I didn't set the goalposts :) I just noticed that there is a miscommunication.

The miscommunication is that you presume "That doesn’t mean", whereas the whole discussion is about whether that's desired or not.

I actually don’t think giant corporations are desirable. But that’s not the discussion people are having here. They’re claiming that Twitter is so indispensable, so woven into the fabric of everyday life that it’s tantamount to a public utility, like electricity or sewage.

Which is a perfectly reasonable claim. Rejecting it out of hand doesn't make anyone wiser.

Okay, but you’re acting as though it’s the same claim as “Twitter has a lot of power”.

I’ve explained my reasoning against the utility claim. If you want to defend it, do so. It might be reasonable, but you haven’t offered anything other than substituting it with a different argument.

It's not the same claim as being indispensible, but it's the same claim as being extremely vowen into everyday life. I think that claim reflects what is actually being discussed better. What I offer is not a defense of the claim, but a request to consider the claim seriously.

In the public utility metaphor, utilities were not defined until they became defined. There's no reason to discount a possible category of "utilithing" that shares some properties with the existing one but not others.

It might be that I missed your explanation (was it in a sibling thread?), but in this thread I don't see a consideration for that idea. "They are not so vital" is not an argument against it, but your personal value judgement.

It’s in my root comment in this thread. I’m not giving my personal value judgment — it’s the value judgment of the ~75% of adults in the US who don’t use Twitter. It’s a real stretch to say that something less than a quarter of the population uses is “vital” for everyday life. How many Americans do you think go a month without electricity or sewage?

> it’s the value judgment of the ~75% of adults in the US who don’t use Twitter.

So 5% of all adults? Yes, I just made up that number, just like you did.

Why would I make up a number that’s easily verifiable? https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media...

You served the wrong number: this is the share of population on Twitter. I asked about the share of non-Twitterers sharing your values.

If you don’t use Twitter at all, like over three quarters of adults in the US, you de facto don’t think it’s vital for every day life.

You seem to think about "vital for every individual" when no one said that but you. There were various weaker versions of "powerful" considered.

This discussion isn’t going anywhere; you just keep reusing the same old motte and bailey. Have a nice day!

Well, I tried to save you from fighting a view that no one represents. That only brings further misunderstanding. Good luck.