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I presented all that detail - philosophical justifications, legal precedents, court rulings, new laws, how the social contract and concepts of ownership have changed historically to address conflicts between new technology and old rules, how open standards foster innovation as opposed to letting companies manipulate the legal system to maintain profits, and how even Apple themselves did such things in the past.

But you know, without even addressing any of that, you have changed my mind! You just kept repeating the same things about ownership and entitlement, and that making changes was all my crazy idea. You even pointed out a couple times that I was thinking thoughts I didn't know I had.

I had no idea that hacker news would cease to exist if we mandated open protocols for big tech messaging. I don't see how that's related, but it must be, you said so. I'm surprised hacker news made it as far they did with all the open protocols that already exist. We'd be so much better off if CERN never opened the http protocol. Just like how mandating telephone network interoperability decades ago will destroy that industry. Any day now I'm sure.

All of those people and their concerns about big tech, and all of those countries passing new laws about big tech, I just saw one about Japan cracking down on app store monopolies, they must all be wrong. Because those companies own that stuff, like you said. Those who want choice are wrong. All of those people and governments must be hateful and selfish like me. We should let those big companies do what they want. These companies got big first and that entitles them to continue to control how most of us communicate, censuring us with their algorithms, etc. No big deal, it's not like communication is important to people. Too bad for those other companies that weren't in the right place at the right time, they don't have a moat or a enough lawyers and lobbyists to protect themselves. The printing press showed us how inconsequential communication revolutions are, just the whole reformation and enlightenment happening afterwards, no big deal. And what's with these new copyright laws at the time? If you own a book you should be able to copy it! Rules are rules and can't be changed. If we make any changes to mandate open protocols we'll utterly kill innovation, just like you said. The success of the everything built on the open internet and OSS proves that. It'll be another stone age if we keep that up, like you said.

Why didn't I see this before? Maybe I think too much, that must be my problem. Who needs logic or historical context to understand this stuff when emotional words like kill and hate and destroy carry much more weight and make so much more sense. So insightful. The current order is paramount, no matter how the world changes. I never knew how reassuring it was to be a reactionary and just dig in and ignore everything to the contrary, sure that I'm always right. I like this feeling of not having to challenge my preconceived notions, or explain myself. It's comfortable.

Thanks you so much! I applaud your efforts.



Over and over again you play this game of “hide the ball” where you respond as if you’re advocating for the subsumption of Apple’s iMessage product, then flip over to responding as if you merely are here to advocate for an open messaging protocol. My responses have always addressed the former, and ignore the latter, as the latter is an uninteresting and wholly obvious concept.

Should people be able to agree on a shared and open protocol for communication? Yes. Should the US government nationalize iMessage? No.


I bow to your pedantry. Everything else is dust in your wind.


In no way is what I’m saying pedantic, but I can see how that’s easier to accept than reality.




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