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Are we the baddies?

geohot.github.io

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Re: Are we the baddies?

#71

Post by chii »

jagrsw wrote: post #41
anonzzzies wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is next to no boarding advantage Especially on the discounters here in EU (especially Ryanair / Easyjet), i'm the only one in the non-priority queue, everyone else is in the priority queue. This used to of course not be the case; you paid extra and was in first. Now i'm usually in before 2/3th of the prio queue. Which is just weird. > about surge pricing. I got boiled slowly. Not sure how it is in the US (I u…

> but here prices jump heavily during surge Yup. The price jump isn't just a "surge." It's the algorithm calculating the highest price you'll tolerate without abandoning the app long-term, no matter availability of cars (which can be related, but from CFOs perspective that's not the metric to optimize) This personalized price discrimination is precisely the kind of manipulation geohot is describing. It's the same pri…

and you reinforce it every time you accept the price.

So you have to vote with your wallet. If you can't, or won't, then it just proves that their pricing algorithm has found "your" price, and so you don't get to keep your surplus value as it gets transfered to uber.

This is why i, even if i can afford it, go for lowest price, most economically valuable buys. Always, without exception. Cannot allow them to win.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#72

Post by ggm »

protocolture wrote: post #52
ggm wrote: post #2

For some people, paying the premium to jump the queue is the point. What they didn't forsee is what happens when everyone has wound up paying the premium, and the queue is now with you again. This is mostly Australian frequent flyers, when it was a high barrier to entry it conferred advantages and now Fly in Fly out work has commoditised club status, there is next to no boarding advantage, and no points flight availa…

>My fellow Australians all feel a bit shit about the introduction of tipping in paywave and food service. That's unaustralian. We have legally enforced minimum wages and penalty rates. Turn that feature off. Eh I wouldnt speak for all of us. I like having the ability to reward contractors with some extra cash for a job well done. The issue is structurally relying on it. Shit, when I was 14 or so I worked as a baggage…

Noted. Some people here like tips as a discretionary option. I think folding it into the paywave terminal is .. naff.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#73

Post by properclass »

notarobot123 wrote: post #45
alganet wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> disengagement. That disengagement metric is valuable, I'm not gonna give it away for free anymore. I'll engage and disengage randomly, so no one knows what works. > The boom in digital detoxes, the dumbphone revival among young people That's a market now. It doesn't mean shit. It's a "lifestyle". > People are feeling the manipulation They don't. Even manipulation awareness is a market now. I'm sure there are YouTub…

The Algorithm doesn't care if you're illegible. How ever much you mess with it, you're still its plaything.

ineligible or illegible?

Re: Are we the baddies?

#74

Post by hardwaresofton »

> If you open a government S&P 500 account for everyone with $1,000 at birth that’ll pay their social security cause it like…goes up…wait who’s creating this value again?

This is a good point. Some VCs were major proponents of this (and tons of other business people I'm sure), but this is of course just a guaranteed inflow into the largest companies and the companies that think they will be large some day. Yet another way to reallocate public cash to private companies.

Another similar example is UBI -- its proof of an economy that is not dynamic. It's a tacit approval and recognition of the fact that "no, you probably won't be able to find a job with dignity that can support you and your family, so the government will pay to make you comfortable while you exist".

Re: Are we the baddies?

#76

Post by vasco »

TFYS wrote: post #70
vasco wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shame they come together with casual references to burning it all down, ww3 to the rescue just because he couldn't get a hinge date fast enough.

I don't think the kind of foundational change that is needed to solve these issues has ever been done in other ways. If it can be done, it's much harder than just letting it all burn down. The people at the top of any system are not willing to change it without a fight.

If you think "the people at the top" suffer the most during a world war you're deluded. If you're willing to do that because you don't like ads or because girls aren't replying to you on dating apps, no words.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#77

Post by immibis »

cedws wrote: post #24
8f2ab37a-ed6c wrote: post #10

It gets even more disturbing when the algorithm (or a disgruntled former date reporting you to a tired and underpaid customer support agent overseas) decides to ban you from the dating apps and suddenly your chances of meeting someone go down dramatically (60% plus of all couples meet online in the US), with the apps having become the middlemen for most of dating connections: https://www.vice.com/en/article/banned-fr…

Your destiny, and whether you’ll ever have a family of your own, decided by Match Group.

The business model of Match Group, by the way, for those unaware, is to buy every dating app (yes, they own all of them; Bumble was once the lone hold-out but not any more) and then do everything they can to make you pay money for premium. They do not care if you get a date.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#78

Post by PartiallyTyped »

hardwaresofton wrote: post #74

> If you open a government S&P 500 account for everyone with $1,000 at birth that’ll pay their social security cause it like…goes up…wait who’s creating this value again? This is a good point. Some VCs were major proponents of this (and tons of other business people I'm sure), but this is of course just a guaranteed inflow into the largest companies and the companies that think they will be large some day. Yet anothe…

It is an allocation to the biggest companies at any time.

ETFs need to rebalance, increase, decrease shares of a given stock and even evict them. Buying shares on SPY exposes you to the current companies but also any companies that will join.

If a company gets evicted, then there is massive drop in their stock pricing as most movement is mechanistic and done by ETFs.

Well massive is relative. For example last week we saw quite the drop in pltr after it was removed from russel2000.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#79

Post by immibis »

aydyn wrote: post #64
mindwok wrote: post #38

What the open web did for discoverability of businesses, we need to invent again for actual engagement with the businesses. Uber, Booking.com, AirBnB, ClassPass, Steam, DoorDash - these winner take all middle-men rent seeking tech behemoths are bad for society and are hostile to consumers and the businesses that rely on them. Let's decentralise this shit.

Everything except for steam, one of the few to do it right. Of course they arent perfect as nobody is, but in general they treat developers right, they treat customers right. Theres no personalized surge prices or other AI BS, and they dont ban randomly like google. If you buy a game on steam, you own it for real.

No, Steam is still in its (unusually long) first phase of enshittification, where it delivers surplus value to consumers.

Probably as long as gaben is alive, it will be so. But don't expect it to last. There's nothing special about Steam the platform.

You definitely don't own Steam games for real, and they don't ban randomly but for example, if you're caught cheating in a game, or talking about illegal things with your friends, you will find out how much you don't own those games.

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