#planet money
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Meatspace twiddling
I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me next weekend (Mar 30/31) in ANAHEIM at WONDERCON, then in Boston with Randall "XKCD" Munroe (Apr 11), then Providence (Apr 12), and beyond!
"Enshittification" isn't just a way of describing the symptoms of platform decay: it's also a theory of the mechanism of decay – the means by which platforms get shittier and shittier until they are a giant pile of shit.
I call that mechanism "twiddling": this is the ability of digital services to alter their business-logic – the prices they charge, the payouts they offer, the particulars of the deal – from instant to instant, for each user, continuously:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/
Contrary to Big Tech's own boasting about its operations, the tricks that tech firms play to siphon value away from business customers and end-users aren't very sophisticated. They're crude gimmicks, like offering a higher per-hour wage to Uber drivers whom the algorithm judges to be picky about which rides they'll clock in for, and then lowering the wage by small increments as a way of lulling the driver into gradually accepting a permanent lower rate:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men
This is a simple trick. The difference is that tech platforms like Uber can play it over and over, and very quickly. There's plenty of wage-stealing scumbag bosses who'd have loved to have shaved pennies off their workers' paychecks, then added a few cents back in if a worker cried foul, then started shaving the pennies again. The thing that stopped those bosses was the bottleneck of payroll clerks, who couldn't make the changes fast enough.
Uber plays crude tricks – like claiming that a driver isn't an employee because the control is mediated through an app – and then piles more crude tricks on top – this algorithmic wage discrimination gambit.
Have you ever watched a shell-game performed very slowly?
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-do-penn-tellers-famous-cups-and-balls-trick-in-12-steps
It's a series of very simple gimmicks, performed very quickly and smoothly. Computers are very quick and very smooth. The quickness of the hand deceives the eye: do crude tricks with superhuman speed and they'll seem sophisticated.
The one bright spot in the Great Enshittening that we're living through is that many firms are not sufficiently digitized to to these crude tricks very quickly. Take grocery stores: they can get up to a lot of the same tricks as Amazon – for example, they can charge suppliers for placement on the most prominent, easiest-to-reach shelves, reorganizing your shopping based on which companies pay the biggest bribes, rather than offering the best products and prices.
But Amazon takes this to a whole different level – beyond simply organizing their product pages based on payola, they do this for search. You ask Amazon, "What's your cheapest batteries?" and it lies to you. If you click the first link in a search-results page, you'll pay 29% more than you would if you got the best product – a product that is, on average, 17 places down on the results page. Amazon makes $38b/year taking bribes to lie to you:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens
Amazon can do more than that. Thanks to its digital nature, it can continuously reprice its offerings – indeed, it can simply make up each price displayed on every product at the instant you look at it – based on its surveillance data about you, estimating your willingness to pay. For sellers, Amazon can continuously re-weight the likelihood that a given product will be shown to a customer based on the seller's willingness to discount their products, even to the point where they go out of business:
https://www.businessinsider.com/sadistic-amazon-treated-book-sellers-the-way-a-cheetah-would-pursue-a-sickly-gazelle-2013-10
Twiddling, in other words, lets digital services honeycomb their servers with sneaky wormholes that let them siphon value away from one kind of platform user and give it to another (as when Apple silently began spying on Iphone owners to create profiles for advertisers), or to themselves.
But hard-goods businesses struggle to do this kind of twiddling. Not for lack of desire – but for lack of capacity. Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon Fresh – an online grocery store – can change prices and layout millions of times per day, at effectively zero cost. Jeff Bezos, owner of Whole Foods – a brick-and-mortar grocer – needs a army of teenagers on rollerskates with pricing guns to achieve a fraction of this agility.
So hard-goods businesses are somewhat enshittification-resistant. It's not that their owners are more interested in the welfare of their customers, workers and suppliers – they merely lack the capacity to continuously rejigger the way their business runs.
Well, about that.
Grocers have been experimenting with "electronic shelf labels" in order to do "dynamic pricing" – that means that prices change quickly, in response to circumstances:
https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1197958433/dynamic-pricing-grocery-supermarkets
This doesn't have to be bad! As @planetmoney points out, it's a little weird that grocers don't discount milk whose sell-by date is drawing near. That milk is worth less to shoppers, because they have to use it more quickly lest it expire. Instead of marking down the price of perishable goods – day-old lettuce, yesterday's bread, etc – grocers put them on the shelves next to fresher, more valuable products, leading to billions of dollars' worth of food-waste and and unimaginable quantities of methane-producing, planet-cooking landfill.
In Norway, ESLs are pretty well established and – at least according to Planet Money's reporting – they are used exclusively to offer discounts in order to reduce waste. They make everyone better off.
But towards the end of the story, they note that Norway's grocery sector – which alters prices up to 2,000 times per day – has been accused of using ESLs to rig prices, hiking them and blaming them on pandemic supply-chain problems and loose monetary policy. Greedflation, in other words.
Greedflation is rampant in the grocery sector, all around the world. Remember when the price of eggs doubled and they blamed in on bird-flu, even as the CEO of the one company that owns every egg brand you've ever heard of boasted about how he could hike prices and suckers would just pay it?
