this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2023
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Technology

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Hi, we're a tech startup run by libertarian Silicon Valley tech bros.

We're not a newspaper, we're a content portal.
We're not a taxi service, we're a ride sharing app.
We're not a pay TV service, we're a streaming platform.
We're not a department store, we're an e-commerce marketplace.
We're not a financial services firm, we're crypto.
We're not a space agency, we're a group of visionaries who are totally going to Mars next year.
We're not a copywriting and graphic design agency, we're a large language model generative AI platform.

Oh sure, we compete against those established businesses. We basically provide the same goods and services.

But we're totally not those things. At least from a legal and PR standpoint.

And that means all the laws and regulations that have built up over the decades around those industries don't apply to us.

Things like consumer protections, privacy protections, minimum wage laws, local content requirements, safety regulations, environmental protections... They totally don't apply to us.

Even copyright laws — as long as we're talking about everyone else's intellectual property.

We're going to move fast and break things — and then externalise the costs of the things we break.

We've also raised several billion in VC funding, and we'll sell our products below cost — even give them away for free for a time — until we run our competition out of the market.

Once we have a near monopoly, we'll enshitify the hell out of our service and jack up prices.

You won't believe what you agreed to in our terms of service agreement.

We may also be secretly hoarding your personal information. We know who you are, we know where you work, we know where you live. But you can trust us.

By the time the regulators and the general public catch on to what we're doing, we will have well and truly moved on to our next grift.

By the way, don't forget to check out our latest innovation. It's the Uber of toothpaste!

#startup #business #tech #technology @technology

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Wow. You just somehow accurately summed up the modern day result of late stage capitalism in one post. Nicely done

[–] Dubious_Fart@lemmy.ml 57 points 2 years ago

It took longer than I care to admit to realize this was satire.

Which says something about the world and life.

[–] XPost3000@lemmy.ml 34 points 2 years ago

Yooo Mastodon post on Lemmy let's goooo

[–] david_megginson@mstdn.ca 26 points 2 years ago (3 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology The one thing I don't sympathise with in that list is the taxi services — at least here in #Ottawa, they were even more exploitative than Uber or Lyft, with a small number of plate holders acting as feudal lords for the drivers, and extracting rent from their vassals even on a bad shift with few fares.

The city could have fixed that by issuing more plates, but the plate-owner lobby was too powerful.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

It's not all black or white, those startups brought some good things like breaking highly profitable monopolies and creating well designed apps that provide a much better service which ended up being picked up by the former monopolies, overall the quality of service often improved and we sometimes have more choice now, like picking the less human exploiting alternative that still has a usable app.

[–] Banzai51@midwest.social 3 points 2 years ago

While we don't like what these services have become, lots of people forget how bad comparative services were before these came along. Example: bookstores. Everyone dreams up some ideal bookstore that didn't exist for the majority. Growing up, my local bookstore was run by a religious nut who refused to get Devil literature like Lord of the Rings. The good bookstores were in Ann Arbor, which was a 45 minute drive away. Chains like Borders, B&N, or web stores like Amazon were a huge positive change.

[–] hawkwind@lemmy.management 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Ah yes, the “local taxi lobby.” Uber helped show a lot of us what a fucking joke that is, not just in Ottawa.

Innovation, choice, quality and freedom are the choice spices for capitalism soup. These shit-cook-legislators kept sprinkling in taint like protectionism, cronyism, extortion and corruption thinking nobody would notice. Well guess what? Now it’s just taint soup.

Why does it matter who’s serving you taint soup? The problem is there’s no other soup and they keep telling you it’s fine.

[–] magela@mstdn.games 24 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology "enshitify" is my new favorite word.

[–] wtebbens@social.publicspaces.net 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Thanks, @ajsadauskas, for summarising extractivist platform capitalism strategies. The patterns are so clear that mainstreet is getting aware these days. At least partially. Time to rebuild the economy and the internet with collective & public interest first.

@technology

[–] messaroundmarx@zirk.us 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

@wtebbens
hope you're aware that this means to abolish #capitalism!
@ajsadauskas @technology

[–] cousinofjah 18 points 2 years ago

Wish I could upvote this 1000 times.

[–] 14mission@sfba.social 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology One factual point I'm not clear on--how exactly are Lyft/Uber getting away with operating unlicensed taxi services? Are they just ignoring the law but getting away with it because city governments are tech-enthralled? (But could, theoretically, bust every uber driver for operating a taxi without a license)? Or do they actually have some legal basis for not needing medallions?

[–] NuPNuA@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago

They're not in the UK, they all have to be registered and lisenced here like any other minicab.

[–] arctic@im-in.space 17 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology don’t forget the fact that a good amount never turn a profit

[–] Blue_Jersey@fosstodon.org 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology

We are not just a startup. We are a mix of dreams, passions, and a ton of passionate slogans.

[–] vd1n@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 years ago

When we aren't drinking craft beer...

[–] ordrad@lor.sh 16 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology
And we'll change our TOS and user agreement to our advantage whenever we feel like it but won't tell you what changed or why or how it'll effect you. But legally we told you so f*ck off if you have a problem with that.

