capitalism
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Netflix lists $900,000 AI job as actors and writers continue to strike
Will this pair of Hollywood strikes ever end? It looks like the big corporations are digging in for a long battle, illustrated by Netflix’s recent job posting for a machine learning platform product manager. The position pays a $900,000 annual salary at a time when most actors make around $200 a day, according to the pre-existing SAG-AFTRA contract.
How we can all cash in on the benefits of workplace automation
Artificial intelligence is no different than the cotton gin, telecommunication satellites or nuclear power plants. It's a technology, one with the potential to vastly improve the lives of every human on Earth, transforming the way that we work, learn and interact with the world around us. But like nuclear science, AI technology also carries the threat of being weaponized -- a digital cudgel with which to beat down the working class and enshrine the current capitalist status quo.
The incredibly sad world of niche dating apps
When I exited the market in 2006, online dating was akin to wearing sweatpants in the club. It was a sign that you'd given up on the "real" world; a symbol of existential surrender.
OpenPandora begins 'private' sales, fast-track your open-source gaming handheld for an extra $150
What with all the excitement about Sony's quad-core handheld and Nintendo's autostereoscopic screen, we have to say, we nearly forgot about the open-source Pandora handheld slowly but assuredly shipping from the UK. Well, we've got some bittersweet news to share, and here it goes: you can now purchase a Pandora for $500, and have it ship within a week. What's bitter about that? Because normally you pay $350 and get put on the pre-order waiting list. That extra $150 sounds like quite the surcharge, but it's an option if you simply can't wait for your number to come up, and OpenPandora chief Craig Rothwell tweets that some portion of those monies will help support the project. Still, those extra units have to come from somewhere, and if you've been standing in line for months, we imagine you won't happy to hear that some rich kid can just swoop in and buy your Pandora out from under you without a care in the world.
Rent seeking (or lack thereof) in WoW
Elnia continues posting some interesting (and complicated) insight into the World of Warcraft over at the Pink Pigtail Inn. This time, it's about what she calls "rent seeking," which isn't about trying to find the money to pay for your apartment so much as it's about individuals petitioning authorities (the government, or in this case Blizzard) for their own income. The post dabbles with some complicated market theory, but in the end, the conclusion is this: while players have definitely petitioned Blizzard for changes to their own class, they have generally stayed away from asking for more money, or changes to the rules that would grant it to them. In general, players are fine with Blizzard staying hands-off of the various in-game economies running in Azeroth. As the commenters over there say, there's a good reason for that, and it's because most of the economic play in WoW is completely optional. Aside from repair costs (which can be high for raiders, but for everyone else are fairly inconsequential), you don't really need money at all; given enough time, you can collect whatever you need from somewhere in the world, either by simply collecting ore or herbs, or by running instances and doing quests. But that doesn't mean that the "rent seeking" comparison isn't valid.
