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We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

derekthompson.org

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Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#181

Post by throwaway28731 »

kakacik wrote: post #116
jackfruitpeel wrote: post #88

The craziest thing here is that online gambling has been legal in the UK and Ireland for many years, and it's been such an obvious negative for those countries — and had been optimized brutally like any other tech product. When I moved over to the US a decade ago, I remember thinking 'well at least they're smart enough to have banned online gambling'. I am very pro personal liberties, but this stuff is weaponized to…

> anyone who has worked on these products should not be hired Respect for that. Everybody seems to give up to all-powerful corporations and greed for short term profits seem to blind many otherwise brilliant folks into amoral and/or outright stupid shortsighted behavior and moral 'flexibility'. Nice to see good reason to keep some hope for humanity. I do myself just a sliver of this via purchasing choices for me and…

[dead]

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#182

Post by ggggffggggg »

rustystump wrote: post #173
UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Wow. Glad i wont ever work for/with you. Not because i worked at any of those “bad bad” companies but because your take is a horrible sign of what to expect. Like, if it was a pm or leadership person i can kinda understand it. They are the ones pushing direction. But what, some call center support guy is sol because his resume has kelshi on it? Not everyone is in a position to have luxury beliefs.

But if you are hiring people that have had that luxury, and yet have chosen immoral paths, what does that say about them and about you?

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#183

Post by littlecranky67 »

UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #127
bluetidepro wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm in senior leadership, and have made it clear that anyone who has worked on these products should not be hired. Can't say I agree with that specific take (and find it a bit naive to be honest), unless you're also not hiring anyone from companies like Amazon, Meta, and all the other tech companies that have also ruined/preyed on society in their own way just as much as any gambling app has.

[flagged]

If it is your company then this is fine, it is your money afterall, and can do as you see fit. If you are employed or have co-shareholders, you are managing someone elses money. And you are not supposed to act within your morals, but those of the company. It would be kind of hipocritical to act on your own morals using someone elses money - up to the point where it could be illegal misapropriation. And then taking the moral highground and being judgemental about people because they worked in gambling is probably something one should reconsider.

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#184

Post by RyanOD »

taurath wrote: post #94

The entire country seems built on taking advantage of people, from my vantage point right now. Whether it’s attention, drugs, or business/legal leverage, everyone is out for advantage and they’re not even pretending to care about people they affect.

Completely agree with this. I watch many commercials on television targeting elderly folks and I just cringe. They seem to be doing everything they can to separate the viewer from their money for a dubious product or service.

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#185

Post by JumpCrisscross »

bluetidepro wrote: post #104
jackfruitpeel wrote: post #88

The craziest thing here is that online gambling has been legal in the UK and Ireland for many years, and it's been such an obvious negative for those countries — and had been optimized brutally like any other tech product. When I moved over to the US a decade ago, I remember thinking 'well at least they're smart enough to have banned online gambling'. I am very pro personal liberties, but this stuff is weaponized to…

> I'm in senior leadership, and have made it clear that anyone who has worked on these products should not be hired. Can't say I agree with that specific take (and find it a bit naive to be honest), unless you're also not hiring anyone from companies like Amazon, Meta, and all the other tech companies that have also ruined/preyed on society in their own way just as much as any gambling app has.

> unless you're also not hiring anyone from companies like Amazon, Meta, and all the other tech companies that have also ruined/preyed on society in their own way just as much as any gambling app has

It depends on the role. If you were doing something deeply technical, or facing customers who loved your work, I think you get a pass. If you were building features nobody outside your company is thankful for, you need to do a convincing repentance act. If you worked on Instagram for Kids or whale optimization, fuck off.

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#186

Post by pixl97 »

mhh__ wrote: post #96
sam0x17 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially when the "prediction" part isn't even part of the product, it is an accidental byproduct. No one pays for access to the predictions. And they aren't predictions, they are more like "outcome-shaping" markets, since the more liquidity that gets dumped on a particular outcome, the more motivation there is to tamper with the real-world outcome, and at a certain point it will just always happen if it is billion…

Those predictions are just market data, market data is often very expensive (my data usage at work is probably about $100k a year and i'm not even a trader), I imagine polymarket will be too when they are more established.

>Those predictions are just market data,

Any kind of fraud is just market data when you pay enough for it.

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#187

Post by nitwit005 »

blitzar wrote: post #62

Americans may be shocked to hear that in the rest of the world gambling has been a thing for centuries. We also have people under the age of 20 drinking alcohol. I am not suggesting in any way that gambling is good - but it wasnt invented last week in america

Americans would definitely not be shocked at the idea of gambling being legal, and I don't know why you'd think they would be. The US has gambling tourist destinations.

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#188

Post by BowBun »

whattheheckheck wrote: post #170
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pay our enemies to reveal their secrets to us Something tells me China has better opsec around such leaks than we do.

Taiwan is going to be invaded before 2030

Then go bet on it! Why are you telling us?

Re: We haven't seen the worst of what gambling and prediction markets will do

#190

Post by JumpCrisscross »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #183
UqWBcuFx6NV4r wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If it is your company then this is fine, it is your money afterall, and can do as you see fit. If you are employed or have co-shareholders, you are managing someone elses money. And you are not supposed to act within your morals, but those of the company. It would be kind of hipocritical to act on your own morals using someone elses money - up to the point where it could be illegal misapropriation. And then taking th…

> It would be kind of hipocritical to act on your own morals using someone elses money - up to the point where it could be illegal misapropriation

This is hyperbole. Refusing to hire anyone out of any of the big tech companies is an own goal. But being silly in management is absolutely legal. The only legal obligation I can think of revolves around disclosure, i.e. you should be open with investors and the company about the fact that you're putting up these moral guardrails, rails which may have effects on the company's competitiveness.

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