[zbrozek]

There's another post that used a term I'm going to appropriate for other conversations: homo economicus. We aren't that species. We don't have perfect information. We don't have infinite capacity or attention span to continuously micro-optimize everything.

It's why people buy products and services rather than vertically integrate everything in their lives. I don't want to live Texan Power Simulator any more than I want to be mining my own bauxite or replacing my driveway. Buying a product or service is granting the supplier a profit in exchange for them worrying about and executing the business. But you don't buy power any more. You buy access to a dynamic marketplace in which you probably didn't really want to participate.

What if there were real time pricing per byte coming down from your ISP and you had to sit and stare at your screen waiting for an affordable moment to check your email? Or what if you had to stop mid-shower to avoid spending five figures to rinse the soap off? I can't imagine being happy in those cases, I don't know why I should be happy about it for electricity.