[QuercusMax]

Exactly.

I don't want a "smart" washer / dryer / fridge / toaster. I want a standard interface I can build my own system around, or use someone else's that they've already built.

[Terr_]

I wish lock-in was as taboo as medieval Christian attitudes towards usury.

[inigyou]

But weren't medieval Christian attitudes towards usury a good thing?

[Terr_]

Well, whether is was good isn't really a yes-or-no answer, especially when it got tied together with religious persecution.

I don't think I'd like to reintroduce it exactly as it was, but it's a useful example because:

1. It demonstrates how a strong economic-norm can arise from popular concern that a certain "buyer/borrower beware" arrangement is too prone to abuse.

2. Being unusual to us, it's easier to see and consider, as opposed to existing norms we may take for granted as "just how things are."

3. Since it changed over time (albeit by going away) it indicates that change is possible, and shows those economic rules are socially-constructed.

[Rumudiez]

wouldn't treating lock-in as taboo be a good thing?

[inigyou]

We didn't treat medieval Christian attitudes as taboo

[IncreasePosts]

No, because who would lend money when they would just get the same amount back later, plus the risk of not getting repaid?

[inigyou]

Pretty sure that's the point.

[selcuka]

I guess usury is analogous to lock-in in your parent comment, not the Christian attitudes.

[BetterThanSober]

Not minmaxing rent-seeking behavior and vendor lock is a taboo in our contemporary late stage capitalism society

[amelius]

> Exactly. I don't want a "smart" washer / dryer / fridge / toaster. I want a standard interface I can build my own system around, or use someone else's that they've already built.

I also don't want a "smart" phone. Just give me a normal phone with a standard interface so I can build my own system around it.