I agreed with the title. But the article is talking about something else than I expected.<p>These services aren't parasites. Theory of the firm, spontaneous organization, systems tend to the lowest energy state, all that, things settled into the current arrangement because it is superior than the previous arrangement. These companies built things that connect people who create more often than they consume with people who consume more often than they create, and they middleman it, make it easier for everyone around to get what they want and take their worth.<p>They're beginning to deliberately become monopolies, control access to distribution, this is parasitic in some sense, but it is sub optimal and eventually ripe for disruption.<p>What I thought he was talking about was how people these days seem to always be looking for a way to get one over on someone else. It seems there's a culture of "the only way to get ahead is at someone else's expense" and most business models are about where to find that someone and how to swindle him. I went to a consultation with a surgeon to see if an old surgery was still in good shape, his only motivation was to try to find a way to get me to agree to another surgery regardless if I needed it. I talked to my friend who is in the medical industry and he said "of course he's trying to sell surgery, hes a surgeon." It's a given that people will try to swindle you, even if that means butchering your body. That's what I think when I hear the term "parasite culture."