4 ms·

>So here’s the big question. What does she, or you, or any of us do with all this time we’re buying? Binge on Netflix shows? Go for a run? Van Ekert’s answer: “

by tsotha 12y ago

>So here’s the big question. What does she, or you, or any of us do with all this time we’re buying? Binge on Netflix shows? Go for a run? Van Ekert’s answer: “It’s more to dedicate more time to working.” Meh. It's specialization. It's been happening since everyone figured out Og makes better clubs than everyone else and he'll make you one if you give him food. Most of the people reading this site have a skill that brings in $50+ per hour. Why not pay someone to clean your bathroom and use that time for working?

timepiece 12y ago
Now you make $50/hour, wait till commoditization hit your profession and see your wage dwindle before your own eyes.
- oh_sigh 12y ago
  Presumably the people delivering groceries or doing someone elses laundry weren't making $50/hour in the same profession at some earlier point in their career.
  - rtpg 12y ago
    but at least they had a tad more job security and weren't being misclassified as contractors (so had less tax burden)
    - oh_sigh 12y ago
      But these jobs just didn't exist(unless you count full time maids for example), so it doesn't make sense to talk about job security or whether they were contractors or not.
      - danans 12y ago
        I'm not sure we have enough data yet to say whether the people doing these jobs previously did or didn't have better paying or more secure jobs. Anecdotally, there are many people whose income and job security have severely declined, and who been relegated to low payed variable-workforce service jobs. I don't know to what extent people like that are represented among the taskrabbit-type service workers.
- krschultz 12y ago
  If that day comes, who will be better prepared, those that cleaned their own toilets, or those that used that time for something more productive?
  - toomuchtodo 12y ago
    Bits can move anywhere in the world. Our jobs could be done from anywhere labor is stupid cheap, as long as the workers have the knowledge. Someone has to come in person to clean your toilet, and can't be outsourced to the cheapest locale.
  - michaelchisari 12y ago
    Don't underestimate the value in a multitude of skills. When Argentina's economy collapsed in 2001, I'd prefer to know how to write code, do laundry, and wash toilets than only knowing how to write code.
    - tsotha 12y ago
      >Don't underestimate the value in a multitude of skills. I'm sure pretty much everybody who hires a cleaning service knows how to clean a toilet.
      - ForHackernews 12y ago
        I went to university with a girl who didn't know how to operate a dishwasher. At first, I assumed it was because her family had not been wealthy enough to own a dishwasher; later, I found out it was because they were so wealthy they had servants who loaded and ran their dishwasher for them.
        wutbrodo 12y ago
        The problem I have with people who say things like this is that these things are easily Googlable. I didn't "know" how to do laundry until I went to college (my sister and I had specific chores and laundry was one of hers). During a fight with my sister when I was still in high school, I recall her using that as an insult: "You don't even know how to do LAUNDRY". I needed to do laundry my first week of school: I couldn't (and to this day can't) even fathom what the phrase "know how to do laundry" meant. Separate whites and colors (or don't), put the clothes in the machine, and press the button.......what kind of mental deficiency is required for someone to think there's an actual gap between "knowing how to do laundry" and "not knowing how". Loading a dishwasher and cleaning a toilet would seem to be similar. The only gap between "knowing" and "not knowing" is perhaps three seconds of Googling (in case there's some pitfall about what you can and can't put in there).
mindslight 12y ago
Making $50/hour while spending $25/hour (figure thrown out in the article) is breaking even because there is a 50% transaction fee on your earnings. Furthermore, the proceeds are used to fund mayhem and misery both domestically and abroad so you're increasing your responsibility for that as well.
mblakele 12y ago
Yes, but working every waking hour is a good way to burn out. Cleaning your own toilet might be inefficient but it will remind you that you are human.
- wutbrodo 12y ago
  > Cleaning your own toilet might be inefficient but it will remind you that you are human. Woah what? I know you're not being literal here, but I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Are you saying that having a high-paying job automatically makes you feel like you're better than everyone else and doing mundane chores reminds you you're all people?[1] The problem with that is "thinking you're better than everyone else" in the first place, not "missing out on mundane chores". [1] Apologies if I'm misinterpreting you here: if so, what did you mean instead?
  - mblakele 12y ago
    Why are you so certain that I didn't mean what I wrote?
    - wutbrodo 12y ago
      In case you're talking about "I know you're not being literal here": Because only a lunatic would think that high-status people think they're literally no longer classified as Homo Sapiens? In case you're talking about "Apologies if I'm misinterpreting you here": The word "if" is generally used to indicate conditioning on an event: i.e. "considering only the situation in which this is true". Nothing about the word indicates "certainty" about anything.
      - mblakele 12y ago
        Lunatic? Well, I avoid making statements about my own sanity. But people sometimes decide that they are superhuman, or that others are subhuman. The ancient Greeks called it hubris. Nowadays we are more likely to say someone is out of touch, or living in a bubble. It shows up in comments like "Only the little people pay taxes".
cpwright 12y ago
There is a big fallacy here that the people who are going to be working more hours will actually make more money. These people are salaried, and may get better performance pay, etc. for more hours; but it is not guaranteed. Unless you're paid hourly, then the (admitted strawman) "I make $100K, which is like $50 an hour, so its like making money to pay someone $25 an hour." really doesn't work out. The example of Mallon making $1,000 for her company an hour, isn't clear to me that she owns that company. Based on her apartment not having sufficient hot water to wash her hair, I tend to think she is not making the $1,000 an hour herself. I'm also a bit dubious that she would be able to bill out at nearly that rate, but could be wrong.
- smm2000 12y ago
  Many people who work long hours find their work enjoyable and would rather work extra 2 hours than do boring household chores that they hate. I am one of them - cleaning up house is like pulling out teeth for me.
  - cpwright 12y ago
    I'm not against paying money to avoid doing things you hate or something you enjoy more. I just often hear something to the effect of, "My salary is more money / hour than I'm paying for the service, so it's a good for me financially." If you're not paid hourly, that's probably not true. I'm paying an accountant to do my taxes, not because I can't do them; but because I don't want to. I mow my own lawn, because I don't mind doing it. I pay someone to clean my house once a week, not because I think it makes me better off financially, but rather because it is no fun; I would rather do something else (e.g., engage in some kind of home improvement).

