[mmcconnell1618]

I just read Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis which has an interesting perspective that "cloud capitalism" is replacing traditional capitalism and competition. A few players are assembling their own fiefdoms inside dominant web/mobile platforms. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/751443/technofeudal...

The internet doesn't have a clear, simple, micro-payment system that would allow people to reward value, so instead we have an attention based system where the number of likes and followers grants social status and financial opportunity.

[jrexilius]

When cryptocurrency first started getting attention (2010,2011-ish?) I was so excited that a potential micropayments system would come out of it and solve this problem. Sadly it did not go that way..

[egypturnash]

god fr real, everyone making shit and selling it online is still paying their tithe to Visa/MC and working under their rules as to what you can and can't sell, and possibly another tithe to Paypal or Square or Stripe or whoever on top of that. Crypto's just a giant sucker trap and the amount of stuff you can buy with it without paying your tithe to Visa/MC to turn it into real money is infinitesimal.

[perilunar]

Yes, I'm more and more convinced that this is the root problem. All advertising-driven media turn to shit eventually, and the web is no exception. Micro-payments could have prevented it, and it's a real shame it never happened.