UncleOxidant wrote: post #137
Night_Thastus wrote: post #135

>there's still not much discussion of why the car-makers are making their products less attractive, less reliable, less safe, and less resilient by stuffing them full of microchips. I disagree with this statement - at the very least for safety. Modern safety systems are leagues ahead of anything from even 10 years ago - and microelectronic machines (MEMs) and all the various sensors and processors are key to making t…

> Cars are only getting safer and safer. (Though there's obviously the problem with trucks and SUVs, but that's a side discussion) There are less and less cars and more and more SUVs, though, so it's kind of a central issue when discussing safety.

Sure, but it's a side discussion to the concern the post originally brought up - which suggested that increasing complexity and use of microprocessors made cars less safe - which is obviously untrue. The SUV problem is separate from the discussions it makes.

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

#140

Post by edgyquant »

uoaei wrote: post #117
em500 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. That's seems like a fact-free assertion. Both (inflation adjusted) disposable income and actual consumption spending for US households have grown at a steady rate since WWII. The only substantial deviation from trend (upwards for income,…

Cumulative measures such as these are extremely misleading. Per capita measures only slightly less so. Without looking into the distribution over the population there is no real connection between your comment and the parent's.

You or the parent are more than welcome to post data proving the opposite is true. Instead both of you are just stating things with nothing but vibes to back it up.
Post reply on HN