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The Gig Economy hasn't even started yet. We've yet to solve Identity (Who is this?) and Merit (Is this person qualified/competent?). Hell, we've only barely sta

The Gig Economy hasn't even started yet. We've yet to solve Identity (Who is this?) and Merit (Is this person qualified/competent?). Hell, we've only barely started decentralized finance let alone scalable-decentralized-organizations. Uber/Lyft/Taskrabbit/Fiverr are low-hanging fruit compared to the complex workflows most services entail. I expect we're going to see more niche gig-economy businesses being built around more complex workflows with higher skilled labor. Lots of B2B and B2C potential when you break up services into smaller tasks that can be fulfilled. Success is providing the benefits of scale without the challenge of doing it yourself.

petra 8y ago
Hooray! Now we'll have to have a 5-star rating to get a temp job, one that probably won't pay well. Ah an it will be all be tied to your identity. Forever. That's awesome ! And who will rate us ? Our temporary boss. Hooray for the power dynamics ! Great!
- dazc 8y ago
  Don't forget to give your boss a 5-star rating at the end of your gig, nobody is going to employ you otherwise.
  - thatoneuser 8y ago
    God black mirror is too real...
    - groestl 8y ago
      There go your Hackernews Meowmeowbeenz. Meta enough to be totally worth it, though.
- mrdoops 8y ago
  That's the issue. How do you solve merit without an Orwellian system monitoring everything everyone does? Without some kind of capability for privacy-respecting decentralized systems - solving for Merit is a function of dystopia.
  - petra 8y ago
    Why solve for merit ? why optimize everything ? What's wrong in a simple world where most people can be just mediocre and hold a stable job ? Unless we're talking about "high risk" jobs, why make life harder than it already is ? for what ? Why not aim there, collectively ?
humanbeinc 8y ago
As someone working in this industry on the "employer"-side: Yes, I believe this is exactly whats going to happen. It's a real business pain that we don't have these kind of informations about gig workers and would pay top dollars to have them... it's only a matter of time until this becomes standard practice in these business modells... just like credit rating agencies we're gonna see it on a work-level too.
- camillomiller 8y ago
  Do you realize you’re making the world a worse place with what you do?
  - foepys 8y ago
    Empathy has no place in Silicon Valley's venture capital funded run for IPOs and even more venture capital. "Fuck you, got mine" should be its slogan.
- inertiatic 8y ago
  Here's a novel idea. Instead of paying top dollar for "these kind of informations about gig workers", pay top dollar for employees.
  - watwat1 8y ago
    Do the employees deserve it though?
- mschuster91 8y ago
  > It's a real business pain that we don't have these kind of informations about gig workers and would pay top dollars to have them... Why not permanently employ them? Should be cheaper in the long run.
  - logifail 8y ago
    >> Why not permanently employ them? I have a friend who owns a small family business in France. He's doing well. He would have enough work to take on extra staff, except that he claims the local worker protection legislation mean that it's not worth it, particularly since he wouldn't be able to get rid of anyone if he hasn't got the work for them. So, he'd rather work himself and family members extra hard, than employ anyone new. >> Should be cheaper in the long run. Except if the politicians in charge make sure it's not. See above.
danmaz74 8y ago
Uber and similar companies are nothing about decentralisation - on the contrary, they are centralising. One mega company which serves tens of countries where before you had hundreds of small taxi operators. Their value lies mostly in this centralisation.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago
  Yup. I always found the narration of Uber the Underdog going against the Evil Taxi Mafia to be funny. In reality, the only mafia-like player in this story is Uber - the multinational corporation that fights against multitude of small local players.
  - ratman 8y ago
    Except in the real reality there are a lot of Taxi companies run buy real organized crime for the purpose of laundering money... But yeah, I guess both your narrative and the one you counter are equally detached from the real reality
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      >Except in the real reality there are a lot of Taxi companies run buy real organized crime for the purpose of laundering money... So? The fact that the business might by people using it as a front for money laundering is immaterial because it does not affect how they do business, how they treat customers or how they treat employees. Letting your money laundering workflow impact your business is how you get caught laundering money.
pjc50 8y ago
If only people would put down Mieses and pick up Ronald Coase. The "gig economy" relies on the jobs being simple and atomised. It relies on the quality being easy to collapse into a single number, and no tacit knowledge or ongoing relationship involved in the production. Managers keep assuming that these kind of internal transaction costs are unimportant, and that's how you get outsourcing disasters.
- notahacker 8y ago
  This is of course a major reason why looking at sharp growth and thinking it might be an accelerating trend doesn't always work. "Gig economy" startups pick at the low hanging fruit first. Taxi drivers who are already hired by the journey are much more easily "decentralised" than people who are supposed to be the face of their company or undertake jobs with learning curves. There's plenty of scope for online services to improve the hiring of the latter, but it's still going to entail longer term contracts and often more regular working hours, and often better comparative performance metrics than a skewed star rating system.
koboll 8y ago
> We've yet to solve Identity (Who is this?) and Merit (Is this person qualified/competent?). Thank god that back when I was babysitting for extra cash, there wasn't some faceless, soulless automated system judging my Identity and Merit. What is it about technology that induces people to zoom straight toward dystopia? The gig economy has always been there; just because we now have the technology to turn it into an Orwellian hellscape doesn't mean there are suddenly safety concerns that demand we do so.