[–] Snipe_AT@lemmy.atay.dev 15 points 2 years ago

honestly i’ve started to realize that startups are the modern day robin hood. they take and burn money from VCs and turn them into very low cost services. then they try to turn a profit and everyone runs away to the next new startup that is there to “disrupt the competition” but in reality is just the same company in a younger phase.

fucking lol

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 2 years ago

Had us in the first half not gonna lie

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 years ago

You left out, "once we get the IPO, we're fucking right off with our billions."

[–] shoq@mastodon.social 12 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology

This could be one of the more important social media posts of all time. And not one in 100,000 people will have enough information to appreciate a single word of it.

Source: @ajsadauskas
https://mastodon.social/@ajsadauskas@aus.social/110762848575512188

[–] dream_machine@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 2 years ago

These services are interfaces for interacting with data that YOU create

[–] neo@lemmy.comfysnug.space 9 points 2 years ago

I hate how accurate this is.

[–] redcalcium@c.calciumlabs.com 8 points 2 years ago

Investors: shut up and take my money!

@ajsadauskas @technology
> By the time the regulators and the general public catch on to what we're doing, we will have well and truly moved on to our next grift

Fortunately, sometimes the grifters get justice served

https://decrypt.co/148288/lbry-token-plummets-file-sharing-crypto-project-shuts-down

[–] gcvsa@mstdn.plus 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@ajsadauskas @technology These guys are not "libertarians", at all. They are, in fact, the antithesis of libertarian. They are authoritarians who believe in liberty only for themselves.

[–] GarlicBender@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Seems like a fair description of many who would call themselves "libertarian", even if not the going definition.

[–] TheActualDevil@sffa.community 5 points 2 years ago

Every libertarian thinks every other libertarian isn't really because they don't subscribe to every set of their specific beliefs.

[–] gcvsa@mstdn.plus 2 points 2 years ago

@GarlicBender Unfortunately. Such people give the very idea of Liberty a bad name. They have now become what libertarianism is in the public's eye.

@ajsadauskas @technology We're not an utter vaporware scam, we're an investment opportunity!

[–] pseudonym@mastodon.online 6 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology

Torment Nexus (tm) now with an extensive library of add-on modules.

Installing "Uber of toothpaste"

[–] sergiodomeyko@mastodon.online 5 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology congratulations on this great post! I am now a follower of yours! Enjoy your Sunday/Monday! #mastodon

@ajsadauskas @technology

Yep #dotcons is what we have been calling this for 20 years. It's a mess we have pushed over ourselves.

[–] atwerp@feddit.nl 4 points 2 years ago

This sounds just like every startup's pitch to venture capital firms :)

[–] money_loo@1337lemmy.com 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What the fuck does this have to do with technology?

Though I guess it’s good to see this place hates tech as much as Reddit does.

Does anyone know of any communities here that actually like technology?

[–] TheActualDevil@sffa.community 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wait. Is it not about technology, or about hating technology?

[–] money_loo@1337lemmy.com 4 points 2 years ago (6 children)

This post is bitching about “late stage capitalism” while passive aggressively mentioning the occasional technology in parallel to their issues with the two things combined.

It’s not really technology focused at all, sorry if I wasn’t clear, I thought I was, I’m simply asking if anyone here is here because they LIKE technology, and if they happen to know a place that better represents those feelings.

Like, literally you can go almost anywhere and COMPLAIN on the internet, I was hoping this place would be a little better and optimistic for the things I enjoy.

Keep in mind before you guys decide to be hateful assholes, I’m fine with this place being however YOU guys want it, I’m not here to change ALL OF YOU for just me, I’m simply asking if there is a place you can recommend that is more in line with positive technology news, so that I can leave and we can all enjoy these places more.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with either of us looking for something we like, and having personal opinions/preferences, that was supposed to be one of the listed strengths of this place!

[–] mrmanager@lemmy.today 4 points 2 years ago

I loved it personally. Tech is in a awful state right now and it's correct to try and joke about it while we all lose decades of what previous generations built up as protection against these bastards.

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[–] thistimeforsure@aus.social 4 points 2 years ago
[–] NotSpez@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Amazing work. Aren’t you the person who guessed exactly what Elon was going to do with Twitter?

[–] shaulawalko@sfba.social 3 points 2 years ago
[–] donhawkins@mastodon.social 2 points 1 year ago

@ajsadauskas @technology Libertarians are just Republican’ts that smoke pot. 😎

[–] skribe@aus.social 2 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology I see you know my Facebook friends too 😁

[–] bigiain@aus.social 2 points 2 years ago

@ajsadauskas @technology "By the way, don't forget to check out our latest innovation. It's the Uber of toothpaste!"

From: noreply@tøøther.com
Subject: Account closure

Dear User,

You have been rated 3 stars or lower by our toothbrushing partners in the last 14 days. For this reason we are closing your Tøøther account and revoking your toothpaste access. This decision is final and there is no appeal process.

Best regards,

Tøøther Trust And Safety Team.

[–] Lightrider@mastodon.acm.org 1 points 2 years ago
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