There are even more previous discussions than that. The Priceonomics article is just a rehash of an Atlantic article from 1982, with a modern spin on it. Over a third of the Priceonomics article is just quotes from 1982 original. The original is a far better article overall, but no one has time to read longform these days hence why the rehash is popular.<p>Earlier discussions for the 1982 article:<p>279 points, 1237 days ago - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=4535611" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=4535611</a><p>140 points, 2073 days ago - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=1405698" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=1405698</a><p>96 points 2189 days ago - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=1110283" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=1110283</a>