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/23/cant-make-an-omelet/#keep-calm-and-crack-on
In Canada, grocers rigged the price of bread, the most Les-Mis-ass form of corporate crime you can imagine (do you want guillotines, Galen Weston? Because this is how you get guillotines):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_price-fixing_in_Canada
EU grocers – another highly concentrated industry – also collude to rig prices:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/17/how-to-think-about-scraping/
Which is all to say that while these companies don't have to use the twiddling capabilities that come with ESLs to enshittify their stores, we'd be pretty fucking naive to assume that they won't.
And here's the bad news: US grocers like Whole Foods (owned by Amazon, the company that wrote the enshittification playbook) are already experimenting with ESLs. So is Alberstons/Safeway, the massive, inbred conglomerate that has already demonstrated its passion for using twiddling to fuck over their workers:
https://knock-la.com/vons-fires-delivery-drivers-prop-22-e899ee24ffd0/
Economists love "price discrimination" – where prices change based on circumstance, trying to match the perfect price with the perfect customer. On paper, that sounds plausible: if I need a quart of milk for a recipe I'm making tonight and I get a 50% discount on some about-to-expire 2%, then everyone's better off. I get a discount and the grocer gets some money for milk they'd have to throw away at the end of the day.
But these elegant, self-licking ice-cream cones only emerge if the corporation offering the deal is constrained. Perhaps they're constrained by competition – the fear that you'll go elsewhere. Or perhaps they're constrained by regulation – the fear that they'll be punished if they use twiddling-tech to cheat you.
The grocery sector, dominated by a cartel of massive companies that routinely collude to rip us off, is not constrained by competition. And for years, regulators let them get away with ripping us off (though finally that might be changing):
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/21/us/politics/grocery-prices-pandemic-ftc.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ek0.t2Pr.g4n2usbxEcoa
For neoclassical economists, the answer to all this is "caveat emptor" – let the buyer beware. If you want to make sure that ESLs are only used to offer you discounts and not to gouge prices, all you need to do is note the price of everything you buy, every time you buy it, and triple-check it every time you go back to the grocery store. Just be eternally vigilant!
Thing is, the one thing computers are much better at than humans is vigilance. With ESLs and other twiddling mechanisms, you're a fish on a hook, and the seller is tireless in giving you a little more slack, then a little less, until you finally drop your guard.
Economists desperately want these elegant models to work, but "efficient market hypothesis" is a brain-worm that always turns into apologetics for fraud. Dynamic markets sound like a good idea, but they are catnip for cheaters. "Just be eternally vigilant" is miserable advice, and no way to live your life:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security
In his brilliant novel Spook Country, @GreatDismal describes augmented reality as "cyberspace everting" – that is, turning inside-out:
https://memex.craphound.com/2007/07/31/william-gibsons-spook-country/
The extrusion of twiddling technology from digital platforms into the physical world isn't cyberspace everting so much as it is cyberspace prolapsing.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags
#pluralistic#fraud apologetics#caveat emptor#twiddling#competition#groceries#price discrimination#norway#electronic shelf tags#planet money#enshittification#constraints#greedflation#efficient market hypothesis brain-worms
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★
VATICAN,
push those damn buttocks.
★
SAVE ZE DOLLAR
THEN MORE DOLLARS.
PRINT MORE DOLLARS.
EAT MORE DOLLARS.
SHIT MORE DOLLARS.
★
BE MORAL DOLLAR.
★
Thoughs and Prayers
Thoughs and Prayers
Thoughs and Prayers
★
Or else
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It's been a minute, but I actually read a nice paperback comic. Superheroes and economics-- it doesn't get any more nerdy than Planet Money's The Mysterious Micro-Face. (Planet Money is an NPR economics podcast I've been following since its 2008 debut. And yes, I am a supporter of my local NPR station. 🤓) This is the debut issue, but at the pace it's going the next issue, if there is a next issue, will be out in 2024.
If you're familiar with Planet Money you probably already know about this project. If not, this comic is very heavy on finance and public radio nods. A private equity firm is a fitting villain. I quite enjoyed it!
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This company adopted AI. Here's what happened to its human workers : Planet Money https://www.npr.org/1172791281
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vibecession vibes session sep 16 2022
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A few months back, HBO/Discovery started to remove large segments of it’s library from it’s popular streaming app, HBOMax. This podcast breaks down why that happened and why every major streamer, except Netflix, followed suit.
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"Black people are not dark-skinned white people" - Tom Burrell
Growing up in a world of hyper-specific targeted advertising, it seemed wild to me that Tom Burrell would make his career pointing out the obvious, “black people are not dark-skinned white people.” But back in the 1960s ad agencies were stodgy and boring I guess. Although I haven’t watched Mad Men. Maybe if I had I would have been less surprised.
Burrell created his own ad agency that tapped…
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Jack Corbett on Twitter 12.03
(X)
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“On @planetmoney, we go inside the battle between libraries and publishers over e-books. The stakes couldn't be higher: everyone feels like they're fighting for their very right to exist.”
