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Comment by strikelaserclaw | Hacker News Reader

smart, we should also implement controls in the west, we can't rely on companies inside the capitalism system to do what is right for the people at large, if companies can get away with selling heroin to children, they will do so. The big problem these days is (software) companies essentially hijacking the primitive brain centers for pleasure, fear, attention etc... and commoditizing them.

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> if companies can get away with selling heroin to children, they will do so.

Companies quite literally marketed and sold opium for children[1] in the US before the FDA was created.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/15/long-o...

Who would we give these controls to? Would this be the government? Hard pass on that. I do believe in controls, but those controls are best left to the individual. I don't need a bureaucrat telling my kids they can't play video games 8 hours a day, that's my responsibility. I don't need a government agency dictating I can't invest in risky real estate ventures, it's my fault if I invest and lose my money. I don't disagree that control is needed, just the level at which it is applied. I will admit to being conflicted. I don't like the idea of legalized herion, though I did support marijuana legalization initially.

Controls should be exerted on companies and institutions, not people. Case in point : the government has no place telling you how long your kids can play, but you might need the government to get rid of highly damaging practices like loot boxes.

> Controls should be exerted on companies and institutions, not people.

Not sure there is a clear distinction. Companies and institutions are owned and ran by people.

You can run a one-man corporation if you like.

Exactly - selling heroin to kids (outside of medicinal purposes) should be illegal. Whether it is a "company" (co-operating group of individuals) or an individual seems irrelevant.

It's my fault for being unclear. And really, companies and institutions are people, legally speaking. They have moral personality, at least in Civil Law.

In any case, they operate with a different incentive structure than single private citizens do. I don't think it's a revolutionary thing to say that companies don't, in fact, behave like physical people do.

> I don't need a bureaucrat telling my kids they can't play video games 8 hours a day, that's my responsibility.

Just like the Covid restrictions have shown, trying to appeal to the responsibility of the individual doesn't seem to be the winning move for governments.

There seems to be some thought that society can force people to do what is deemed best without the awareness that...

1.) Society may not know what is best 2.) Even if it is the best option the push back will still exist and in many cases attempting to force the issue will galvanize opposition

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