Market reward is the best proxy for good we have.

What's your alternative? Executive fiat? Mob rule?

Deepmind is objectively good. These endeavors would always cost money. Better private capital than state, no one has to give Google anything. The state is not so generous.

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almostdeadguy 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Mob rule, aka Democracy.

	▲	rightnutwingjob 24 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Yes, we can just vote ourselves largess from the public purse.
	▲	godwinson__4-8 25 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Not what democracy is. Every single serious theorist of democracy has recognized this. Democracy is about rule of law and institutions, not simply the mob. Tyranny of the majority is the paramount concern of all democracies. Nevertheless, institutions can fail. The idea that democracy always leads to desirable outcomes is evidently false by historical record. I just don't understand people who think the state is better than Google. Google pretty much works. Google does not have police powers. Google cant surround your car and point guns at your family. Most of the bad things about Google are actually forced upon them by the state. Who could have even a passing knowledge of history and think states are somehow safer than corporations? Take the United States. Should Donald Trump get a say in how to run Google? Maybe you like him, so how about the guy that comes after him, or the next one after that? The American mob seems intent on leading their country into the gutter. Good thing (despite what the mob has thrown at it) that the United States still has strong institutions and strong markets. Without Silicon Valley, America would have already lost its place on the world stage. But please lets hear more indictments from a population who can't even agree with itself on the issues already under the government's purview. Now let's set a precedent for even more state interference in the market, that way when your party (whatever side you are on) chokes the next future election away the next nut you don't agree with has even more power? Is that your plan?

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surgical_fire 26 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

> Market reward is the best proxy for good we have.

Only if the goal is profit. All else be damned.

> What's your alternative? Executive fiat? Mob rule?

It is always bewildering to me that people see the world being raped by corporations and their negative externality, and they think that this is the pinnacle that humanity can achieve.

Nothing else can be better, if all your options are "mob rule" or "executive fiat".

I fancy myself a misanthrope, but damn, next to people in this forum I am probably the last humanist walking through the ruins of civilization.

> Deepmind is objectively good.

Google is objectively bad, and the world would be a much nicer place if they ceased to exist.

	▲	rightnutwingjob 11 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> Only if the goal is profit. All else be damned. And yet, in order to generate profit an organisation must convince people to buy their products and services at a price high enough that to cover costs and more This means the products and services must be good, unless you think people who buy products and services are fucking idiots. > I fancy myself a misanthrope Oh, I see. Not only do you think people are fucking idiots, you also believe the they should be put to death. It is, after all, the only way to “save the planet” from The Evil People and their “Corporations”. Grow the fuck up.