Quote from: myrkul on July 26, 2011, 03:25:00 PM

We don't expect people to be 'Randian supermen', We expect them to be self-interested, and pay attention to what they're doing. That's not hard, even for an 'overworked mom'. Why is that such a difficult concept?

Whatever you expect, people obviously aren't giving it to you. But it must be humanity at large that's wrong, so I'm sure you'll have no trouble at all cramming a square peg into the round hole of your ideology! And if those people can't cope with your system, due to biological reasons, social reasons, or whatever the hell reasons, what then? They just die?

When your definition of "pay attention to what you're doing" includes knowing everything that goes into every product you buy and everything about every company that manufactures them and on and on and on, that's very unrealistic and I seriously doubt you yourself live up to the standards you espouse.

But hey, they can always subscribe to private ratings industries that may or may not be in collusion with the companies they're monitoring. And of course there's no way to know that if they're the dominant force in society and can cover up anything they want and are effectively accountable to nobody. I guess people will pay for those ratings industries with the spare change left over from their sub-minimum wage jobs... after they've finished paying the tolls on every road they drove on (dude, you don't get it! they can just FLY TO WORK!!) and fees for the agency that makes sure their foods are made safely and on and on and on.

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Listen to one show before you start talking about what you don't know.

Haha is that the same Adam Curry who was a goofy MTV VJ like 25 years ago? Along with a tech columnist?

I have a rule against listening to computer nerds' and engineers' opinions on politics, as I've found them to be universally awful and a hell of a lot more shallow than people who have spent their lives studying polisci and social issues. I have an even bigger rule against people who claim to be unbiased because nobody is, and that indicates to me that they aren't constantly examining their own beliefs for contradictions and problems like a rational person should always do (hint: you REALLY need to do this). It's pretty clear from the Photoshop image on the main page that they just might have an agenda after all. Not that I disagree in that specific case because U.S. imperialism is one of the few subjects the far left and far right can agree on, but still.

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The private 'monopoly' would still have to provide good service, at a good price, or a competitor could undercut them. A natural monopoly is still subject to market forces, even when it's alone. The threat of competition is just as good as actual competition, most of the time.

Except that so many industries these days have such a massive barrier to entry that it's not hard to envision a scenario where there is no competition. I can't even believe you're sitting here defending monopolies. Do you have a literal shrine to capitalism in your bedroom? Because it honestly sounds like you do worship the concept.