Comment by truth_be_told | Hacker News Reader

Comment by truth_be_told | Hacker News Reader

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You make some very interesting points. The Adam Smith quote points out the various axes to consider when looking at the "viability" of something in the market which is quite correct. But there is another wrinkle added by the "Modern" world. I presume you are aware of the works of Nassim Taleb. He makes a distinction between "Extremistan" and "Mediocristan" (and lambasts Economics and Economists :-) which i feel is very applicable to understanding "The Market". With the current "Information/Data" revolutions the frequency and impact of "Extremistan" events have increased dramatically and existing economic models are no longer sufficient to explain them. For example, what exactly is the "marginal cost" of software? How do we explain the rise of "The Internet" as a major economic driver? I lean towards the viewpoint that this dichotomy is applicable to the whole Software/IT industry. Thus "Embedded Systems Industry" has moved from "Extremistan" to "Mediocristan" (commoditization, cost reduction, large supply pool etc.) while "Web Development" is still in "Extremistan" and this gets reflected in their respective salaries.

Thanks for the extremistan/mediocristan reference. I've read some Taleb, but not much and not deeply, and that's a valid point.

Financialisation and capital accumulation allow tremendous inequalities in allocation. These have always been present to some degree, but recent history (say, 1800 - present) seems exceptional. Note that arguably the Gilded Age personal fortunes were probably even more extreme than those of today.

Unless I'm missing something, the marginal cost of software publishing is very near zero. Development is ... more expensive.

The Internet's role is a whole 'nother discussion, but pulling in a notion of an ontology of technological mechanisms (see: https://ello.co/dredmorbius/post/klsjjjzzl9plqxz-ms8nww), it's a network, with network effects, as well as a system. These ... tend to define general parameters and considerations.

Where specific industries fall on the mediocristan / extremistan scale .... is an interesting question. Though I'd argue that systems/networks elements tend toward extremistan. Whether hardware is/isn't systems/network (as I'm using the terms) is another question.

For successful fundamental component manufacturers (e.g., Intel, AMD), hardware certainly resembles extremistan.

Thanks for the ideas and the discussion.

Just FYI; You might want to look into the works of Jacques Ellul on Technology and Society if you have not done so already.

PS: Also a good starting point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_and_society

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