Another big point/distinction he misses: Uber/Lyft drivers can't be independent contractors because they don't set their own price. AirBnB may have big problems, but at least it doesn't price stays for the rentees, it would be absurd to suggest that the rentees are employees of the platform.
Tbh I had the same idea before after some broken glass remained uncleaned on the sidewalk for a week or two. I ended up picking it up myself.
My idea was to run it without fees tho. HN person crying about not being allowed to run a business that isn't viable unless you exploit workers is a joke even from a capitalist perspective.
"I am very intelligent so half-assedly reinventing a long-established public service as an app (because apps are all I know) should work, right. Sigh, it is the world that is being unreasonable."
Fucking libtards, expecting us to allow people basic dignity without jumping through hoops. Can't they tell how much more venture capital is transferred to tech bros this way?
holy shit why do they have to rediscover absolutely everything that
isn’t related to code? and he didn’t even make the leap himself, other
people had to speculate about the free rider problem in comments
Because they're so incredibly arrogant that they think things they don't know are just unknown in general, and things they've come up with are obviously new to everyone else too.
To be fair to them, it's not like this is a new mistake. Lots of people end up thinking their insights are original because they don't have proper context. The issue is that the success of big tech companies has lead to an absurd level of arrogance where lots of engineers view themselves as the chosen people, empowered to solve all problems by thinking about them really hard.
Because stem people grew up learning they are the great innovators, but actual innovation (hardware, code) is hard, exploiting people via malicious business plans is easy. And stem people have a hard time noticing that the former is good and the latter bad.
And Uber drivers are typically the polar opposite of bored teenagers.
They are dedicated adults trying to make driving their profession
Right, but were they the original target demographic? Just because a
platform gets commandeered by desperate people doesn’t mean the platform
was originally designed to support them.
When workers commandeer their employment from your company
Does it even matter what the platform was "originally intended for"? Surely the actual business relationship that exists within the actual product as it is actually used is the materially relevant thing, not what the guy who founded Uber originally intended it to look like.
When the material relationships of business evolve in a way I like: "disruptive innovation! Pivoting! Agile business model! Market foresight!"
When the material relationships of business evolve in a way I don't like: "desperate poors are overrunning my once-great business"
It's also not the case that this evolution was unintended and outside the control of Uber. The app's design very quickly became "customer" (i.e. rider) oriented, with drivers being service providers. The fact that drivers cannot see where a rider's destination is before they accept the ride plainly illustrates that it is not a "ride-sharing" app; it's a taxi service.
or imagine if we just took a bit of money from everyone in the city and hired people for a decent wage to clean the streets.
another example of techbros ““recreating”” basic civil services but making them more shitty
This is one of those statements that highlights the real tragedy in the background but you know it’s taken as a gotcha on human rights activists.
holy shit why do they have to rediscover absolutely everything that isn’t related to code? and he didn’t even make the leap himself, other people had to speculate about the free rider problem in comments
When workers commandeer their employment from your company