[mentos]

The root cause is oxygen.

Anyone expecting any other behavior from utility maximizing entities is naive?

[danparsonson]

I would counter that by saying anyone ascribing that mindset automatically to all humans is cynical ;-)

[hrdwdmrbl]

Disagree. It’s possible to start with that assumption and then design systems with that in mind.

[danparsonson]

Agreed, but I guess we're talking about slightly different things (and perhaps I missed the point of the 'oxygen' remark) - I was saying, Amazon's system is designed that way because Amazon are greedy (that's the root cause), and that it's cynical to say that it's just because they're human (and therefore implicitly greedy). Vaguely worded statements on my part though, I should've been clearer.