Neither is better, they're just different sides of an adversarial relationship. I think maybe the problem (and I don't know if this articulates the point well o

Neither is better, they're just different sides of an adversarial relationship. I think maybe the problem (and I don't know if this articulates the point well or not) is making the relationship or transaction adversarial in the first place. Adversaries are assholes to each other, hurting each other to help themselves. Generally that is thought of as bad, and you know, fuck those people. As a thought experiment, what if we make the cab driver example be about time instead of money. Pretend it benefits cab drivers somehow to make rides take as long as possible. (I say pretend, because in most cases in the real world they would be wasting their own time as well.) So let's say you have to be somewhere at a certain time, but earlier is better. But the driver knows exactly what time you have to be there, and makes the trip take exactly that long, even though he could've gotten you there faster. You can see he's doing subpar work, doing worse for you on purpose to benefit himself.