by tsotha 12y ago

timepiece 12y ago

Now you make $50/hour, wait till commoditization hit your profession and see your wage dwindle before your own eyes.

oh_sigh 12y ago
Presumably the people delivering groceries or doing someone elses laundry weren't making $50/hour in the same profession at some earlier point in their career.
- rtpg 12y ago
  but at least they had a tad more job security and weren't being misclassified as contractors (so had less tax burden)
  - oh_sigh 12y ago
    But these jobs just didn't exist(unless you count full time maids for example), so it doesn't make sense to talk about job security or whether they were contractors or not.
    - danans 12y ago
      I'm not sure we have enough data yet to say whether the people doing these jobs previously did or didn't have better paying or more secure jobs. Anecdotally, there are many people whose income and job security have severely declined, and who been relegated to low payed variable-workforce service jobs. I don't know to what extent people like that are represented among the taskrabbit-type service workers.
krschultz 12y ago
If that day comes, who will be better prepared, those that cleaned their own toilets, or those that used that time for something more productive?
- toomuchtodo 12y ago
  Bits can move anywhere in the world. Our jobs could be done from anywhere labor is stupid cheap, as long as the workers have the knowledge. Someone has to come in person to clean your toilet, and can't be outsourced to the cheapest locale.
- michaelchisari 12y ago
  Don't underestimate the value in a multitude of skills. When Argentina's economy collapsed in 2001, I'd prefer to know how to write code, do laundry, and wash toilets than only knowing how to write code.
  - tsotha 12y ago
    >Don't underestimate the value in a multitude of skills. I'm sure pretty much everybody who hires a cleaning service knows how to clean a toilet.
    - ForHackernews 12y ago
      I went to university with a girl who didn't know how to operate a dishwasher. At first, I assumed it was because her family had not been wealthy enough to own a dishwasher; later, I found out it was because they were so wealthy they had servants who loaded and ran their dishwasher for them.
      - wutbrodo 12y ago
        The problem I have with people who say things like this is that these things are easily Googlable. I didn't "know" how to do laundry until I went to college (my sister and I had specific chores and laundry was one of hers). During a fight with my sister when I was still in high school, I recall her using that as an insult: "You don't even know how to do LAUNDRY". I needed to do laundry my first week of school: I couldn't (and to this day can't) even fathom what the phrase "know how to do laundry" meant. Separate whites and colors (or don't), put the clothes in the machine, and press the button.......what kind of mental deficiency is required for someone to think there's an actual gap between "knowing how to do laundry" and "not knowing how". Loading a dishwasher and cleaning a toilet would seem to be similar. The only gap between "knowing" and "not knowing" is perhaps three seconds of Googling (in case there's some pitfall about what you can and can't put in there).

