If this is true, software is essentially worthless.
bigyabai•1h ago
Stallman warned about this like 35 years ago, now:
> A copy of a program has nearly zero marginal cost (and you can pay this cost by doing the work yourself), so in a free market, it would have nearly zero price.
> What’s more, central production as now practiced is inefficient even as a means of delivering copies of software. This system involves enclosing physical disks or tapes in superfluous packaging, shipping large numbers of them around the world, and storing them for sale. This cost is presented as an expense of doing business; in truth, it is part of the waste caused by having owners.
He's talking about the marginal cost of distributing a copy of software which has already been created, which is completely different from LLMs reducing the cost of creating new software.
gjvc•38m ago
you mad?
pjmlp•6m ago
Yes, and there is a finite number of people needed to guide AI agents, yet a large majority keeps thinking it is only going to be a others problem.
gjvc•1h ago
nonsense. way too cheap. add a couple/few of zeros and maybe.
rlmineing_dead•24m ago
we provided the token cost result at the bottom. While an expensive model, 550 for a port of ladybird isn't bad I think
colesantiago•1h ago
bigyabai•1h ago
> A copy of a program has nearly zero marginal cost (and you can pay this cost by doing the work yourself), so in a free market, it would have nearly zero price.
> What’s more, central production as now practiced is inefficient even as a means of delivering copies of software. This system involves enclosing physical disks or tapes in superfluous packaging, shipping large numbers of them around the world, and storing them for sale. This cost is presented as an expense of doing business; in truth, it is part of the waste caused by having owners.
(essay mirror): https://oitofelix.github.io/gnu-philosophy/standalone/html/w...
resoluteteeth•48m ago
gjvc•38m ago
pjmlp•6m ago