petra 8y ago

Hooray! Now we'll have to have a 5-star rating to get a temp job, one that probably won't pay well. Ah an it will be all be tied to your identity. Forever. That's awesome ! And who will rate us ? Our temporary boss. Hooray for the power dynamics ! Great!

dazc 8y ago
Don't forget to give your boss a 5-star rating at the end of your gig, nobody is going to employ you otherwise.
- thatoneuser 8y ago
  God black mirror is too real...
  - groestl 8y ago
    There go your Hackernews Meowmeowbeenz. Meta enough to be totally worth it, though.
mrdoops 8y ago
That's the issue. How do you solve merit without an Orwellian system monitoring everything everyone does? Without some kind of capability for privacy-respecting decentralized systems - solving for Merit is a function of dystopia.
- petra 8y ago
  Why solve for merit ? why optimize everything ? What's wrong in a simple world where most people can be just mediocre and hold a stable job ? Unless we're talking about "high risk" jobs, why make life harder than it already is ? for what ? Why not aim there, collectively ?

humanbeinc 8y ago

As someone working in this industry on the "employer"-side: Yes, I believe this is exactly whats going to happen. It's a real business pain that we don't have these kind of informations about gig workers and would pay top dollars to have them... it's only a matter of time until this becomes standard practice in these business modells... just like credit rating agencies we're gonna see it on a work-level too.

camillomiller 8y ago
Do you realize you’re making the world a worse place with what you do?
- foepys 8y ago
  Empathy has no place in Silicon Valley's venture capital funded run for IPOs and even more venture capital. "Fuck you, got mine" should be its slogan.
inertiatic 8y ago
Here's a novel idea. Instead of paying top dollar for "these kind of informations about gig workers", pay top dollar for employees.
- watwat1 8y ago
  Do the employees deserve it though?
mschuster91 8y ago
> It's a real business pain that we don't have these kind of informations about gig workers and would pay top dollars to have them... Why not permanently employ them? Should be cheaper in the long run.
- logifail 8y ago
  >> Why not permanently employ them? I have a friend who owns a small family business in France. He's doing well. He would have enough work to take on extra staff, except that he claims the local worker protection legislation mean that it's not worth it, particularly since he wouldn't be able to get rid of anyone if he hasn't got the work for them. So, he'd rather work himself and family members extra hard, than employ anyone new. >> Should be cheaper in the long run. Except if the politicians in charge make sure it's not. See above.

danmaz74 8y ago

Uber and similar companies are nothing about decentralisation - on the contrary, they are centralising. One mega company which serves tens of countries where before you had hundreds of small taxi operators. Their value lies mostly in this centralisation.

TeMPOraL 8y ago
Yup. I always found the narration of Uber the Underdog going against the Evil Taxi Mafia to be funny. In reality, the only mafia-like player in this story is Uber - the multinational corporation that fights against multitude of small local players.
- ratman 8y ago
  Except in the real reality there are a lot of Taxi companies run buy real organized crime for the purpose of laundering money... But yeah, I guess both your narrative and the one you counter are equally detached from the real reality
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    >Except in the real reality there are a lot of Taxi companies run buy real organized crime for the purpose of laundering money... So? The fact that the business might by people using it as a front for money laundering is immaterial because it does not affect how they do business, how they treat customers or how they treat employees. Letting your money laundering workflow impact your business is how you get caught laundering money.

pjc50 8y ago

If only people would put down Mieses and pick up Ronald Coase. The "gig economy" relies on the jobs being simple and atomised. It relies on the quality being easy to collapse into a single number, and no tacit knowledge or ongoing relationship involved in the production. Managers keep assuming that these kind of internal transaction costs are unimportant, and that's how you get outsourcing disasters.

notahacker 8y ago
This is of course a major reason why looking at sharp growth and thinking it might be an accelerating trend doesn't always work. "Gig economy" startups pick at the low hanging fruit first. Taxi drivers who are already hired by the journey are much more easily "decentralised" than people who are supposed to be the face of their company or undertake jobs with learning curves. There's plenty of scope for online services to improve the hiring of the latter, but it's still going to entail longer term contracts and often more regular working hours, and often better comparative performance metrics than a skewed star rating system.

koboll 8y ago

> We've yet to solve Identity (Who is this?) and Merit (Is this person qualified/competent?). Thank god that back when I was babysitting for extra cash, there wasn't some faceless, soulless automated system judging my Identity and Merit. What is it about technology that induces people to zoom straight toward dystopia? The gig economy has always been there; just because we now have the technology to turn it into an Orwellian hellscape doesn't mean there are suddenly safety concerns that demand we do so.