@aral not true, and the companies who disrupt should be accountable for the side effects.

@aral @pluralistic (who coined the term) references the historic conditions and deeper causes pretty much every time he remarks on the topic, but here is an article specifically about that.
https://locusmag.com/2025/03/commentary-cory-doctorow-there-were-always-enshittifiers/

@aral Nice one

@aral I understand enshittification as the process by which we reach a shitty state. The process was around for a long time. However, for many people, it only became apparent when everything became intolerably shitty, whereas previously things seemed as mere pain points.

@Holi I beg to differ. Silicon Valley was always a sewer. VC only funds shit. Just because it’s covered in a layer of cake before the exit doesn’t mean it’s was a shit cake to begin with. And they’re not side effects. They’re effects. Every surveillance capitalist and people farmer who sets up a VC-funded startup knows exactly what they’re doing. So maybe it’s about time we did too and stopped getting surprised over and over and over again. Maybe then we can hit them where it hurts: by not enabling their exponential growth to begin with and by investing in ethical alternatives for the common good from the common purse.

@aral ah! A silicone valley centric comment, I guess so then 👍