
The End of Mobile - skilled
https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2019/5/28/the-end-of-mobile
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stunt
I think social news websites like HN should add an explicit clickbait counter
and let users report it explicitly. Hopefully, we can get rid of this trend.

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backpackway
This is an awesome idea and would love this paired with a 'fluff' counter
telling how much unnecessary fluff is around a key message of an article. In
this case it's low.

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listenallyall
-1. What a terrible, misleading, click-bait-ish headline. The article describes the exact opposite of what the headline suggests: that virtually every adult on the planet has a mobile device.

The article itself is simply the list of sources and methodology used to
determine this fact. But headlining the article "everyone has a phone" would
leave no reason to click.

Unfortunate to see that our best and brightest (Andreessen Horowitz) are no
better than click-bait-ish spammers.

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jjeaff
Or perhaps the title just went over your head.

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listenallyall
Perhaps, but your comment doesn't offer any evidence that it did.

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jjeaff
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Las...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_History_and_the_Last_Man)

The End of History makes the case that there will no longer be huge leaps and
bounds forward once the world all becomes a liberal democracy.

Not that nothing will ever happen again, but the big evolutionary changes and
leaps and bounds will not happen anymore.

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listenallyall
Unlike "Et-tu, ______" or "Let them eat ______", for example, "The End of
______" is far too generic, when standing alone (i.e. pre-click), for the
reader to automatically expect a reference a 30-year-old, twice-revised,
heavily-criticized (credibly) essay -- as opposed to the simple, literal
definition that the thing is ending. Had this author titled his post "The End
of History? (for mobile)" or "The End of Mobile and The Last Man," then maybe,
_maybe_ , I'd agree with you. It would be deceitful to title an article "The
End of Climate Change Danger," for example, if that article was in fact
arguing that it was inevitable that climate change will harm the planet
significantly.

The original title "The End of History?" is itself click-bait, misdirecting
readers with a provocative headline that relies on an already obscure, non-
dictionary definition of "history." Had Fukuyama simply titled his article
"All nations will eventually rule by Liberal Democracy," it would likely never
have even been noticed.

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subbz
I don't get why it'd be the "end" of mobile?

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Veen
I think it's a reference to Fukuyama's "end of history." It's not that history
or mobile computing reached their end, but that the significant conflicts
between world views and computing platforms are over. In history, the West won
the Cold War. In computing, mobile won.

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SanchoPanda
I interpretted the title the same way. Link to the essay (1989) below. The
book (1992) elaborated on the theme.

[https://www.embl.de/aboutus/science_society/discussion/discu...](https://www.embl.de/aboutus/science_society/discussion/discussion_2006/ref1-22june06.pdf)

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tempodox
This is what happens if you don't impose a speed limit on hype trains. We're
supposed to be at “the end” of <something> already again. As long as they
don't raise entertainment tax for the dizziness resulting from the speed of
fashion changes, I'll just ask for the pop corn and lean back.

