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A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

frankzliu.com

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Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#141

Post by bkirkby »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #81
bkirkby wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how totalitarian? you have free markets (which the manifesto supports) or planned economies and planned economies are where totalitarianism works.

> you have free markets ... or planned economies Believe it or not, humanity's economic markets cannot be fully described by two simple categories.

indeed but sometimes abstractions are useful. i would argue that in this case the binary is useful because of the PP's use of the word "totalitarian" (as in "totalitarian neofeudalist").

i am arguing that the word was misapplied to the essay since the essay was promoting free markets and it's central planning that offers opportunity for totalitarian control.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#142

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

bkirkby wrote: post #140
defrost wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bicameral was used by Jaynes in the sense of distinct seperate chambers of the mind, rather than political chambers; I can't say I agreed with his thesis but I always enjoyed his argument and the apropriation of the word. > i usually don't respond to distracting personal questions These were specific questions to tease out why you're presenting free market OR planned economies as the only choices- it smacked of certa…

i don't think anyone has a clear answer for "winning the argument" since definitions can be endlessly debated. i think a more useful question is "what about the existing US economy is what makes it work/effective?" another useful question is "what about other economies make them less effective than the US economy?" to answer the first question, the US economy works better when it's a freer market. magatte wade gives…

> i think a more useful question is...

I don't: that is a different question which isn't as useful as the one actually asked. Like the person you responded to without answering, I, too, am interested in hearing your direct and clear answer to the question, "Is the US as it operates today a free market?"

Would you mind answering that question, please?

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#143

Post by specialist »

bkirkby wrote: post #80
defrost wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the US as it operates today a free market (how free?) or a weighted control economy where the larger players have a greater weight of control of media and the political landscape via owned outlets and subsidised senators? Do small players in the US economy have equal access to the market, or are they overshadowed by near oligarchies? Are you always so bicameral?

the "control" of a "weighted control economy" is usually enforced through government (including those politicians you reference). so when we bring in more government then it's less free market. how close we are getting to a free market depends on who is in power and calling for reduced government intervention/regulations for businesses. as far as control of media, traditional media is becoming increasingly irrelevant…

Rules make the market. A "free market" without rules is neither free nor a market.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#144

Post by satvikpendem »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #131
andsoitis wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So why is so much of what Andreesen wants from the future not what they've invested in? You still want to invest in a particular company or people who you believe will make you tons of money. Just because someone is active directionally in what you believe will be the future does not necessarily mean you should put your money with them.

This makes sense as an answer but seems like an incredible indictment of venture capitalism, right? If they can't bring about a better, safer, healthier, science fiction future because it's less profitable than crypto, who can? If that essay had been a mea culpa, I'd like it a lot more

The government traditionally invests in such areas of public good.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#145

Post by satvikpendem »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #142
bkirkby wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't think anyone has a clear answer for "winning the argument" since definitions can be endlessly debated. i think a more useful question is "what about the existing US economy is what makes it work/effective?" another useful question is "what about other economies make them less effective than the US economy?" to answer the first question, the US economy works better when it's a freer market. magatte wade gives…

> i think a more useful question is... I don't: that is a different question which isn't as useful as the one actually asked. Like the person you responded to without answering, I, too, am interested in hearing your direct and clear answer to the question, "Is the US as it operates today a free market?" Would you mind answering that question, please?

If you can define what a free market is (to you), you have a higher likelihood of your question being answered, rather than continuing to ask it without any clarification. This is similar to what the parent was saying.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#146

Post by satvikpendem »

dools wrote: post #104
nyokodo wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> anarcho capitalism, in which a single entity wins because returns to capital accelerate. This single entity can then do whatever it likes. You could have a natural monopoly form in anarcho-capitalism but unless they also grabbed a monopoly on the use of force and barred competition (basically became the state) then if they did abuse their monopoly position they would inevitably have competition arise even if it was…

> unless they also grabbed a monopoly on the use of force and barred competition (basically became the state) That's absolutely inevitable. That's why I call it feudalism. What you just described is like the middle ages with various independent scattered kingdoms, or like a collapsed state where rival warlords compete for control, with the occassional uprising.

