• killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      82
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Them: this is pretty good right? And affordable too!

      Me: yeah it’s decent, don’t touch anything

      Them: we’ve put in ads

      Me: what? I don’t want ads, wtf

      Them: bro, totally have you covered. No ads for $12.99 a month

      Me: arr matey, don’t worry yerself 🦜🏴‍☠️

      • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        41
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        This is why I felt like the best thing we all could do is reject every ounce of advertising we could. Marker up all the billboards. If you’re watching a video and x3 3 minutes ads play, Leave comments about how the product gave you a bad rash. Make it so all these companies remove themselves from spaces we enjoy. It would also help get rid of the fucking content creators trying to be a copy of the latest and greatest channel but instead waters down the internet with the 10000000 clone of the latest and greatest

        • RQG@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          19
          ·
          1 year ago

          I agree. I also think ads do influence us way more than almost anyone would believe or admit. Why else would companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars on ads without batting an eye. Many products cost as much or less than their ad campaign cost to make.

          So I try to avoid ads as much as possible. I haven’t seen or heard an ad in a long time aside from billboards and posters which are basically impossible to avoid.

            • Touching_Grass@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              17
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              I think they’re worse then that though. They attempt to manipulate and influence. Graffiti is just kind of there. Advertising attempts to look like its just there. All so it can actually pull tricks on you. Its a messed up industry.

              After all the ad industry is what spawned climate denialism and also spread confusion between cigarettes and cancer among other issues. Issues that we have to be convinced of otherwise we might actually make a better societal choice. Hell The grandfather of modern advertising Edward Bernays leveraged what he know of human nature and sub consciousness to build this industry.

              Sure almost all ads are benign individually. But as an industry they’re pretty evil. Hell if it wasn’t for ads, we wouldn’t have lost the internet to the shit show it is today. All the identity stealing, data collection and propaganda machines were spawned because we ignored the growing cancer that is online ads.

              When I grew up there was a big push to reject ads and corporate spread. Even sub cultures like punk was focused on rejecting that growing bullshit. Then it all stopped. Like the ads won and now you’re the insane one if you say that advertising is a major issue in society today. Now every kid wants their own sponsorships and some do get it.

            • RQG@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              1 year ago

              There actually is paid graffiti. Most that I’ve seen looks absolutely awesome. It’s insane what a graffiti artist can do when they got plenty time and don’t have to watch out to not be caught.

              • Zeozulu@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                1 year ago

                You should check out Wynwood Walls if you ever find yourself in Miami, Florida. Blocks of amazing street art.

    • VieuxQueb@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      26
      ·
      1 year ago

      Hmm, sorry my associate was meaning “temporary solution”, about every year you will need a new one. And we are so generous that if you buy two years in advance we will give you a 10% rebate and a big ole sticker with our brand in bold colors on it so you can give us free publicity.

  • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    92
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    We beat scarcity. We’re up to our eyeballs in labor-saving technology. We just left people in charge who cannot imagine using it to save labor.

    • PorkRollWobbly@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      35
      ·
      1 year ago

      It’s about control. They don’t want to lose that control. They don’t deserve that control. We need to take control back.

    • ashe@lemmy.starless.one
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 year ago

      Exactly, automation shouldn’t kick some people out of jobs and leave others just as overworked as before, it should automate things that don’t absolutely need humans and just decrease the workload of (currently) irreplaceable people so that more people can work as much as one did before and still get the same salary.

      Hell, unemployment as a whole should not exist in the modern era. If there’s “too few jobs”, decrease working hours and increase wages accordingly so the total monthly/yearly/whatever pay is the same. And if there just physically aren’t enough resources to accomodate so many people having decent salaries (which is absolutely not the case right now), then we should start talking about overpopulation.

      • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        And if there just physically aren’t enough resources to accomodate so many people having decent salaries (which is absolutely not the case right now), then we should start talking about overpopulation.

        Don’t blame overpopulation, blame the C-levels who think they need to take home 500k+ a year salaries.

      • Johanno@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        The problem is as long there is no national wide law that forces companies to do so one would have much higher costs employing 2 people half time for the same job as 1 full time (with unpaid overtime of course as a bonus). And a Business that can’t compete won’t exist long. Or rather nobody even tries it because only greedy people are getting in high power positions for some reason.

  • lorty@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    79
    arrow-down
    10
    ·
    1 year ago

    But have you considered the following:

    Capitalism good because freedom and innovation.

    Bet you feel dumb now.

