On Nov 17, 2008, at 6:24 PM, Dan Saffer wrote:
Yes, because we've seen how well an unregulated free market works
recently.
Users often cannot go elsewhere. [...] And even if you can switch,
it can be a difficult process.
The Users Rights would be for those who don't have a choice.
I'm a firm believer in capitalism, free markets, and freedom of
choice. I'd love for free markets to work, but that would require all
people to have honor, integrity, and a sense of sympathy for our
fellow man. Unfortunately, one bad apple can ruin the bunch.
Balance trumps idealism in my book. We need a balance between free
market and regulation.
Too much regulation has shown to produce oppression and a socialist
welfare state, which creates dependency and reduces innovation. Look
at what Six Sigma did to 3M. A company known for innovation didn't
release an innovative product in 6 years.
But the reverse is also true. Completely unregulated markets have been
shown to produce excessive greed. Look at the executives of the large
insurance and financial companies in the US.
If we were all machines, than either of these two extremes would work.
The face is that we're human. And as humans we have certain desires
and needs, like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. While we
share similar categories of desires and needs, our individual
definitions of what qualifies those items is different.
If it was always about choice, then fewer people would be using
Windows and more people would be using Macs. Detroit wouldn't be in
such a shambles.
In short, we're human, which is why theoretical ideologies often fail.
Humans can are predictably unpredictable. And systems of balance work
better than extremes.
Cheers!
Todd Zaki Warfel
President, Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
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In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.
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