Well, that is any modern (or even pre-modern) nation-state too, vying for control over land and resources. Just because we don't have wars as much today over these things does not mean that they were not historically the norm. It's not feudalism, it's is the nature of humans to conquer and be conquered, regardless of whatever system they're in, political or economical.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#147

Post by bkirkby »

ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #142
bkirkby wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i don't think anyone has a clear answer for "winning the argument" since definitions can be endlessly debated. i think a more useful question is "what about the existing US economy is what makes it work/effective?" another useful question is "what about other economies make them less effective than the US economy?" to answer the first question, the US economy works better when it's a freer market. magatte wade gives…

> i think a more useful question is... I don't: that is a different question which isn't as useful as the one actually asked. Like the person you responded to without answering, I, too, am interested in hearing your direct and clear answer to the question, "Is the US as it operates today a free market?" Would you mind answering that question, please?

there are parts of the American market that are free and there are parts that are not. We'd have to get into specific details to classify said parts.

While I don't think the existing economy is so binary (bicameral?), you are free to assume either a free market or not and make your arguments accordingly to explore the principles of free markets versus planned economies. I don't think a critique of the general principles of free market versus not relief on my specific answer. We are talking about ideals espoused in a self-proclaimed manifesto, so it's appropriate to speak about the ideals.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#148

Post by defrost »

bkirkby wrote: post #147
ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i think a more useful question is... I don't: that is a different question which isn't as useful as the one actually asked. Like the person you responded to without answering, I, too, am interested in hearing your direct and clear answer to the question, "Is the US as it operates today a free market?" Would you mind answering that question, please?

there are parts of the American market that are free and there are parts that are not. We'd have to get into specific details to classify said parts. While I don't think the existing economy is so binary (bicameral?), you are free to assume either a free market or not and make your arguments accordingly to explore the principles of free markets versus planned economies. I don't think a critique of the general princip…

> While I don't think the existing economy is so binary

As a call back to how this started you yourself partitioned global(?) economies into

> you have free markets (which the manifesto supports) or planned economies

so you did in fact think that economies are this OR that.

For those of us in the real world many G20 and othe economies are hybrid with a mix of both features and "free market" is a loose term of idealogy that can mean one thing to readers of Adam Smith in his contemporous context and other things to various flavours of modern US libertarians.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#149

Post by ImPostingOnHN »

bkirkby wrote: post #147
ImPostingOnHN wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i think a more useful question is... I don't: that is a different question which isn't as useful as the one actually asked. Like the person you responded to without answering, I, too, am interested in hearing your direct and clear answer to the question, "Is the US as it operates today a free market?" Would you mind answering that question, please?

there are parts of the American market that are free and there are parts that are not. We'd have to get into specific details to classify said parts. While I don't think the existing economy is so binary (bicameral?), you are free to assume either a free market or not and make your arguments accordingly to explore the principles of free markets versus planned economies. I don't think a critique of the general princip…

> there are parts of the American market that are free and there are parts that are not.

That has been my observation, too: it is not a free market, but rather a composite.

Why do you think Americans chose to implement the "non-free" parts? What do you imagine they want out of government intervention, and why? Why do you think that Americans believe intervention is better than no intervention?

Those are the questions I think are worth discussing along the lines of the initial question, if the goal is to change what people want. You first must understand, empathize with, and internalize their motivation for what they currently want.

Re: A16Z blogs are just glorified marketing

#150

Post by patrickhogan1 »

patrickhogan1 wrote: post #77

Marc is very specific about this. He had a whole post on it.

https://pmarca.substack.com/p/availability-cascades-run-the-...

Availability entrepreneurs are “social agents who understand the dynamics of availability cascades and seek to exploit their insights. Located anywhere in the social system, including the government, the media, nonprofit organizations, the business sector, and even households, these entrepreneurs attempt to trigger availability cascades likely to advance their own agendas. They do so by fixing people's attention on specific problems, interpreting phenomena in particular ways, and attempting to raise the salience of certain information.”

Marc goes on to say very transparently...

"What am I doing with this blog post? Trying to spark an availability cascade about availability cascades."

It appears that a16z's strategy was successful. You are posting about a16z's blog posts thus contributing to the spread of the blog posts ideas.

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