Principal agent problem combined with a monopoly, what could go wrong?

In the end, we as a society value convenience more than global optima. So we will always land in some local optima. We deserve it.

▲

summarybot 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Speak for yourself haha. Unconscious and unexamined behaviors hardly constitute a value system.

	▲	forestrywat 5 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Unconscious values are still values.
	▲	tchalla 5 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I will just leave this here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revealed_preference

▲

ApolloFortyNine 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The word monopoly has lost all meaning online, it seems to just be synonymous now with 'successful business'.

You can cut Amazon out of your life tomorrow if you wanted. You could do it almost entirely with just Walmart.com if you wanted a dropin replacement.

If you only have one internet provider in your area, that's a monopoly, the cost of switching is essentially 'start an ISP'. Having to type in walmart.com does not make Amazon a monopoly.

▲

runarberg 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think this mentality is giving up. We as a society may or may not value some thing over another. But instead of guessing what we value we should look at our behavior. And our behavior is that our governments give lax regulations and consumer hostile legislation to growing monopolies which abuse their power dynamics to maximize profits above all else.

In other words: blame capitalism, not our value judgement.

▲

tchalla 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> And our behavior is that our governments give lax regulations and consumer hostile legislation to growing monopolies which abuse their power dynamics to maximize profits above all else. In other words: blame capitalism, not our value judgement.

It’s very easy to blame systems and other people.

▲

runarberg 4 hours ago | parent [-]

Sometimes the easy one to blame is also the right one to blame.

But I disagree though. Blaming human nature is much much easier. It means there is nothing we can do except give up and live with it.

In contrast, blaming the system means we can still change the system, and changing the system is extremely hard, especially when the rich and powerful have so much interest in keeping the system the way it is.

	▲	tchalla 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The system is made for humans, not laws of physics.