We’re unconvinced by the latest Varoufakis theory, TBH

Apparently we’re all just serfs working on the Lord’s demesne.

Amazon sits at the apex of this new order because it owns the cloud computing platform – Amazon Web Services (AWS) – upon which other technological firms, such as Uber, rely, but also large parts of banking, healthcare, logistics, public administration, media and education sectors. Once these businesses are embedded in AWS, switching costs become prohibitive. Firms thus become vassals on Amazon’s vast cloud fief and surrender their customers’ data.

And, well, we thought we’d ask an AI - which runs on cloud computing we believe - about this:

The costs of switching from AWS primarily involve data transfer fees and potential licensing issues, although AWS now waives its data transfer out-to-internet fees for customers migrating to other providers. Other costs can include those for the migration tools, resources for testing, and labor for re-architecting applications. However, these costs must be weighed against the potential savings from a new, cheaper provider, and AWS is actively addressing the software licensing barrier to make switching easier.

Oh.

And, umm:

So, umm, no.

Yanis Varoufakis is the leader of MeRA25 and the author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism

Well, if you are a stylish lefty you do indeed need to keep telling people why they should listen to you. But if the current system is so bad that it must be changed there’s a certain puzzle as to why things have to be invented to complain about, no?

Tim Worstall