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Originally Posted by eroticsexxx
Ah, the "every man for himself" creed.
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What you call a "creed" is a fact of life. It's a praxeological certainty. It's how the market works.
You offer a service. if people value your service more than all other services they could buy at that moment in time for the same amount of money, they will buy your service. If they value another service more than yours, you won't make any money.
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And thus we see why the "Industry" inevitably will stagnate. At some point a collective philosophy in some form or shape will need to be developed to protect the interests of the whole.
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The fact that it's only individuals that make decisions, doesn't mean people can't or won't work together. When a voluntary exchange takes place, both parties benefit. People share information all the time. People give advice all the time. Some more than others. Some more useful than others. people learn from each other by observing what works and what doesn't. And yes, people band together to fight certain threats or mitigate certain risks.
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Otherwise it will simply be a revolving door of companies (except those who are big enough to survive), any of which can be targeted by regulatory bodies or subject to threats to the stability of their business.
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Human history is the history of revolving doors of people that come up with great ideas and ways to profit from them. Nothing lasts forever.
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Every other major industry has learned the lesson that there is strength in numbers. Why can't this industry get it together?
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Yes, there's plenty of examples of companies joining forces and forming cartels. And what happens every time? They get outcompeted by the new guy and the cartel breaks up. The only cases where cartels can survive for a longer period of time are those were force is involved. Either directly by the cartel members as is the case with for example drug cartels or indirectly as is the case when those cartels manage to get enough political influence to have the government outlaw their competitors. Do you see either of those things happening in this "industry"? do you want either of those things to happen in this "industry"?
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Perhaps this is the wrong place to have this conversation, but the individualistic attitudes are telling as to why things are the way they are at present.
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I fear you are confusing one of the basic truths of human existence, namely the fact that we are all individuals and only individuals can make decisions (There's no such things as a "collective mind") with certain moral values or ideologies.
The fact that we are all individuals does not mean people don't or can't help their fellow man. And to help your fellow man, you certainly don't need to turn control over your business over to some 'collective body'.
We all have limited amounts of time and limited resources at our disposal. If I prefer to use mine as efficiently as possible, then that's not a sign of egoism, but good business sense imho. That I want my business to turn a profit does not preclude me from helping people the way I prefer or decide to help people.