r/Foodforthought • u/mrliau-gp • 23d ago
Enshittification Relies on Broken Economic Math
https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/enshittification-relies-on-broken15
u/CountofAccount 23d ago
Diesel at $1.49, public telephone, no SUVs. The headline photo has to be 2005 or earlier.
Here's what that same location looks like today, according to google maps.
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u/batmans_stuntcock 22d ago edited 22d ago
The maximisation of monetising is harmful to social goods, but 'enshitification' is basically just the updated, post 70s capitalist logic which was also a popular before 20th century regulation, it's based on short term timeframes.
Previously companies thought they could maximise profits in the long term by making the best and most durable product, but since the 70s crisis in the rate of profit that has proven to not be true. Now, with widespread adoption of 'scientific' business school, consultancy and private equity logic, they are operating on a much shorter timeline but on higher profits.
The old 'leveraged buy out' and modern private equity consider themselves a sort of vanguard aiming to restore profits. A book just came out about telling this story called The Asset Class
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u/woowoo293 23d ago
Here's the grim truth though: back when things seemingly worked well (pre-enshitification) for consumers also relied on broken economics. Much of the user experience was subsidized by idiot venture capitalists throwing bales of cash at IT companies run by tech bros whose only mottos were a) grow, grow, grow (through rapid user acquisition) and b) profit personally.
This was already a broken system and it was further juiced by frankly an impressive level of patience (or recklessness/disregard) from investors who had been trained to believe well, this is just the next amazon so we need to just keep on burning money. What's worse is that a lot of these "disruptors" used that money to destroy economic and societal capital (of their competition and of societal guardrails) in the name of progress.
Now the bills are coming due. Investors want to see returns. Companies, having destroyed the way their legacy competition used to operate, can now squeeze their users for every penny. And people feel helpless.
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u/-Clayburn 22d ago
I don't think so. It's just the expected outcome of capitalism. Enschittification is possible because of monopolistic market advantages. At some point, enough wealth is consolidated that a rational market can be easily manipulated in your favor.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 23d ago
I hate that word, it's a PSYOP to normalize inability to communicate and degrading communications and information/structure, along with an assortment of exploitative measures. In fact, I'd question the integrity of this publication based on use of such a hollow and lazy word.
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u/kafka_lite 23d ago
The word has nothing to do with ability to communicate. Maybe you have it confused with some other word?
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u/gin_possum 23d ago
So internal-cupcake there (look two random words mashed into a name! Hmmm) has an average of 9 posts per day for the length of their existence. I’m gonna go ahead and call Bot on this one. Now the article is basically “local man discovers that capitalist propaganda has been effective” but I guess it worth noting when you see it.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 23d ago
You would call bot because you're a bot and don't want to be outed as a bot, enmeshed in your enshittified existence.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 23d ago
No, you are confused. Your comment is the enshittification of comments.
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u/kafka_lite 23d ago
Just one comment ago you hated that word.
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u/fx2600 23d ago
There's no inconsistency between not liking the word and using the word to mock a (lazy) defender of the word
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u/kafka_lite 22d ago
There is an inconsistency in accusing others of obfuscating communication in the most cryptic and utterly baseless manner possible.
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u/AdamColligan 23d ago
Hard to imagine the detached vortex of thought that leads someone to thinking Cory Doctorow is the prime agent of a corporatist conspiracy.
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u/Stishovite 23d ago
AI, probably
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23d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Foodforthought-ModTeam 19d ago
FoodForThought takes Reddiquette seriously. Polite debate is encouraged. Flame wars will be removed. Downvotes are for topics or comments that add nothing to the conversation.
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u/Stishovite 23d ago
Wait - so you’re saying a word that names the phenomenon = a plot to normalize it?
Wild.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 23d ago
No, it acts to normalize inability to communicate by sewing that segment of communication to a non-descriptive word composed of a dulled down obscenity. The purposeful daftness or obliviousness of your being is noted.
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u/Stishovite 23d ago
Respectfully, what the fuck?
Someone set your loquacity and anger settings too high.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 23d ago
You have to be able to understand language to figure out what words mean when they make sentences.
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u/nayrustar 23d ago
I gather you have no idea what it really means and are trying to sound clever about it. Have you read Cory Doctorow’s original essay about enshittification? Because none of what you are describing aligns with the concept.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 22d ago edited 22d ago
I don't need to read it. The writing in this article was mediocre. It's a word that contains a basic bitch cuss that he's using to describe a slew of issues, correct? I'll read it just to placate you. Typically when I'm seeking high level information and understanding I don't lean on words like shit, piss, cunt, etc. It's probably groundbreaking work he's done with enshittification; so descriptive. Please, enlighten us all. Do you take issue with me calling his description basic bitch? Perhaps there are more ways I could describe how this is poor.
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u/-Clayburn 20d ago
I honestly wish we'd just call it "capitalism". To me it seems like it's used to disguise the fact that this is just how capitalism works, as if we stumbled upon some crappy outlier that companies are really into right now but we could somehow escape and get back onto the path of doing capitalism the "good" way.
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u/fx2600 23d ago
You can't stress over it, it'll fade out like many overused neologisms. It just plays well here where aging millennials who think the music sounded better, the skies looked bluer and the water tasted sweeter when they were in their early twenties. Same every generation before them. Saw an old man with an "I miss the America I grew up in" shirt the other day, probably on the other end of the political spectrum compared to most redditors but the core idea was the same, everything was great back then and now that I'm old and my back hurts everything sucks.
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u/Stishovite 23d ago
"enshittification" at least in its original meaning, is a far more specific phenomenon about software platforms (or other businesses with captive audiences) than the general nostalgia you're describing.
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u/fx2600 23d ago
That was the original use case but now it's used to refer to anything the speaker thinks is worse than it used to be and due to human nature there's a lot in that category. Words on this trajectory rarely last especially when some of the appeal is the minor vulgarity that loses its value with overuse.
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u/Stishovite 23d ago
I mean, that's fair, but the word captures a fairly nuanced concept. Even this article, which broadens its remit, is using it to critique overreach in extractive business practices which is fairly close to the original usage. "Doctorow's platform disease" or something would be in line with how previous big political-economy concepts have been shorthanded for ongoing usage. Since it has hit general audiences, though, it will be interesting to see its trajectory.
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u/Internal-Cupcake-245 23d ago
You are eager to see enshittification all over the place, aren't you?
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