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Most taxi drivers must work very long hours to earn enough to live on -- the driver mentioned reportedly worked 100-120 hour weeks for 14 years. While it may be

by ptero 9y ago

Most taxi drivers must work very long hours to earn enough to live on -- the driver mentioned reportedly worked 100-120 hour weeks for 14 years. While it may be OK to do this for a short time, doing this as a lifestyle is not good for a society not at war. Such jobs should be replaced by technology / gigs / something else. Being displaced by the technology is painful for the folks affected, but we should focus on minimizing transition pain for those affected (money, training, relocation, other help), not on blasting companies challenging this insanity.

Zak 9y ago
Taxis are going to be replaced by robots within the lifetimes of most people reading this. I think it's been clear for a while that owning a large segment of that market is Uber's end game. Under the classic hacker ethic, this is a good thing; humans shouldn't be forced to perform menial tasks. Of course, people currently performing those tasks for a living might not appreciate that. In the long term, however I think the safety advantage will be compelling.
- Cthulhu_ 9y ago
  We'll die from starvation and exposure because we can't afford a home anymore, but at least we reduced traffic deaths and generated a lot of money for our shareholders in the process ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  - xamuel 9y ago
    By this logic we should pay everyone to dig ditches and fill them in. The solution isn't to preserve obsolete jobs, the solution is to find an economic system that doesn't assume everyone works for a living. Easier said than done, though, and the transition is gonna be ugly.
  - Zak 9y ago
    Paul Graham wrote on HN a few years back something to the effect of "never in history has making the consumption of a resource more efficient resulted in less demand for it over the long term". With regard to human labor in particular, people have said of nearly every major breakthrough in mechanization or automation that it would destroy all the jobs, and every time, it has done no such thing. There are people saying "this time is different", but heuristically speaking, betting against a long historical track record is probably not a good bet.
  - DoreenMichele 9y ago
    We'll die from starvation and exposure because we can't afford a home Homelessness is an issue largely because of a dearth of affordable housing. This is essentially unrelated to the Gig Economy (or other work issues, like automation) and substantially predates it. https://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-poverty-west-coast-no-30-affordable-homes/ https://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-pove...

by ptero 9y ago

Zak 9y ago

Taxis are going to be replaced by robots within the lifetimes of most people reading this. I think it's been clear for a while that owning a large segment of that market is Uber's end game. Under the classic hacker ethic, this is a good thing; humans shouldn't be forced to perform menial tasks. Of course, people currently performing those tasks for a living might not appreciate that. In the long term, however I think the safety advantage will be compelling.

Cthulhu_ 9y ago
We'll die from starvation and exposure because we can't afford a home anymore, but at least we reduced traffic deaths and generated a lot of money for our shareholders in the process ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- xamuel 9y ago
  By this logic we should pay everyone to dig ditches and fill them in. The solution isn't to preserve obsolete jobs, the solution is to find an economic system that doesn't assume everyone works for a living. Easier said than done, though, and the transition is gonna be ugly.
- Zak 9y ago
  Paul Graham wrote on HN a few years back something to the effect of "never in history has making the consumption of a resource more efficient resulted in less demand for it over the long term". With regard to human labor in particular, people have said of nearly every major breakthrough in mechanization or automation that it would destroy all the jobs, and every time, it has done no such thing. There are people saying "this time is different", but heuristically speaking, betting against a long historical track record is probably not a good bet.
- DoreenMichele 9y ago
  We'll die from starvation and exposure because we can't afford a home Homelessness is an issue largely because of a dearth of affordable housing. This is essentially unrelated to the Gig Economy (or other work issues, like automation) and substantially predates it. https://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-poverty-west-coast-no-30-affordable-homes/ https://www.geekwire.com/2018/every-100-families-living-pove...