That isn't capitalism. That's a broken and uncompetitive system caused by excessive legislation.
Why does Google allow GrapheneOS to be installed on their phones?
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I disagree. That is the very nature of capitalism.
It's the LACK of regulation, which creates the uncompetitive system. Anti-trust and consumer protection legislation isn't strong enough so we have these conglomerates like Google that can "experiment" with novel business models that cross ethical boundaries. Meanwhile they lobby Congress to ensure that effective legislation does not pass.
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Google is not Apple, and does not have the closed system mindset baked into their corporate policies and outlook.
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Sounds like an idealized laissez-faire capitalist society that does not exist, and has never existed. It basically assumes nobody gets greedy even without any checks or balances.
Ayn Rynd had a similar philosophy in which a pure system could exist without government intervention. IMO, it's fantasy.
And with fantastical systems that never existed in practice, its easy to say that legislation is the cause of the problems.
The real world history tells a different story of unregulated capitalism. JP Morgan, Rockefeller, etc. Newspapers and railroads. Unregulated markets have never truly fostered competition, rather the opposite occurs. Mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation leads to the few ruling the many.
@ no one would buy them if they couldn't unlock them.
Many people like Google Pixels and the Google ecosystem though.
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Graphite The real world history tells a different story of unregulated capitalism
And closer to the focus of this forum, look at Apple's ecosystem and app store, music store and phone (iOS) lockdowns. They have made billions because of their greedy behaviour.
Suggested reading for anyone in this thread: Chokepoint Capitalism
In Chokepoint Capitalism, scholar Rebecca Giblin and writer and activist Cory Doctorow argue we're in a new era of “chokepoint capitalism,” with exploitative businesses creating insurmountable barriers to competition that enable them to capture value that should rightfully go to others.
This book was the first purchased content I loaded onto my new phone with GrapheneOS.
On my blacker days though, I do imagine that Google is watching GrapheneOS and making it more difficult for alternate OSs, by their code and framework changes.
GrapheneOS devs have stated that they expect Google will fix their camera software permissions (SELINUX) problem to allow the camera software to work properly on Pixels. Personally, I don't see expect they will if it makes their cameras properly usable on P7s (but would be thrilled to be wrong about this). Having their high-performing cameras work on OS's that make it easier to block Google and no watch their ads is clearly not in Google's business interests.
ve3jlg
Chokepoint Capitalism seems like a good analysis of this topic. Thank you.
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abcZ What hasn't ever been tested actually is a completely unregulated economy. EVERY economy has been regulated in some manner.
Agreed. I hear the same from the opposite end. Many communists also say that no "pure" implementation has ever been done, but if it had, it would be utopia.
abcZ greed is what makes capitalism work
I try to avoid extremes. Absolute self-interest (greed) of Ayn Rand's philosophy takes this concept to its extreme.
A well balanced system will have greed, and regulation.
Someone famous said “That which unregulated is out of control.”
Graphite The distinction, however, is that a pure implementation of communism is a technical impossibility, since a fundamental characteristic of human nature is greed, which means that communism can only be achieved through force, which turns it into a soviet style dictatorship rather than a pure implementation of communism.
Capitalism, on the other hand, is consistent with human nature, which means that elimination of all regulation would naturally lead to it, but also anarchy, which would be quite dangerous and loaded with unpleasantness. So don't think that I'm advocating for actually trying this!
Blastoidea Someone famous said “That which unregulated is out of control.”
If you remove humanity, is nature out of control? Seems to me that nature tends towards a competitive balance. Its only when humans impose regulation on nature that things go seriously wrong.
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It's an interesting conversation, although down the rabbit hole :)
abcZ a fundamental characteristic of human nature is greed
Greed, force, violence are all "consistent with human nature".
Pure forms are always hypothetical and cannot really ever be achieved in the idealized versions described by Marx or Rynd. As you say, Communism will devolve into dictatorship. But LF Capitalism would devolve into anarchy. But that's not set in stone either. More often they evolve into a mix. China is a mix of communism with some capitalism thrown in, and the US is capitalist with plenty of socialism.
abcZ Seems to me that nature tends towards a competitive balance.
Social Darwinism is kinda defunct as a philosophy now. Natural doesn't mean good though. Not good for a society anyway. It'll be natural for the strongest males to kill all competition and take the women. And some early civilizations did this. They were natural, but not sustainable and certainly not considered good.
abcZ Its only when humans impose regulation on nature that things go seriously wrong
It would be a dream for some who despise all regulation, to strip all natural resources from this planet till there's nothing left but a toxic wasteland. As long as they can rule over the rubble.
Feels like we're straying too far from the topic at hand here. Let's try to keep politics out of things as much as we can, folks. It never ends well.
abcZ honestly the first point is the main reason I bought a Pixel. I gauged long term support and bootloader unlock as a plus compared to devices like Samsung and went ahead to buy one.
If Google had restricted their hardware like Samsung currently does only a niche few would buy
Thanks for the vigorous discussion guys. I read all of your answers out loud to my friend and we discussed further.
ve3jlg GrapheneOS devs have stated that they expect Google will fix their camera software permissions (SELINUX) problem to allow the camera software to work properly on Pixels
Can someone provide a quick explanation what this means and what the real world effect is in using the camera in GrapheneOS?