    • Johanno@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      Mhh yes freedom through capitalism. I love the freedom Apple gives me over their device that I bought but don’t own. Or when Samsung locks devices in mexico because they can and people in mexico dare to buy used phones.

      • Nahdahar@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        You don’t understand, that’s for your protection so you can feel safer and even more freedomery

      • lorty@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        25
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        It’s sarcasm friend, I know capitalism is basically the opposite of that.

    • Encrypt-Keeper@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The thing about capitalism is that it DOES promote freedom and innovation. The problem is that continuous innovation is rarely profitable so companies generally won’t bother innovating after a certain point and the text on the reverse side of the freedom coin is “free from consequences”

      Capitalism is like… a good start to a much better economic system we haven’t figured out yet.

      • HowManyNimons@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        You’re not at all wrong. The problem is now we’re all so “bought in” (heh) to capitalism, and the power it has established its so entrenched, that the idea of iterating on it has become so close to literal blasphemy as makes no odds.

  • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    57
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    “I’ve made a machine that does the labor of 10 men!”

    “You’re going to still pay the other nine, right?”

    You’re still going to pay the other nine, right?

    • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      30
      ·
      1 year ago

      So the ten men can all do a tenth of the labor now right?

      Oh you’re going to fire nine, cut the tenth’s pay, and make him work even longer hours, and keep the vast majority of the profits for yourself, got it. That’s fine too I guess…

    • Rinox@feddit.it
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      1 year ago

      “I’ve made bought a machine that does the labor of 10 men!”

      “You’re going to still pay the other nine, right?”

      “Why? I bought it to get more of the money to myself. Why would I pay for something and get nothing in return? Why would I just lose money for no reason?”

      Seriously though, the dynamics are pretty clear, there’s no investment without the expectation for extra profit (even for a state. Invest in a new railroad with the expectation of higher economic activity and therefore more taxes). Otherwise it’s just charity

        • Rinox@feddit.it
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          That’s called a cooperative, they exist. You share both the profits and the risks of the enterprise. Not all enterprises succeed. Also, some of the men need to be the managers, accountants, sales etc. It’s not just about the factory workers.

          Otherwise, more indirectly, they could be the shareholders of the company. Some companies even use shares as payment for their managers and top employees in order to encourage them to improve the profits of the company.

          Otherwise they could just be both the owners and the only people working at a company. If the machine ends up generating lots of profits, they could all ten decide to retire and live off those profits while hiring an eleventh person to operate the machine, or they could reinvest in the company, buy even more machines, hire more people and bring in even more profits, like a complex game of cookie clicker.

          Choose the one you prefer and try making it a reality if you want that.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        I hope for your sake that when the factory workers can’t afford to feed their kids and they drag you from your home and try to beat you to death in front of your family they find that argument compelling.

        • Rinox@feddit.it
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          I’m one of the ten men, I’m just a worker like anyone else here, I can just use the little grey matter I have to try and understand the world and look at it with more objective eyes, instead of killing anyone who disagrees with me.

          Fucking fascist pos. If you want to kill families go to Russia or Israel and look at how fun it is.

      • fruitSnackSupreme@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        There are a loooot of extra words in there, that seem unnecessary. I’ve read pages and pages now, and it’s just repeating meaningless words without reaching a conclusion. I have no idea what it’s trying to convey.

        • OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          He does spend several pages worth of mobile phone screen just setting up his premises. What meaningless words are you referring to?

          • fruitSnackSupreme@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            I don’t have the patience to read 20 pages with no arrival at any conclusion. Is there somewhere I can just read a summary of the conclusions?

        • dudinax@programming.dev
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Dude needed an algebra lesson or something. He’ll write three pages trying to explain an idea that could be expressed in two simple equations.

  • VantaBrandon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    50
    ·
    1 year ago

    1995: Welcome to the internet, check out these awesome stupid websites 2023: Here have an ad, after you subscribe, and accept cookies, and sign your life away to a terms of service written in alien legalese

  • hperrin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    39
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    I created a new email service that prevents spam and organized your email. If it works out and I become successful, I can imagine Google trying to buy it, and if I say no, all of a sudden Gmail starts having issues receiving mail from my service. Gmail and Exchange together share about 70% of the business email market, so they can destroy smaller competitors if they aren’t willing to sell. Yay capitalism!

  • DreamButt@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    My favorite thing about this comment section is the ratio of comment score and comment length

  • fogetaboutit@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Unregulated capitalism that made worse by the lack of QOL improvements by the govt is what made these new shitty electronics and tools profitable.