7 ms·
Silicon Valley thinks it invented roommates. They call it 'co-living'
- lin_lin 9y agoA Guardian opinion piece ranting about SV/tech? Wow, colour me shocked... /s
- stuaxo 9y agoStill, the concept of "co living" sounds like all that is terrible about SV.
- dtech 9y agoI found the article quite humorous, and I assume that the article was intentionally sarcastic. But of course, these days Poe's law might even apply to more traditional publishers.
- guuz 9y agoThis kind of piece is usually boring (not only The Guardian ones btw), but they have an important purpose: remind us of the ridiculousness of our culture. We need every help possible, believe me
- ryandrake 9y agoI thought the article had an entirely appropriate level of snark. The Valley's level of self-congratulation for achieving the mundane becomes insufferable without regular doses of cynicism. It's good to get chopped back down to reality every once in a while.
- humanrebar 9y ago> By “convenient” they mean anonymous people on minimum wage clean up after you. Hey, let's not stigmatize the upper middle class actually hiring people to do worthwhile work. That's how jobs, small businesses, and economic growth happen. > As was quickly pointed out by numerous people this is basically a “bus”. Just, you know, without the poor people. Likewise, this is a good idea. People sharing rides in smaller buses that can service different routes is good. Public bus systems should really be exploring a smaller vehicle model more. It gets everyone where they need to go with fewer cars (and therefore pollution and traffic).
- dtech 9y ago> Public bus systems should really be exploring a smaller vehicle model more I asked someone from my local bus service once. Their answer was that it's not economically viable for the public bus service, as the only major saving was fuel cost and the extra services don't provide enough revenue to offset the employee cost (otherwise they could service it with the large normal busses). So basically this becomes viable with increased ticket prices or self-driving busses. The technology isn't quite there yet for the latter, and governments don't like price differentiation in bus lines. * Maintenance cost per line might go slightly down, but apparantly overal it's more expensive because they need to maintain technicians and parts for more models.
- humanrebar 9y ago> So basically this becomes viable with... Well, some startups think they can make it viable. Either they can or can't, but making fun of them for reinventing "buses" isn't going to help. Likely any company in this space is looking to as many users as possible while breaking even, banking on self-driving tech developing in the meantime. When the vans drive themselves, the economics will change drastically.
- lotsofpulp 9y agoWhen your biggest expense is employees, it's obvious that you're not going to get anywhere without increasing revenue or decreasing # of employees.
- brandelune 9y agoDecreasing employees, or reducing wages, or renouncing labor regulations that ensure people make a living, etc.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoThat's when you don't hire employees but entrepreneurs, you know, gig economy so you only need to pay them for however much rides they manage to get instead of a living wage like old fashioned bus drivers get.
- chrisseaton 9y agoI think the author is being deliberately uncharitable. I think what these co-living spaces are proposing is more similar to an officers' mess, if people here have experienced that, than roommates, in that it's sort of like a private permanent hotel with private rooms, dining areas, kitchens, libraries, and staff waiting on you. As a young person it's a really fantastic way to live, very efficient, and it fosters community.
- zerostar07 9y ago> like a private permanent hotel with private rooms now thats a good idea. Given the societal trends, it's something i 'd invest in.
- cm2187 9y agoBut that's called serviced apartments, not a new concept. Just serviced studios in that case.
- chrisseaton 9y agoNo a mess is not really like serviced apartments. It's more like one big communal house. Most of the areas except bedrooms and bathrooms are communal and you would normally eat together with staff waiting on. It isn't a new idea but most techies probably have not experienced that kind of lifestyle, so will be new to them. I'd love to live in a living space like a mess if I wasn't married. I've always thought that a mess for politicians would be a good solution to the parliamentary expenses problems in the UK as well. Could build a mess for the politicians in Westminster where they can all stay. Could be nicely appointed but efficient as they're all together.
- cm2187 9y agoTrue, though modern luxury apartment blocks increasingly have communal areas (swimming pool, gym, cinema, lounge).
- charlesdm 9y agoCo-living.. cause no one can afford to live on their own.
- emiliobumachar 9y ago> Earlier this year, for instance, the ridesharing start-up Lyft launched Shuttle, which allows you to “Ride for a low fixed fare along convenient routes, with no surprise stops”. [...] As was quickly pointed out by numerous people this is basically a “bus”. Just, you know, without the poor people. Implicit Nirvana fallacy. Yes, ridesharing is worse for society then using (and voting to improve) traditional public transportation. But it's still much better than the popular default of each person owning and solo driving a car, which sits idle most of the time taking up valuable urban space. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_fallacy
- ProblemFactory 9y agoThe author isn't arguing that any of the services or products are a bad idea. She's arguing against the over-the-top marketing for something entirely ordinary. "We will revolutionise transport with this new invention" instead of "we started a bus route".
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoI recently read an article in the Chinese press about the new innovations of the shared eceonomy being made. One innovation was a bunch of “shared” washing machines that could be used by anyone as long as they paid a small fee. In other countries, this would have been called a laundromat, but apparently they never existed in china.
- est 9y agoAlternatively some startups call themselves "O2O sharing books" It's called a library.
- throway12321 9y agoi love how every comment you make on hacker news is related to china in some cynical way.
- bigboy678 9y agoi think one problem with buses are the routes are absolutely terrible. in my morning commute i see a bus stop 3 times within 6 blocks, i kid you not. if you have to go from the end of 1 bus route to another it would easily take you over an hour. honestly remove some bus stops and make people walk anb extra block. i feel the same way about our metro system too.
- peatmoss 9y agoThis is the trade-off between accessibility and mobility. Stops in the US (assuming this is where you are) are typically spaced closer together than stops overseas in comparably dense environments. In general I’d tend to agree that public transit in the US would benefit from sparser stop placement. I’d also offset the loss of accessibility with more investment in paratransit service / reimbursement for accessible taxis. On that basis, I’d get rid of wheelchair lifts on busses, due to the inefficiencies of loading and unloading. But again, that loss of accessibility would need to be totally offset by paratransit / taxi provision.
- wruza 9y agoCapitalism: when capitalist class reinvents communism for middle class without explicit rebel/gulag risks.
- dominotw 9y agoAnyone using services of people getting paid minimum wage is evil and is responsible of wealth gap and social ills. - Guardian logic.
- sjg007 9y agoThe other word might be "commune".
- sneak 9y agoMost people don’t have 20-40 roommates. Fake news.
- mmjaa 9y ago"Silicon Valley thinks it invented ..." Honestly, this got me thinking. There are so many things that in fact, SI just re-invent, but .. don't sort of get .. the re-invention. Is this not just 'the thing' about SI? That all human activities can be computerised. So, its not about 'inventing', but rather 'optimising through computerisation'?
- chvid 9y agoThis is honestly a terrible opinion piece. Luckily guardian with their ideals of bureaucratic welfare state politics is a thing of yesterday.
- narrator 9y agoI call it "Rent Hacking".