Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
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Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#2I’m not sure if that’s true.
As a counterpoint, things we rely on like Amazon are actually a lot of tiny businesses that have ideas and now we are able to get their more tailored products, whereas two decades ago, I just got to buy whatever walmart or bestbuy was willing to sell us.
Also consider youtube, I watch a lot of tiny creators and two decades ago the only thing available was the major tv networks and cable tv.
It may be true that big organizations deliver these things, but big organizations delivered them before and it’s definitely more possible for small organizations to have big impacts now than it was before.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#3I’m not sure if that’s true. As a counterpoint, things we rely on like Amazon are actually a lot of tiny businesses that have ideas and now we are able to get their more tailored products, whereas two decades ago, I just got to buy whatever walmart or bestbuy was willing to sell us. Also consider youtube, I watch a lot of tiny creators and two decades ago the only thing available was the major tv networks and cable t…
Those tiny businesses are reasonably well-coordinated, so its not really the same type of "small organization" as what Tao is talking about.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#4I’m not sure if that’s true. As a counterpoint, things we rely on like Amazon are actually a lot of tiny businesses that have ideas and now we are able to get their more tailored products, whereas two decades ago, I just got to buy whatever walmart or bestbuy was willing to sell us. Also consider youtube, I watch a lot of tiny creators and two decades ago the only thing available was the major tv networks and cable t…
I'm sorry, but you are very incorrect.
In Amazon... You'd be surprised to know how many brands sell 90% of the products availabile there.
The same applies to Youtube, you'd be surprised to know how many channels per country gets 90% of the views.
It's an illusion. We have billion of people...
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#5I dunno. Tao is a very smart person but it seems like a bad idea for a mathematician to be making claims like these without sources. His vibes are no more meaningful than anybody else's vibes.
I'm not familiar with all of these subfields, but I know that the scholarship on the history of communication networks is extremely deep. Why would there be so much work if things were actually explained so easily? If you are interested in these topics, go read the scholarship!
EDIT: With a little more clarity, I guess what I'm trying to say is that this is #1 on HN right now and I'd encourage people who are interested in this topic to read the mountains of scholarship on these topics written by experts and I wish that Tao had used his visibility to point readers at these experts. You may find that it complicates things.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#6I’m not sure if that’s true. As a counterpoint, things we rely on like Amazon are actually a lot of tiny businesses that have ideas and now we are able to get their more tailored products, whereas two decades ago, I just got to buy whatever walmart or bestbuy was willing to sell us. Also consider youtube, I watch a lot of tiny creators and two decades ago the only thing available was the major tv networks and cable t…
There is nuance here. What you say is true but big organizations have grown as well.
I think in the big picture I would say overall it’s the big organizations that have grown dominant. The inductive reason is because it is the goal for small organizations to become big so that’s where things head logically speaking.
From an evidence based standpoint, in the end, look at YouTube and Amazon. In the end the big organizations are in control. YouTube for example can cut off their creator and it’s pretty much over for them no matter how popular they once were.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#7OT question: if I create a Mastodon account, will it give me access to a preference that disables dark mode? I would like to read this post and others by Tao, but I can't stand light-on-black text.
It's insane to enforce something like that by default when every study since the 1990s has shown that it impairs readability on a computer screen.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#8This is the best thing I'll read today. Things I want to remember:
1. small organizations have been carved out by a move toward the individual and a move toward large organizations. 2. This provides some comfort in the form of cheap goods while contributing to a sense of meaninglessness or being undifferentiated. 3. Tao thinks we would benefit by seeking and participating in grassroots groups.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#9I dunno. Tao is a very smart person but it seems like a bad idea for a mathematician to be making claims like these without sources. His vibes are no more meaningful than anybody else's vibes. I'm not familiar with all of these subfields, but I know that the scholarship on the history of communication networks is extremely deep . Why would there be so much work if things were actually explained so easily? If you are…
Yeah but this doesn’t invalidate his take. You’re just saying his take is as good as anyone’s which can still be 1000% correct.
Re: Terence Tao: The role of small organizations in society has shrunk significantly
#10I’m not sure if that’s true. As a counterpoint, things we rely on like Amazon are actually a lot of tiny businesses that have ideas and now we are able to get their more tailored products, whereas two decades ago, I just got to buy whatever walmart or bestbuy was willing to sell us. Also consider youtube, I watch a lot of tiny creators and two decades ago the only thing available was the major tv networks and cable t…
I'm sorry, but you are very incorrect. In Amazon... You'd be surprised to know how many brands sell 90% of the products availabile there. The same applies to Youtube, you'd be surprised to know how many channels per country gets 90% of the views. It's an illusion. We have billion of people...
I think your comment and claims would be much better if you at least gave some example spitball numbers.