This seems to be a repeated theme [that I&#x27;m noticing] at present which to my mind hints at a particular flaw in capitalist society - that we end up paying for things by proxy.<p>You want a curated suggestion for what to read but instead of paying for a curator to make those suggestions you pay for a book that poorly hints at the worth that you&#x27;ve received from the curators effort. Or you want a particular piece of software but instead of paying directly [in part] for those who conceive of the software and implement it you pay for a support contract, or [gratis Google software] you pay slightly more for many things the advertising of which in part pays for the software that you use. You want to watch a well written movie, you pay for high-priced drinks and popcorn. Et cetera.<p>It seems that the value being generated gets removed one or more steps from the point at which the money paid that [poorly] feeds back to the system that you find that thing valuable. To me it seems that we lose a lot of the financial value to third-parties that place themselves at the interstices - the publisher&#x27;s executives takes a large cut of the book price but did little of value, the &#x27;stars&#x27; in the movie take a large cut but any one of hundreds of actors could have done that part, the advertising execs take a large cut but much of the output they direct is antagonistic towards those who are really seeking other things.<p>Just seems a really weird way to go about improving society.