[Cugel]

Once upon a time, dafties who studied “economics” (a “science” one down the list from astrology) went on about the “invisible hand” of the market that supposedly auto-sets the balance between demand and supply and thus the prices of everything. The notion has been debunked continuously for about 250 years but neolibs love this dogma and quote it still, as they justify their various exploitations and general spivery.

These days, we have the now ubiquitous AI, which employs binary logics – uninterested in C18th dogmas about price setting – to employ more effective methods. More effective at serving the greed of the sellers, that is; not the desires of the buyers.

An article in New Statesman magazine (for which you will need to register for two free articles a month, as I recall).

https://www.newstatesman.com/business/economics/2023/07/algorithms-stoking-inflation

A quote to give a flavour of it’s main point, that prices are now set by virtual cabals embodied in the machinations of algorithms employed by most of today’s greedybastid businesses:

“…what if one of the apple sellers, Seller A, takes downs her “four apples for £1” sign and replaces it with a mirror that simply reflects the other seller’s sign? Now, any time Seller B reduces their prices, Seller A does too, at the speed of light. Seller B can’t undercut Seller A any more. There isn’t a morning or afternoon or even a few minutes when customers in the market will see that one stall is selling apples more cheaply than the other. There’s also, as a result, no incentive to cut prices any more”.

This fundamental price-comparison capability, across all sellers of the same goods, at the same time, has many other similar effects, all of which end up with sellers charging more and buyers inveigled into paying more. You like a certain brand? The price to you shown by the Cybershop will be greater than that shown to those buying similar items of other brands.

Are they doing it with bicycles and bike bits, the vast majority of which now seem to be bought from organisations likely employing these algos? Is the recent rapid inflation of bike and bike-bit prices subject to these same greedflation policies and techniques as are the prices of petrol and every other “staple” of modern life?

Topic

[perce]

”Your talk is surely the

”Your talk is surely the handiwork of wisdom because not one word of it do I understand”

[Dnnnnnn]

mark1a wrote:

Good lunch was it?

[HoldingOn]

mark1a wrote:

Good lunch was it?

I’m going to have to spend my lunch looking up the meaning of words/phrases in Cugel’s reply….

[mark1a]

Good lunch was it..

Good lunch was it?

[ktache]

But seller A will have

But seller A will have confusing backwards mirror writing!?..

[HoldingOn]

In my childhood, I remember

In my childhood, I remember plastic toys being rendered useless because one tiny piece had snapped. A friend of mine uses his 3D printer to make replacements for those kinds of broken pieces.

I firmly believe that if we reduce our usage, prices will come down. We reduce by either using less, or using what we have for longer.

[hawkinspeter]

Ultimately, it’s down to the

Ultimately, it’s down to the consumer to decide if they are prepared to pay for the goods at the price specified. Competition is often broken in markets as there’s nearly always a benefit to being the biggest player and information is often hidden from customers, so the idea of a “free market” is somewhat of a myth.

I had hoped that 3d printing technology would democratise the production of physical goods in a similar fashion to how open source software took over the world, but it’s much cheaper for a factory to produce goods using more or less traditional methods than for people to get designs 3d printed.

[Author]

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