
A data-driven argument on why Marc Andreessen is wrong about Free Basics - nileshtrivedi
https://medium.com/@sumanthr/a-data-driven-argument-on-why-marc-andreessen-is-wrong-about-free-basics-c472184b9682#.sv3ha0d56
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navinsylvester
Freebasics is a poorly disguised but bold move to colonize Internet in
developing countries. A brief prequel: [http://blog.savetheinternet.in/what-
facebook-wont-tell-you-a...](http://blog.savetheinternet.in/what-facebook-
wont-tell-you-about-freebasics/)

Freebasics campaign was so flawed and the desperation in willfully misleading
people was not even on an acceptable moral terms. Facebook spent a whooping
100 Crore INR for promotion and used the term "Free Internet". More about this
here: [http://scroll.in/article/802128/indias-internet-regulator-
ju...](http://scroll.in/article/802128/indias-internet-regulator-just-called-
facebooks-free-basics-campaign-crude-and-dangerous)

Andreessen/zuckerberg is setting a very bad example here. These tweets are a
testimony to the desperation and an act of trying to flex muscle. Tech
industry luminaries are least expected to be willfully trying to rob the basic
rights of a common man. Sadly we would remain silent partners to the spoiling
fabric - if we don't vehemently oppose.

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yuhong
I really wish the restrictions can be reduced or removed so @pmarca etc can
tweet more on the companies of which they are on the board of.

------
PaulHoule
This stuff is why Adreessen-Horowitz are the Koch Brothers of Silicon Valley.
They might think deeply about what they invest in, but everything they say
about public matters has a deep sense of entitlement to it.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
It is very disappointing to see people who pioneered the Internet, and made
fantastically wealthy in the process, abandon the old idealism of helping
people - unless it conforms to their investments.

Reminds me of the comic about the guy who grew up on utopian futurism
magazines only to find out it was all made up, and that people in Silicon
Valley only cared about people with brains or money.

[http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/almostguy/](http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/almostguy/)

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punee
This stuff is why HN commenters are the Adolf Hitlers of the internet. Etc.
Etc.

P.S. Can we get a Hacker News ignore function? Is there a chrome extension
that offers that?

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rm_-rf_slash
There's a brain function that lets you ignore things that you don't like, if
you choose not to think about them.

~~~
punee
So not thinking about things you don't like makes them disappear?

That's odd, because I spend about 0% of my time thinking about dumb Hacker
News comments, and yet I can see them right there, and before you know it,
I've read them and wasted my precious time. How come?

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
>So not thinking about things you don't like makes them disappear?

Precisely. Never underestimate the power of the logic-proof compartment. Every
propagandist since Edward Bernays has understood that you can repeat
information enough times to make it real. Likewise it works in reverse.

>...and before you know it, I've read them and wasted my precious time. How
come?

If you're still here, then how precious is your time, really? Or are you
simply trying to justify not spending your every waking moment...what is it
they say in Silicon Valley..."hustling"?

~~~
punee
I think you're missing the point.

I'm proposing HN introduce a feature that exists on virtually every message
board on the internet (i.e. blocking users). That's because its usefulness is
well-recognised.

I fail to see what being here has to do with how precious my time is. My time
is precious to me as soon as I start to value some experiences over others and
decide which ones I consider valuable, and which ones I consider a waste. I
don't have to be spending my every waking moment "hustling" to have a concept
of value.

Reading comments from authors that I find interesting is a valuable use of my
time.

Reading comments from authors that I find stupid and annoying is a waste of my
time.

That's why I wish I could prevent that from happening.

"Not thinking" about the existence of such users is in no way a solution to
that problem.

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rm_-rf_slash
Maybe you think I'm stupid and annoying today.

Maybe you forget my username and after some time you see a comment of mine
that is insightful and meaningful.

Do you recognize the flaw in your logic?

~~~
punee
No, I don't see any flaw.

Am I supposed to carefully read every stupid comment from a poster that so far
has only annoyed me on the off chance that he writes something insightful once
in a blue moon?

I'll ignore him and take that risk. I'm sure it's still a +EV move overall.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
If you insist on living in an airtight echo chamber, I cannot help you by
offering advice you disagree with.

~~~
punee
An "airtight echo chamber" would be a situation where the only information I
get is a restatement of something I already know.

It's not even remotely analogous to what I'm suggesting, which is simply
filtering out (some of) the noise.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Socrates criticized writing and reading because to him it atrophied the
ability to remember things. I wonder what will happen to your brain if you use
technology to filter things you don't like. Will you become more sensitive to
annoyances you haven't yet blocked?

But maybe you're in too deep, and a filter might be good for you, because you
seem to be unable to ignore my noisy and precious-time-wasting posts on your
own.

