People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity

Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by edmundsauto on Sunday March 19, 2023 @03:48PM (#35222822)

One difference is that urban areas get that benefit with lower cost due to the inherent scaling available in dense population. The benefit might be the same, the cost is not.

I’d argue the isolated benefit is the same, but the network effect amplifies it. When a ton of people do music together, it becomes part of the culture. That effect is more difficult to scale in low density populations, which means their rate of improvement is probably lower.

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Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by gameman144 on Sunday March 19, 2023 @04:00PM (#35222931)

> When a ton of people do music together, it becomes part of the culture.

I can't think of a better reason to subsidize the additional cost for rural broadband: without it, there is no nationally accessible "culture" that unifies us.

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Re:People Had to Be Convinced of the Usefulness of Electricity by bumby on Monday March 20, 2023 @09:22AM (#35231101)

The utility market is generally a regulated monopoly. The market and govt both recognized the economies of scale with public infrastructure. As part of the tradeoff to be allowed to operate as a monopoly, utilities must also ensure rural or unprofitable customers still receive access. It’s all part of the deal and intrinsically tied to your point.

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