thisiscorrect

This has essentially been done for the government already, and still these numbers are treated as sensitive.

I'd buy the argument made in the article more if they could explain what harm the scammers are avoiding by weeding those of us who can spot a misspelling as early as possible. Do they immediately start investing a great deal of time in a possible "mark" right after one reply from them?

Most people are terrible at pricing an item over its full lifetime. A smaller cash outlay almost always attracts a sale, even if the item has a much shorter expected lifespan than a more expensive alternative, or will require constant repairs, etc. Seeing a low base price on a car, fridge, etc will sway people to buy an item even if there's now a larger operational expense. You're not just powering a device you own anymore but also "unlocking" the Ice Maker Feature(tm) for $5/month.

This feels like businesses are trying to force everyone in the debt trap that keeps the poor where they are. Having to pay a monthly subscription for basic functionality isn't _that_ different from being in debt. But instead of floating consumers a loan, these companies are selling an item that selectively breaks if they miss a payment.

> The only difference here is that there’s now the option to change the program over the air.

The mutability is the part that bothers me. Remotely disabling features and the option to hike prices for monthly subscriptions to have functionality in the car serve to erode the concept of ownership. I'm not a Tesla owner but I believe they also allow paid upgrades that neither stick with the owner nor with the car during a sale. How is that not exploitative?

I agree with the general premise of your comment, that this is a small sign of the deglobalization which is _already_ under way.

But, what are the UUUGE tailwinds benefiting India? India, even more so than China, seems likely to "get old before it gets rich." Its TFR is already below replacement and falling rapidly.

Because you can't get any accurate information out of them?

I've never heard anyone from the US or Europe claim that plastic will degrade back into the ground. Somehow they changed their "entire culture" to put trash in cans.

Is this related to Peter Turchin's book of the same name? I can't tell from reading their site (historiacivilis.com) if that's the case.

>Ideas, especially those that stoke resentments, are like viruses.

The problem is that people make statements like this but apply them selectively. E.g., platforms like major news networks are happy to give airtime to the claim that people alive today, who never owned slaves and are very likely not descended from anyone who did, must pay reparations to others alive today who were never enslaved and may well not be descended from slaves. These same platforms also give airtime to those claiming all societal ills stem from one ethnic group or another (as long as it's the "right" ethnic group being blamed).

This incredibly skewed double standard isn't fooling anyone.

The Puritans were especially strident in imposing their beliefs though. Their concept of collective salvation meant they'd brook no dissent at all. And so _anyone_ not toeing the line was treated as a mortal threat and could be subject to immense cruelty.

Interestingly, many descendants of these Puritans are still just as willing to impose their own religious beliefs on the rest of humanity. Although some details of the religion are vastly different, its rough shape is still the same (humanity can be remade and perfected, everyone must join in this endeavor or we're all lost, rejection of hierarchy, etc.) I'd wager this is even the source of many of the moral conceipts we see in America's foreign policy. Every farflung tribe on Earth must organize a government the way we organize ours. Every society must tolerate the same beliefs that we do, and also not tolerate the same things that we do not.