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Comment by jes | Hacker News Reader

Do you have a cell phone? If the results of this particular market are so terrible, why does virtually everyone elect, of their own free will, to buy a cell phone?

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Many people buy cell phones. That doesn't mean the market works. Consumers are gouged every day by unfair practices from cell phone providers.

I'm a bit confused how anyone using a cellphone could chino otherwise.

Genuinely want to kniw what sequence of letters was intended in stead of "cbino.

I'd say probably "claim".

Because they have no other choice.

We choose between what we have, not what is the best or the right thing to choose.

If a person chooses it freely, how can you say it's not the right thing for them to choose? Epistemologically, how could you know this?

They are not choosing freely, society pushes them to have a cell phone, and by definition there is no free choice of carriers because the government allocates the spectrum.

I think you're suggesting that unless a choice has no consequences, it's not a free choice.

So because in this day and age it's convenient to have a cell phone, the choice to do without one is not a free choice. And because one doesn't have an unlimited number of carriers to choose from, that choice is also not a free choice.

I'm using free choice in a different way, perhaps. To me, unless someone puts a gun to your head (so to speak), every choice you make is a free choice. That doesn't mean the choices are without consequences, or that they are necessarily good for you.

The point is that a cellphone is the best tool we have and that you are severely disadvantaged not only practically but also socially if you don't have one.

So you are free to not choose one but the consequences are huge to most people in fact to big.

It's not a rational choice as the free market philosophy claims, its a choice thats primed by whats considered desirable at any given time.

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