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Culture War Roundup for the week of March 25, 2024

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Who decides what it's "supposed to do"? What gives any such person the right to dictate that?

For that matter, how do you know there aren't already sites that work exactly the way you think, but you don't know about them, because they aren't as popular or well-advertised? That would imply that the way all existing well-known sites work is exactly how their users and their owners think they should work. I think private chat groups, as exist in pretty much every messaging app, are much more like this, but by their nature aren't well-known.

So by saying you want a law, as an "interesting experiment". Laws mean people will be fined, potentially lose their livelihoods, get thrown in jail, etc. Somehow I don't think the people who would be affected by such a law will find this "experiment" quite so "interesting". Particular when you are forcing every site and all of the users to do things they actively dislike to satisfy your notions about how they "should" work, when there are already alternatives that work that way.

My response is going to sound kind of hostile, but that's just because I don't know how else to format it. You're asking me a lot of questions, and they're good questions, I just think they've been discussed enough already that I can short-circuit the answers.

Who decides what it's "supposed to do"?

me. Or: me as filtered through the democratic process.

What gives any such person the right to dictate that?

The first amendment gives me the right to state my opinion about anything

how do you know there aren't already sites that work exactly the way you think

I have searched and not found any

That would imply that the way all existing well-known sites work is exactly how their users and their owners think they should work.

No, that would imply it's a market failure, where short-term profit incentives make everyone worse off. Just like how the prisoner's dilemma makes both prisoner's lose, no matter how smart they are. The market is not perfect.

Laws mean people will be fined, potentially lose their livelihoods, get thrown in jail, etc

Yes that is how laws work. Somehow I manage to live my life despite the dystopian hell of being forced to pay taxes, register my car, not steal stuff, etc. Somehow I make do.