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If people go back to cabs then all is fine from an employment standpoint, but the problem is the section of customers whose best alternative is public transit,

If people go back to cabs then all is fine from an employment standpoint, but the problem is the section of customers whose best alternative is public transit, walking, cycling. (I'm in this group) After thinking more about this, I think I actually agree with your argument that we should sentence Uber to death just because it's the 'right' thing to do even if it indirectly leads to unemployment of a lot of people. However, we started this thread under a shared premise of utilitarianism. If we treat these 'death sentence' decisions on on a case-by-case (i.e. no future precedent set), it's hard for me to believe punishing the 'corrupt management' (which probably only amounts to a dozen individuals) is worth screwing with peoples' livelihoods. At Uber's scale, it just seems like a given that there will be hundreds of people whose lives will be SERIOUSLY screwed, albeit indirectly.

Arizhel 10y ago
I think it's more than a dozen individuals; from what we're seeing with Uber, and what I know about corporate culture from experience, bad corporate culture permeates the entire company, from the top down. In Uber's case, this means not only their executives, but also their HR department (which backs up harassers), and also their engineering (which is very large for a company like that). The drivers are a different thing because they don't work directly with the corporate HQ people and are really just part-time contractors anyway. So I really don't have a problem with those hundreds of people at Uber HQ getting seriously screwed. Most of them will probably get jobs elsewhere anyway, though they'll now have the Uber resume stain, but these people aren't poor people living paycheck-to-paycheck, they're relatively wealthy Silicon Valley office workers (engineers, managers, etc.). For everyone else, drivers, customers, etc., I really do think they'll just move on to other things and it won't be a big deal. Lyft seems to be doing fine, though it'd be nice if they eliminated the tipping.

Arizhel 10y ago

I think it's more than a dozen individuals; from what we're seeing with Uber, and what I know about corporate culture from experience, bad corporate culture permeates the entire company, from the top down. In Uber's case, this means not only their executives, but also their HR department (which backs up harassers), and also their engineering (which is very large for a company like that). The drivers are a different thing because they don't work directly with the corporate HQ people and are really just part-time contractors anyway. So I really don't have a problem with those hundreds of people at Uber HQ getting seriously screwed. Most of them will probably get jobs elsewhere anyway, though they'll now have the Uber resume stain, but these people aren't poor people living paycheck-to-paycheck, they're relatively wealthy Silicon Valley office workers (engineers, managers, etc.). For everyone else, drivers, customers, etc., I really do think they'll just move on to other things and it won't be a big deal. Lyft seems to be doing fine, though it'd be nice if they eliminated the tipping.