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Comment by gdc8 | Hacker News Reader

For who is that innovation?

Tech companies are examples of runaway mindlessness. Their scale has lost purpose long ago. They are over valued and over rated from a social cost stand point.

Their capabilities don't translate to real world reduction in health costs, education costs, housing costs, energy costs, defense costs etc. They infact increase those cost for everyone with time.

It's pseudo innovation from con men or the clueless. Natural that govts are reacting and overreacting. Good times are over world over. Jurassic Park is out of control.

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Interesting opinion, could you please elaborate how tech companies increases cost of housing?

You've heard of San Francisco yeah? ;)

On the other hand, a widespread capability of WfH, which wouldn't be possible without tech, or at least not in contemporary volume, is likely putting a downward pressure on housing in attractive areas.

If a well-earning programmer settles somewhere in a rural place, it means a) more money spent in a small community, b) one fewer affluent person seeking housing in an urban hotspot.

I would guess that the aggregated effect worldwide is an order of magnitude higher than whatever passes in Portland and SF.

> ... likely putting a downward pressure on housing in attractive areas.

The theory is good. Unfortunately, that downward pressure doesn't seem to be having any effect for cities in many western nations. Pretty close to runaway house pricing these days. :(

I am one such case, I moved away from Prague (insane real estate prices, some of the worst in the EU) to Ostrava (city where I was born, rust belt, real estate prices around 40 per cent of those in Prague), while being able to earn the same money at a distance.

Ofc I had to lower my expectations with regard to good restaurants etc., but the resulting slack in our monthly household budget is enjoyable.

Cool. Glad it's working out for somebody. :)

If everyone did what you did, Ostrava would become unaffordable. And that would happen much quicker than in Prague because the high quality of life and experiences in Prague means people are willing to sacrifice some things, often space, which means you can build a lot more housing in the same space, in return for the experiences.

People will be unwilling to live in a small apartment or house in Ostrava the way they would in Prague so prices would skyrocket to beyond unaffordable very quickly.

The point is that the population used to be much more dispersed, even 20 or 40 years ago. If more people like me moved back to their ancestral regions, the demand would become a lot more distributed.

The current trend of everyone coalescing into a few ant-like megalopolises has to revert somehow, otherwise we will end up in a dystopia: casket-sized microapartments costing 50 per cent of your income in rent.

Land is enormously valuable in huge cities and that is what is driving the cost of living up. Meanwhile, there is a ton of underused land elsewhere.

> For who is that innovation?

The CCP answer is that it's for the state. Policing benefits from enhanced data collection. Social media allows them to control and monitor domestic discourse. Consumer electronics exports create vast amounts of foreign exchange and very sticky attachments to international supply chains.

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