Post #1276147

2026-04-14 23:42 UTC

The radical idea that what people pay should reflect what things cost. We would have moved off fossil fuels 50 years ago if a meaningful fraction of the cost of wars and global warming were included in the prices. We would already have moved on to sodium salt batteries if the human and environmental cost of lithium mining were included in battery prices. No such thing as cheap plastic if those prices included the near infinite cleanup costs. Not many tires; we would be on mass transit. And there would be no talk of LLM-powered generative &quot;AI&quot; shoved into everything if they paid their true energy and water costs.

Replies (7)

@mlncn@social.coop 2026-04-14 23:48

Yes everything would be more expensive in this world where we pay for the true costs of what we need and want, but we would all be paid a lot more to make the world better, rather than earn less than our survival costs while making our world worse.

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@mxchara@seattle.pink 2026-04-15 02:41

@mlncn@social.coop this is a point that has always rankled with me. the entrepreneurial set is always jabbering about hard work and taking risks and facing adversity and so forth—in which case they should view such things as taxation and government regulation as just another limitation to be surpassed. these people are supposed to be good at starting things from nothing and making miracles happen cheaply and efficiently. Why are they whingeing about taxes and fees?

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@mikebabcock@floss.social 2026-04-15 04:22

@mlncn@social.coop I'm just angry at every local government that gives tax breaks to companies that are stealing resources from citizens. If a datacenter actually makes sense in your city and locals approve, then go for it. But don't give them tax breaks and discounts on water and electricity. Charge them double for making you upgrade infrastructure. #rant ... sorry. See also the Business Insider report (which spends way too long on noise): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-8TDOFqkQA

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@yavien@social.hackerspace.pl 2026-04-15 08:20

@mlncn@social.coop there would be no fast fashion either if people actually reflected on the human skill/ and labor required for machine sewing, let alone every step way up the complete process through weaving (or knitting), spinning and processing fiber sources, be it plants, animals or the crude oil you mentioned

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@bakuninboys@aus.social 2026-04-15 10:15

@mlncn@social.coop the problem is "cost" is usually measured in dollars, but that's not a stable metric. When Dodo birds were plentiful, you could put some reasonable dollar value on them. How much would one cost now?

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@dogzilla@masto.deluma.biz 2026-04-15 15:24

@mlncn@social.coop @GhostOnTheHalfShell@masto.ai We probably wouldn’t have the internet either. Like everything else, this needs to be taken in moderation. What we need is better judgement and a sense of personal and collective responsibility. Which is why I’m not optimistic.

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@airshipper@cloudisland.nz 2026-04-15 20:27

@mlncn@social.coop internalize the externalities!

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