Mastodawn

Once again, I regret to inform you that Ben Thompson is wrong about monopolies.

https://www.ianbetteridge.com/the-fundamental-error-that-doesnt-exist/

The fundamental error that doesn't exist

Ben Thompson, Another Viral AI Doomer Article, The Fundamental Error, DoorDash’s AI Advantages: What is notable about this assertion is the total denial of any positive reason for DoorDash to exist and to be so successful. There is no awareness that DoorDash provided a massive consumer benefit (restaurant food

Ian Betteridge

Stephen Darlington Mar 1

@ianbetteridge He assumes that The Market will solve the problem, but the existence of the monopoly means there are not (sufficient) alternatives. It’s a market failure.

Nuwagaba Gift Mar 3

@sdarlington
You're right. Existence od monopoly market structures is bad because it stimulates income inequalities and also exploits the consumers choice due to limited options . How can monopolies be controlled?

Nick Radcliffe Mar 1

@ianbetteridge Excellent piece. Ironically, Ben’s own “aggregation theory” explains well how these “aggregators” like Doordash and Google end up controlling demand and gaining power as middlemen between suppliers.

Ian Betteridge Mar 1

@njr It continues to confuse me why he doesn't get this, or what the limits are that he puts on actions from a monopoly. If you win a monopoly (fair and square) does that give you carte blanche *forever* to extract value from having done so? Is there *any* onus on the company to keep delivering value at the same level? If not, what level is it before it's abusing its monopoly power?

Nick Radcliffe Mar 1

@ianbetteridge It is odd.

Similarly, I can understand why he thinks advertising and ad-supported services and targeting are good, especially for small businesses, (even though I’m less keen) but I don’t understand how he’s so blind to/blasé about the negative effects of surveillance capitalism, as exemplified by Facebook.

Andrew Wickliffe Mar 1

@njr @ianbetteridge you're assuming he thinks those effects should be described as negative.

Nuwagaba Gift Mar 3

@njr
How can their power be minimised?

Nick Radcliffe Mar 3

@nuwagaba2 Government Regulation.

That can mean restricting how they can act, enforcing standards, breaking them up, correcting market failures etc. It’s hard and not always effective, but privacy legislation, freedom of information, anti-trust actions, fines, acquisition blocks, fines, enforced standards etc. are all attempts to regulate and limit abusive monopolies.

Nuwagaba Gift Mar 3

@njr
You're right . Through price controls and regulations, tariffs among others, the government can minimise the monopoly powers. Can't people do that through boycott?

Nick Radcliffe Mar 4

@nuwagaba2 Not really. That’s the thing with monopolies/near monopolies.

Sure, if it’s non-essential, you can stop using it. But most people won’t. And if there are competitors, you can use those, but again, not many do, and the choice usually has real costs.

I do this sort of thing in some areas: I hardly use Google services, pay an obscure Norwegian company for email etc. I even pay Kagi for search. But I have an iPhone…

Nuwagaba Gift Mar 4

@njr
Now I get it . To make that a reality, collective effort is needed by which many people are not willing to do that because they're not victims. As people understand the danger associated with it, they'll do their best to end it. Can I share with you about my project?

Nick Radcliffe Mar 4

@nuwagaba2 Sure.

Nuwagaba Gift Mar 4

It's about fighting hunger in my community, I work with 12 young volunteer farmers to make this a reality by growing food for the needy, educating local farmers with advanced agricultural skills to help them improve on their production as well as equipping beginner farmers with required tools like seeds , fertilisers and organic pestcides to help them produce the best out of their gardens as well as combating climate change through tree planting. Do you have such initiatives there?

0xC0DEC0DE07EA Mar 1

@ianbetteridge I- wait, is this guy just out here writing pro-monopoly content?

Ian Betteridge Mar 1

@c0dec0dec0de It’s bizarre

Recovered Expert Mar 4

@ianbetteridge In the past I heard him mention that he went to “Business Scool” a few times over the period of a year or so as a guest on some podcast. The way he said it made it clear to me not to take him serious about things involving “business”.