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Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

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Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#121

Post by randusername »

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #81

"A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case" -- Niccolo Machiavelli It's a self fulfilling prophecy... while us commoners, or so called "activists" or et…

> who wishes to maintain himself

This is the key. Everyone wants stability in their circumstances, but you have to go to extreme lengths to sustain an extreme lifestyle, particularly if it is based on preserving a high rate of accumulation instead of accumulation itself.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#122

Post by bugglebeetle »

consensus1 wrote: post #108
zipy124 wrote: post #11

I mean a lot of successful new tech companies were about side-stepping legislation. Some that are missing here are airbnb which effectively side-stepped fairly strict hotel legislation (Though there is a case to be made that it simply improved short-term lodging), and uber which side-stepped strong taxi/private-hire legislation. This is one of the primary reasons that tech startups flourish in America but not in Euro…

And thank god they did. I'm old enough to remember the hell of the taxi cartel.

I’m old enough to remember the heavenly times before people repeated phrases like “the taxi cartel” as if they were original thoughts vs. cooked up by Uber’s comms team.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#123

Post by [deleted] »

lelanthran wrote: post #79
stephantul wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tragedy of the commons. The person that ruins a commons first takes all the supply. This is why regulation before, not after, the commons are plundered, is important.

Jokes on them - they poison the commons enough, and soon no one is going to trust anything they read on the internet. Which is how it should have been from the get-go.

[deleted]

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#124

Post by bdelmas »

cpt_sobel wrote: post #104
merelydev wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TLDR: "Don't hate the player, hate the game".

Yes this is their reasoning, it doesn't mean we shouldn't hate the players and the game alike

It’s not the players we should hate but the ones who make the rules of the game. Specifically not the ones who make the rules for the greater good but for themselves.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#125

Post by bigfishrunning »

TrackerFF wrote: post #80

Sometimes when I see these comically dystopian surveillance startups, I sort of wonder what the founders were thinking when they came up with the idea? Like, were they just watching some random documentary about China, and noticed how their surveillance state works - and said to themselves "You know, that's exactly what we need here!" Or is it just purely greed? They see some potential cash crab, and come up with som…

In my perception, VCs don't really care about goals. They care about a convincing argument "if you give me money, I'll give you back more money". Note that it doesn't matter if that statement is true; it only needs to be true in aggregate to keep the VCs behaving the way that they do.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#126

Post by DrScientist »

MattGaiser wrote: post #75
DrScientist wrote: post #71

How about an AI startup up that automatically finds companies whose stated business model is to flout existing laws, and then initiates legal proceedings. Funded by the fines it generates for governments.

The results of startups flouting laws though have been such that even when faced with determined opposition, in the end they are defeated. Airbnb and Uber ran roughshod over the law and faced determined taxi commissions and groups that usually beat real estate developers.

The latest and largest Uber fine - 825 million.

https://www.reuters.com/world/dutch-regulator-fines-uber-966...

Also, in the UK, lost their 5 year battle about whether drivers are self-employed or workers for Uber.

https://www.taxiplus.co.uk/news/new-rules-for-uber-drivers-w...

Or AirBnB versus Barcelona - https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2026/06/10/barcelona-is-shutti...

The US is not the only jurisdiction - and that complexity creates an opportunity to leverage fines.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#127

Post by rglover »

AJMaxwell wrote: post #96
merelydev wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TLDR: "Don't hate the player, hate the game".

No, we really should hate the players. They are keeping the game from changing.

No sarcasm: play a different game. If you play their game, of course you'll suffer. But if you play a game they're repulsed by, you can win a life they'll never have access to: one filled with people who love and respect you and an environment where your best self and life can emerge.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#129

Post by akudha »

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #81

"A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case" -- Niccolo Machiavelli It's a self fulfilling prophecy... while us commoners, or so called "activists" or et…

Setting ethical and moral questions aside for a second:

Never pay a human again

Every time I see stuff like this (along with other more serious shenanigans like wage theft, union busting etc) I only ask myself the same question again and again - what is the end game here? If much of the population is too poor to buy anything, too sick to consume much etc - who is left to buy anything at all? If all their power comes from their wealth and if that wealth is threatened because consumers are too poor to buy, then what happens? Someone has to buy for the system to work, no?

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#130

Post by AlotOfReading »

rglover wrote: post #127
AJMaxwell wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, we really should hate the players. They are keeping the game from changing.

No sarcasm: play a different game. If you play their game, of course you'll suffer. But if you play a game they're repulsed by, you can win a life they'll never have access to: one filled with people who love and respect you and an environment where your best self and life can emerge.

The parent comments are talking about how the game is negatively impacting society. Your suggestion is to check out and leave society to them. One of the many problems with that suggestion is that it's hard for your best self/life to emerge in a bleak future.
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