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Like you, I always have a charged battery, a data connection, and the time to conduct research. I also have a PhD in chemistry, and I find this knowledge inval

Like you, I always have a charged battery, a data connection, and the time to conduct research. I also have a PhD in chemistry, and I find this knowledge invaluable for assessing the potential for harm of all food additivies and environmental pollutants. I find this nicely complements my medical training, which of course helps me make the best decisions regarding my health, and my PhD in CS which keeps my data safe online. Of course my 15 years of MMA keeps me safe on the street, and my extensive knowledge of finance means I never have to worry about my bank's financial security. I really don't understand why we need any governmental organisations!

donatj 12y ago
Comparing taxi pricing to food safety is crass. Last I checked there weren't degress in taxi fair-ology.
- anon1385 12y ago
  It's not about pricing. In Germany one of the issues for Uber was that they weren't ensuring the vehicles had the more frequent mechanical safety checks that the law requires for commercial vehicles (the logic being that they do far more miles). How is the average customer supposed to be able to decide how much risk is involved in the fact that one vehicle hasn't had its breaks inspected in the last X thousand miles, and another has? In the Uber world, how does the customer even get hold of that information? It sounds perfectly reasonable to me to compare failing breaks with contaminated food. Both have the potential to be highly dangerous.
  - dllthomas 12y ago
    "In the Uber world, how does the customer even get hold of that information?" Strictly speaking, there's nothing preventing Uber from making that information available when you book a ride. Not that I think that's a great way to deal with this... If we were going to leave it up to the individual riders, building a profile to automatically filter for appropriate vehicles would make more sense - I reserve judgement as to whether it makes enough sense.
- bane 12y ago
  My PhDs in Economics, Finance and Game Theory agree with you.
pistle 12y ago
There are broad swaths in this community who are unwilling to understand the targets of their disruption - similar to those unwilling to understand why something that seems obtuse is the prescribed solution developed in a previous context. Brownfield software platforms and applications don't make sense to the next wave. Regulations, society, governments, etc. don't make sense to the next wave of kids, but the themes of disruption and hacking are salient and seductive. Good on the next wave and each one after for seeing the world and thinking, "I can do better." That is the commandment within the religion of the technologist I appreciate. Uber ceases to exist with driverless cars unless they become a car manufacturer and own the vehicles. You don't need the overhead of Uber to get driverless cars to your door. The companies working on driverless cars can wipe away Uber with far fewer indictments of CEOs. In Uber, I see a naivete in deploying disruption that will more likely place Uber on the heap of left coast bubbles than reward them with an institutional place in the firmament of global corporations. It's time to get rid of the senior execs and let the investors run the house to extract maximum value until Google's driverless car subscription is pervasive. The leadership of Uber is too high a risk for the investors in Uber. And, for the kids who don't need no rules, you will age to become us one day and see yourself in those coming to replace you. You will see them screaming to unravel the world while not realizing they are perturbing the world, not changing it. They are part of the world, not its master. They are the catalysts of churn but will repeat our mistakes. And another wave will crash on the shore...
pistle 12y ago
There are broad swaths in this community who are unwilling to understand the targets of their disruption - similar to those unwilling to understand why something that seems obtuse is the prescribed solution developed in a previous context. Brownfield software platforms and applications don't make sense to the next wave. Regulations, society, governments, etc. don't make sense to the next wave of kids, but the themes of disruption and hacking are salient and seductive. Good on the next wave and each one after for seeing the world and thinking, "I can do better." That is the commandment within the religion of the technologist I appreciate. Uber ceases to exist with driverless cars unless they become a car manufacturer and own the vehicles. You don't need the overhead of Uber to get driverless cars to your door. The companies working on driverless cars can wipe away Uber with far fewer indictments of CEOs. In Uber, I see a naivete in deploying disruption that will more likely place Uber on the heap of left coast bubbles than reward them with an institutional place in the firmament of global corporations. It's time to get rid of the senior execs and let the investors run the house to extract maximum value until Google's driverless car subscription is pervasive. The leadership of Uber is too high a risk for the investors in Uber. And, for the kids who don't need no rules, you will age to become us one day and see yourself in those coming to replace you. You will see them screaming to unravel the world while not realizing they are perturbing the world, not changing it. They are part of the world, not its master. They are the catalysts of change and, in ways, improve life, but will repeat our mistakes. And another wave will crash on the shore...