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Podcast Recs 🎙️Planet Money Records Vol. 1 + 2 || Planet Money
Podcast: Planet Money
Episode: "Planet Money Records Vol. 1: Earnest Jackson" + "Planet Money Records Vol. 2: The Negotiation."
Thoughts: Planet Money. What can I say about NPR's Planet Money that hadn't been said already? It is an institution in the podcast world. The economics podcast started up during the middle of the 2008 Great Recession and it took straight off. It is definitely one of the first podcasts I listened to way back in 2012. And boy, are they a great podcast. The team sent a satellite into space, created a comic book, and drilled for oil. When they want to get to know how an industry works, they go all in.
But, other than the economics nerd in me who salivates for any good quality economics podcasts, Planet Money is unique. They put a human story behind the numbers. They make you care about the story, all while breaking down complicated economics terms. And, I think, these two recent episodes really play to their strengths.
Earnest Jackson is a delightful man. He also is a singer and recorded a song about inflation back in the 1970s — a song that cannot be more relevant to today's current affairs. You hear about Jackson's life and how the music industry works today. It's a quintessential Planet Money episode. This one, however, just feels more. Whether it's because this was always Jackson's dream to be signed onto a record label but life turned out differently for him, or the many bumps the Planet Money team had to go through to get the song to our ears, you want Jackson to succeed. And the song? It is one catchy tune. Let's give Jackson his due and get the song to one million stream. <3
Complete Rec List - Tumblr
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My Favorite Podcasts in 2022
At the end of 2019, I published a blog post about podcasts for 2020. Back then, I was just getting into podcasts. Here’s an updated list of my favorite podcasts. Nowadays, I legitimately consider listening to podcasts to be one of my hobbies. What I love about podcasts is that they are informative and/or entertaining while also requiring low levels of engagement. Namely, they are a great companion for cooking, walks, and bike rides. I will, however, note that there is also great power in being left with our own thoughts. I wrote a bit more about this in an old post titled the power of reflection. My current podcast (and music) app of choice is Spotify. Speaking of music, here’s a post about some of my favorite songs.
The Daily
This New York Times news podcast has been a part of my morning routine for my entire college career. Legitimately, after my alarm, this is the first thing I hear each morning. I’ve written about this previously in each installment of my typical week series. New episodes are released on weekday mornings and are typically a half-hour in length. I first started listening to this podcast simply to become a bit more informed about the world. Over the years I have come to actually look forward to and enjoy each new episode. It’s the news though, so there are definitely some more difficult topics.
How I Built This with Guy Raz
This is my all-time favorite podcast. In each episode, host (and creator) Guy Raz interviews founders about their entrepreneurial journies. The stories are fascinating, but the episodes are also just so well produced. Full episodes are released on Mondays and are typically an hour in length. Nowadays, more experimental HIBT Lab! episodes are released on Thursdays. Whether or not I’d heard of the company/founder, I’ve seriously never been disappointed by an episode! Formerly an NPR podcast, this podcast is now presented by Wondery and Amazon Music. If you take nothing else away from this post, just give this podcast a listen!
Wisdom From the Top with Guy Raz
As you may have noticed from the podcast’s name, this podcast is also with Guy Raz! To be honest, I actually resisted listening to this podcast for a while. Episodes kept showing up in my How I Built This feed and I was frankly annoyed. Eventually, a specific company/leader caught my eye and I haven’t turned back since. This podcast has many of the same elements that make How I Built This great. This podcast is still with NPR and brings in leaders (lots of former CEOs) from today’s top companies. At its core, this podcast is about leadership. New hour-long episodes are released weekly on Wednesdays.
SciShow Tangents
This is a science podcast from Complexity and WNYC Studios. It is formatted like a game show which makes it very entertaining. Each episode kicks off with an original science poem and ends with a listener question and a butt fact. Back in high school, I subscribed to and regularly watched the SciShow YouTube channel. While still a great channel, the daily videos were a bit much. I find the half-hour weekly podcast episodes (released on Tuesdays) to be a lot more manageable and enjoyable.
Hidden Brain
This is a psychology podcast and like How I Built This is a former NPR podcast. New hour-long episodes are released on Mondays. I first discovered this podcast two summers ago (summer 2021), but only recently became a regular listener. If you are like me and enjoy reading psychology books, definitely give this podcast a try!
Planet Money
This is an economics podcast from NPR that really seeks to make learning about economics fun. New episodes are released on Wednesdays and Fridays and are typically 20-30 minutes in length. Compared to the other podcasts on this list, this is my least favorite. That said, it’s still a great podcast that I listen to regularly.
#college#Smith College#podcasts#The Daily#NYT#NPR#HIBT#How I Built This with Guy Raz#Guy Raz#Wisdom From the Top with Guy Raz#Hidden Brain#Planet Money#SciShow Tangents
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I listened to a podcast about how the Simpson's have lived a middle class life style for decades, but by 2022 standards they would be at the poverty line, and Mr. Burns would be many times more richer. But the creators couldn't change their life style to reflect that income disparity because viewers thought it was "too sad & upsetting".
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