Sorry, I was being snarky. What I meant was that a computer running Android (or iOS) can’t really be counted as a PC, in the sense that Google (or Apple) control what you do with it.

You should check out Apple’s new tokhe straav model, it’s amazing 😉

There is no such thing as an Android PC.

So how is it decided who works on what, and when?

The point I’m trying to make is that even if a system like Cybersyn could be made to work at the scale required, we’re still in the position of a dystopian “today it’s your turn to work in the salt mines, comrade” decision being made by a higher power, and imposed by law.

Perhaps I wasn’t clear - the value that money and markets add is in the allocation of labour - not the labour itself, but who works on what, when, and to what extent.

So we get an equal amount of these tokens, right? Regardless of how hard the 2 to 3 months essential work is, and regardless of how unpleasant it is?

Okay, sure - but you still have to have robust manufacturing capabilities that you can, at least, scale up at short notice (c.f. artillery shells).

My point was, really, that I see a lot of people trying to simultaneously hold the opinions that they certainly wouldn’t work for arms companies because the entire industry is evil, but also, we should make sure to arm Ukraine.

But at the point where you’re distributing arbitrary tokens to individuals to have them reveal their preferences in a Cybersyn-like system … you more or less have money and markets again? Unless I’m misunderstanding your suggestion.

You can’t support Ukraine and other victims of military aggression, without having a strong arms industry yourself.

The issue is that the production of those resources requires money.

Not just as a means of exchange - the world is far too large and complex to run on barter - but also, through the mechanism of markets, as a means of resource allocation.

Say you could go and grow 1kg of potatoes, or mine 1kg of copper ore? How do you know which to do?

In a society with money and markets, you look at the prices!

Say you have your 1kg of copper ore. Do you sell it now, or wait?

In a society with money and markets, you guess[1] what the prices will be in the future.

Without money, and markets, large industrial societies fail. That’s not to say that markets are a perfect signaling mechanism - malinvestment is a thing, and can certainly be exacerbated. But the known alternatives (and we’ve tried them) have led to poverty and misery.

[1] I know, I know, …

What a load of shit.

“Company cuts ties with leopard after customers notice leopard”.

At this point, as a tech industry insider, you don’t partner with the likes of Thiel or Karp without fully understanding who you’re getting into bed with, or why.

A browser. Just make a browser. A FUCKING BROWSER. Don’t bloviate on other topics. Don’t bake AI into it. Just do ONE THING well … make a FUCKING BROWSER.