mindslight 12y ago

Making $50/hour while spending $25/hour (figure thrown out in the article) is breaking even because there is a 50% transaction fee on your earnings. Furthermore, the proceeds are used to fund mayhem and misery both domestically and abroad so you're increasing your responsibility for that as well.

mblakele 12y ago

Yes, but working every waking hour is a good way to burn out. Cleaning your own toilet might be inefficient but it will remind you that you are human.

wutbrodo 12y ago
> Cleaning your own toilet might be inefficient but it will remind you that you are human. Woah what? I know you're not being literal here, but I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. Are you saying that having a high-paying job automatically makes you feel like you're better than everyone else and doing mundane chores reminds you you're all people?[1] The problem with that is "thinking you're better than everyone else" in the first place, not "missing out on mundane chores". [1] Apologies if I'm misinterpreting you here: if so, what did you mean instead?
- mblakele 12y ago
  Why are you so certain that I didn't mean what I wrote?
  - wutbrodo 12y ago
    In case you're talking about "I know you're not being literal here": Because only a lunatic would think that high-status people think they're literally no longer classified as Homo Sapiens? In case you're talking about "Apologies if I'm misinterpreting you here": The word "if" is generally used to indicate conditioning on an event: i.e. "considering only the situation in which this is true". Nothing about the word indicates "certainty" about anything.
    - mblakele 12y ago
      Lunatic? Well, I avoid making statements about my own sanity. But people sometimes decide that they are superhuman, or that others are subhuman. The ancient Greeks called it hubris. Nowadays we are more likely to say someone is out of touch, or living in a bubble. It shows up in comments like "Only the little people pay taxes".

cpwright 12y ago

There is a big fallacy here that the people who are going to be working more hours will actually make more money. These people are salaried, and may get better performance pay, etc. for more hours; but it is not guaranteed. Unless you're paid hourly, then the (admitted strawman) "I make $100K, which is like $50 an hour, so its like making money to pay someone $25 an hour." really doesn't work out. The example of Mallon making $1,000 for her company an hour, isn't clear to me that she owns that company. Based on her apartment not having sufficient hot water to wash her hair, I tend to think she is not making the $1,000 an hour herself. I'm also a bit dubious that she would be able to bill out at nearly that rate, but could be wrong.

smm2000 12y ago
Many people who work long hours find their work enjoyable and would rather work extra 2 hours than do boring household chores that they hate. I am one of them - cleaning up house is like pulling out teeth for me.
- cpwright 12y ago
  I'm not against paying money to avoid doing things you hate or something you enjoy more. I just often hear something to the effect of, "My salary is more money / hour than I'm paying for the service, so it's a good for me financially." If you're not paid hourly, that's probably not true. I'm paying an accountant to do my taxes, not because I can't do them; but because I don't want to. I mow my own lawn, because I don't mind doing it. I pay someone to clean my house once a week, not because I think it makes me better off financially, but rather because it is no fun; I would rather do something else (e.g., engage in some kind of home improvement).