There’s this philosophical discussion about whether monopolies and oligopolies are good or not.
Netflix. The Cavs. Time Warner. Verizon. It’s a bit everywhere.
Monopolies and oligopolies are not good if they last. Because they destroy competition and any incentive to get better. They just get fat, impotent and indulgent. We all lose.
They make things better by setting up expectations and standards though. No Microsoft hegemony, no Universal Serial Bus. Netflix forced competition to hurry the fuck up and get aggressive on content, price etc.
That’s good. But the world we live in these days is so brutal that… It goes too far? I think about Netflix. They are ultra aggressive, producing tons of content, a lot being good. They are flooding our senses, force-feeding us with binges we can’t escape. To the point that even if the last OITNB season leaks no one cares because waiting a few months for it while finishing some season of something is totally fine. There’s far too much going on. We saturate.
Take those superteams in the NBA, a handful of them destroying everyone else. it’s kind of fun, and it’s kind of the worst shit ever. The other day the game was over at the end of the first quarter. Eastern finals completely useless, we already know who will win. Those blowout games probably bring a lot of people to watch games live. Maybe? Maybe not. People love drama, hail to the King. But it’s probably bad in the long term (why watch the regular season or playoffs games if it’s always the same teams at the end?). We’re bored.
The focus is not on doing good or great anymore, to sustain something. It’s to intensely retain, funnel people into extreme behavior, burn us out. It’s weird.