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by franciscop 99 days ago
Do you think e.g. the AI/LLM boom is all rent seeking? Do you think there's no positive value for the world on the recently announced e.g. MacBook Neo and that it's purely a monopolistic activity? Those are 2 clear recent examples of big players making massive benefits for the world, and I'm okay if they get X% of that value as company valuation.
3 comments
georgehotz 99 days ago
Not at all. OpenAI / Anthropic are producing tons of surplus value right now! Not to mention how great the Chinese open source LLMs are. And Apple's hardware division has always been fine.

Apple's 30% tax for payments in apps is the ultimate rent seeking example though. Want to install your own apps, lol you can't. And if big AI companies follow in the steps of Google/Facebook it's bad for everyone. Let's recognize it and prevent it from happening this time.

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franciscop 99 days ago
Strongly agree! I was answering my parent comment that had a very negative view, it is indeed an amazing situation where' in!
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zelphirkalt 99 days ago
How should we prevent it, considering the huge financial incentives they have to go exactly that?
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customname 99 days ago
Wait what's a new laptop doing to push the needle exactly? Genuinely curious
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SyneRyder 99 days ago
It's an 8GB RAM 256GB SSD laptop with a lower spec'd 6-core chip for $599 USD. Seems overhyped to me, PCs have done that for a while, just not as elegantly. Admittedly it probably has far better battery life than a PC, so that's a genuine advantage.
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sfink 99 days ago
In general, it's kind of the difference between having a sharp axe vs a dull axe.

Though in the particular case of the MacBook Neo, I'm not sure whether we're talking about sharper or duller. Depends on the metric you're using, I guess.

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mrguyorama 99 days ago
It doesn't cut a cake nearly as well as the old Macbook Air so obviously duller.
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rvrs 99 days ago
The Neo is supposed to be the budget version. I think MacOS is a decent computing platform for some engineering and creative endeavors -- if one more college kid gets access to it for cheaper I say it's a positive
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chirau 99 days ago
Macbook Neo is just another laptop. There is nothing "massive benefits for the world" in the context you are trying to put it. And doesn't Apple take close to a third in 'rent' for anything on their platform?
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georgehotz 99 days ago
The bar isn't massive benefits for the world, the MacBook Neo is great! If there was a new company that builds MacBook Neos, that's a great company. They build something real and sell it for more than it costs to make, no strings attached.

The problem with Apple comes down to the App Store, the forced 30%, and all the apps that just don't get built cause of Apple. This is rent seeking, and this is evil.

Here's a good system for evaluating technologies: https://www.ranprieur.com/tech.html

If you don't want a MacBook Neo, don't buy one and it doesn't affect your life. But the App Store affects your life whether you own an iPhone or not. It affects the direction of the world. And that's where the rent seeking problem is.

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