On Monopoly
- 5 minsOrigins
The word ‘monopoly’ is composed of two Greek words. Mono meaning ‘single’ or ‘one’ and ‘polein’ meaning ‘to sell’. [1]
In “The Politics”, Aristotle recounts the story of Thales of Miletus as an example of monopoly. Thales was considered a great polymath in his time, being versed in philosophy, astronomy and mathematics. He didn’t educate himself to gain status or to enrich himself. He was invested in learning for the sake of learning and to him knowledge had intrinsic value, but people didn’t understand his viewpoint and he was often mocked for not having a business-sense hence being poor.
Thales was disheartened and wanted to prove them wrong. Based on his knowledge of astronomy, he predicted that there would be a colossal crop of olives in the winter. He gathered a small sum of money and rented all olive-presses in Miletus and Chios. When the season arrived, there was a shortage of olive-presses and the demands for olive-presses sky-rocketed. Thales, owning all olive-presses and unchallenged by other people, made a lot of money. Thales showed them that philosophers can become rich if they choose to. [2]
In this special case, monopoly had a good outcome but usually when we hear this word, it never equates to anything positive. Mostly it’s the recurrent story of how a company is using its resources to become more dominant as it trounces competition. We all know how inimical this phenomenon is for creativity, innovation and economy. But somehow with technology we forgot the perils.
Current Situation
Smartphone industry is dominated by Apple and Google. According to StatCounter, Android has 72.72% market share while iOS has 26.47%. There have been some alternatives such as GrapheneOS and LineageOS but they are far from perfect. As of now GrapheneOS only works on Pixel Phones. [3] With desktop, people have to choose between Windows and macOS. Sure, Linux has become more user friendly in the recent years but it’s still far behind them. We should remember that users don’t think like us. Just because we enjoy playing with Linux, we shouldn’t expect other people to switch to Linux overnight.
It’s not an exaggeration to say, Google has become a verb now. We ask whatever we want from Google. You have a bug in your software? Google it! Need an idea on what to buy your girlfriend for Valentine’s day? Google it!
Apple App store and Google Play Store are tightly controlled and your app can be easily removed with no consequences for Apple or Google. You created an app that tracks menstrual cycle? Well, Apple can simply push an update that would make your app obsolete. [4] If any company creates a product that poses a threat to their supremacy, they can just buy them out. Look at Instagram [5] and WhatsApp [6].
With unimaginable amount of data at their disposal, Google has created a profile on each user. It doesn’t matter whether or not you use their services, they still collect information about you. In 2018, Bloomberg reported Google had a deal with MasterCard that allowed them to purchase trove of credit card transaction. [7] Big companies are injecting themselves into every aspect of our life. They have complete control over our lives. What we see, what we buy, where we go is determined by their algorithms. Some believe that tech companies are evil. What do we expect? Every company is supposed to grow each year and earn more profits. Of course they’re going to use every opportunity they have. It’s not their fault, we should blame legislators for not being vigilant to prevent this situation.
Excuses
Tracking users and selling our data has become a business model now. Some say this is temporary and we’re using this data to create a machine that would help us solve bigger problems like death, climate change, etc. But in reality our data is not being used to create a super-intelligent machine that would help us find a cure for death or other ailments, it’s being used to sell us dog food.
If we truly care about climate change, we’re not supposed to create gadgets that last less than three years. Is this considered good for our environment? I don’t think so. We wouldn’t waste people’s precious time with ads, we would be more creative and find another model. Ads consume energy and we have to reduce energy consumption instead of polluting the web with ads. Web seems broken now and surveillance capitalism is not a viable business model.
Solutions
Occasionally it’s good to let loose and rant a bit, but what now? Is there any solution? Well yes, few actually!
If you’re a developer, contribute to open-source projects. If an open-source alternative doesn’t exist, then you should create one. In nature, biodiversity is beneficial, and it promotes longevity of the environment. The same applies to software as well. A user should always have a choice with software.
Don’t worry if you can’t code. There are plenty of things you can do to help. You can sponsor developers and their projects. If you don’t want to extra money to spare, try to use open-source software instead of proprietary software. Replace Photoshop with Gimp, Microsoft Office with LibreOffice.
If you’re fluent in another language besides English, you can localize your favorite project. Many people will benefit from your work and there are platforms such as “Transifex” that have made localization very easy and manageable.
Recently there has been some discussion about regulating big tech. Some have suggested Google and Facebook should share their data with smaller companies. I don’t think this is helpful but regulators have to come up with a solution fast. With the help of lawyers and engineers and big tech we can remove this obstacle. Until then, we should focus on doing what we can to create a better world.