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Comment by AmericanChopper | Hacker News Reader

> this thread is addressing a practical problem with consumer goods

The problem of selecting for quality is exactly what I am talking about, and it is very simple to accomplish. I do it myself routinely, so I know that it takes a bit more than 0 effort, but it is a very simple problem to manage, and anybody can do it. The actual immature complaint is that not enough people have the same preferences as you do. Which you just have to get over, and accept that you live on a planet with 7 billion other people, and a lot of them (no matter what they say), actually don’t care about a little bit of slave labor in the supply chain of their new TV.

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> lot of them (no matter what they say), actually don’t care about a little bit of slave labor in the supply chain of their new TV

So we can't trust what consumers say they want, but we can trust what you say they wan't?

What is the basis for this extraordinary claim?

So far your argument reads a lot like 'market is infalliable, if it doeant serve your needs, its your fault. And even if you find it ever fails, it's your, the consumers fault too. No flaw in the system is possible'

> So we can't trust what consumers say they want, but we can trust what you say they wan't?

I’m not saying they want anything. I’m saying that what they want is revealed by their choices and not how they might answer any particular question when prompted. In economics this is called a revealed preference.

> I’m saying that what they want is revealed by their choices

You still have not addressed how does this square with lying.

What should happen when I ask primark staff and they say 'there is no slave labour'?

Is it also my responsibility to fly to Taiwan, break into the factory and defeat their security in a shootout, to find out that thwy use slave labour?

At least I hope the state won't protect primarc in case I want to make sure they are not lying before I buy a t-shirt?

> You still have not addressed how does this square with lying.

That’s just regular fraud. It’s already illegal.

>it is very simple to accomplish.

Given you don't have details on the quality of the item you are buying how do you accomplish that?

You don’t have information unless you seek to find it. The information is available and if you choose not to seek it then you have nobody but yourself to blame.

How do I get details on the design changes that make it less reliable as a consumer?

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