Post 9qjgOZaFRybbQZ8sNc by k@bsd.network
 (DIR) More posts by k@bsd.network
 (DIR) Post #9qjd7lN24emdCMFm4W by ParadeGrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T20:02:05Z
       
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       Billionaires are nothing more than lottery winners: they are just people who had the right idea, at the right place, and at the right time.The fact that they are billionaires today simply means that, beyond this exceptional stroke of luck, they are just psychopaths motivated by pure greed.You don't admire people who won the lottery, you just admit they were incredibly lucky.Similarly, we should not admire billionaires, but simply recognize they were lucky.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjdLh3ktmjlslsZyi by sng@bsd.network
       2020-01-06T20:04:35Z
       
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       @ParadeGrotesque Every billionaire is a policy failure. Far from admiring them we should heavily tax them.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjdttmk5kODCDERQe by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T20:10:49Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @ParadeGrotesque America is the country where we have a magazine called "Fortune" which takes the viewpoint that people who possess lots of money somehow deserve it.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjec5nAoMnJB0VTVY by gemlog@mastodonten.de
       2020-01-06T20:18:47Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @ParadeGrotesque I hate to miss an opportunity to repeat the following for folks:Do you think billionaires are like slightly richer millionaires?A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 31 years.If someone had the fortune to be able to save 100% of a six-figure salary (say, $100,000/year in this case), it would take 10 years to save up 1 million. It would take 10,000 years to save up 1 billion.Billionaires should not exist.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjf5meeWoruVhgAK0 by ParadeGrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T20:24:09Z
       
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       Examples:- Steve Jobs: realized micro computers were a thing (Wozniak doing all the heavy lifting), then copied Xerox ideas.- Bill Gates: copied CP/M, then the Macintosh (copied from Xerox), then that the internet was a thing.- Larry Ellison: just a salesman.- Jeff Bezos: realized selling stuff on the internet was a thing. Then sold timesharing systems on the internet like CompuServe did.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjfKE33TbBJWYyn7A by publius@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T20:26:46Z
       
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       @ParadeGrotesque I so sincerely wish PARC had taken the path of using pen input devices (which were somewhat mainstream at the time) rather than the blasted mouse.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjfqPKP4dS7m5RJdA by ParadeGrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T20:32:36Z
       
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       - Facebook was just a way for ivy league Bros to rate female students, which tells you everything you need to know about it.- Twitter is just SMS over the internet.None of these ideas are particularly smart: it's just realizing that a trend is shaping up and riding that trend up.Let's not worship these people.
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjgOZaFRybbQZ8sNc by k@bsd.network
       2020-01-06T20:38:39Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       @ParadeGrotesqueOk, now let's consider how toxic these business models are:– Apple sells obsolescent products every year. 10 years old iPhone? Unusable and honestly, do you wash yourself?– Microsoft has an extend, embrace, extinguish strategy towards open-source. This seems like a little, easy adaptation of usual business tactics to steal ideas & patents to small entrepreneurs– Amazon sells real-time facial recognition solutions for repressive States
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjgzXnH4GtKagrdtQ by ParadeGrotesque@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T20:45:24Z
       
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       @k Absolutely. And I dare say most of these business practices are easier to understand when you realize these billionaires are psychopaths driven by greed.If your only outlook on life is to die with countless dollars on your bank account, all of these business practices make sense: "F* the environment, f* consumers, f* politics, entire countries or even the planet. I don't care, as long as I am raking in the moolah".
       
 (DIR) Post #9qjuby9SoiTIkLtc2K by trebach@mastodon.sdf.org
       2020-01-06T23:18:03Z
       
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       @ParadeGrotesque And after a certain point, the numbers cease to matter. You'd never be able to spend that much money. You're basically trying to overtake others in the Rich Bastard Leaderboard then@k