Disagree. First, the devices with removable batteries are exceedingly rare right now. They also often enough are niche products. Second, it is not reasonable to expect every consumer to always think about what is right, and not instead to follow what marketing tells him to buy. This is exactly what regulations are good for and historically have solved.
Interesting argument against democracy that you have in there - we should go back to monarchy. After all, it is not reasonable to expect every citizen to think about what is right, since instead they follow propaganda.
The danger of manipulation through propaganda is indeed an argument used in political discourse, though in reasonable discussions when talking about direct and indirect democracy. The layers of parliamentary systems are partly a means of protection against manipulations. If you want to read an interesting and nice to read book that partly talks about this, then I'd recommend Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy.
Though a consumer decision is not the same as a political vote, at least the latter is not supposed to be similarly thoughtless, so there is no need to interpret my comment that broadly.
Europes tech sector is thriving, but it’s all boring technology that actually solves real problems that nobody cares about like SAP and shit so the HN crowd don’t think it exists :)
Regulation is not made for the benefit of individuals, but for the benefit of society as a whole. In this case, for the environment or the planet.
I doubt that people don't want a planet to live.