donatj 12y ago

Comparing taxi pricing to food safety is crass. Last I checked there weren't degress in taxi fair-ology.

anon1385 12y ago
It's not about pricing. In Germany one of the issues for Uber was that they weren't ensuring the vehicles had the more frequent mechanical safety checks that the law requires for commercial vehicles (the logic being that they do far more miles). How is the average customer supposed to be able to decide how much risk is involved in the fact that one vehicle hasn't had its breaks inspected in the last X thousand miles, and another has? In the Uber world, how does the customer even get hold of that information? It sounds perfectly reasonable to me to compare failing breaks with contaminated food. Both have the potential to be highly dangerous.
- dllthomas 12y ago
  "In the Uber world, how does the customer even get hold of that information?" Strictly speaking, there's nothing preventing Uber from making that information available when you book a ride. Not that I think that's a great way to deal with this... If we were going to leave it up to the individual riders, building a profile to automatically filter for appropriate vehicles would make more sense - I reserve judgement as to whether it makes enough sense.
bane 12y ago
My PhDs in Economics, Finance and Game Theory agree with you.

pistle 12y ago

There are broad swaths in this community who are unwilling to understand the targets of their disruption - similar to those unwilling to understand why something that seems obtuse is the prescribed solution developed in a previous context. Brownfield software platforms and applications don't make sense to the next wave. Regulations, society, governments, etc. don't make sense to the next wave of kids, but the themes of disruption and hacking are salient and seductive. Good on the next wave and each one after for seeing the world and thinking, "I can do better." That is the commandment within the religion of the technologist I appreciate. Uber ceases to exist with driverless cars unless they become a car manufacturer and own the vehicles. You don't need the overhead of Uber to get driverless cars to your door. The companies working on driverless cars can wipe away Uber with far fewer indictments of CEOs. In Uber, I see a naivete in deploying disruption that will more likely place Uber on the heap of left coast bubbles than reward them with an institutional place in the firmament of global corporations. It's time to get rid of the senior execs and let the investors run the house to extract maximum value until Google's driverless car subscription is pervasive. The leadership of Uber is too high a risk for the investors in Uber. And, for the kids who don't need no rules, you will age to become us one day and see yourself in those coming to replace you. You will see them screaming to unravel the world while not realizing they are perturbing the world, not changing it. They are part of the world, not its master. They are the catalysts of churn but will repeat our mistakes. And another wave will crash on the shore...

pistle 12y ago

There are broad swaths in this community who are unwilling to understand the targets of their disruption - similar to those unwilling to understand why something that seems obtuse is the prescribed solution developed in a previous context. Brownfield software platforms and applications don't make sense to the next wave. Regulations, society, governments, etc. don't make sense to the next wave of kids, but the themes of disruption and hacking are salient and seductive. Good on the next wave and each one after for seeing the world and thinking, "I can do better." That is the commandment within the religion of the technologist I appreciate. Uber ceases to exist with driverless cars unless they become a car manufacturer and own the vehicles. You don't need the overhead of Uber to get driverless cars to your door. The companies working on driverless cars can wipe away Uber with far fewer indictments of CEOs. In Uber, I see a naivete in deploying disruption that will more likely place Uber on the heap of left coast bubbles than reward them with an institutional place in the firmament of global corporations. It's time to get rid of the senior execs and let the investors run the house to extract maximum value until Google's driverless car subscription is pervasive. The leadership of Uber is too high a risk for the investors in Uber. And, for the kids who don't need no rules, you will age to become us one day and see yourself in those coming to replace you. You will see them screaming to unravel the world while not realizing they are perturbing the world, not changing it. They are part of the world, not its master. They are the catalysts of change and, in ways, improve life, but will repeat our mistakes. And another wave will crash on the shore...