This is a bit of a bizarre argument (in the article), despite that I agree with the conclusion. Like she is talking about all of the ‘human connection’ she has gotten through taxi/uber drivers, and all of the examples that she gives are of people who had to turn to taxi/uber driving out of desperation because their actual career path fell out from under them. I’m sure it makes for some interesting conversations, but is that really what we should be dreaming of? Having more opportunities for people to talk to about how they’re forced to drive uber because capitalism sucks?
I think she is poorly wording an idea that I’ve been talking about for a minute: the death of the cottage industry.
The avenues for a temporary gig are diminishing. You can’t drive uber or make store deliveries if a robot does it cheaper, you can’t sell weed if it’s legal everywhere, and you can’t even stand outside Home Depot and get picked up as a builder if the powers that be are arresting people and enforcing trespassing laws. We don’t live in the 1930’s anymore—you can’t make ends meet by pickling your backyard vegetables. Unless you’re a hot chick who is willing to sell her nudes on OF, then there aren’t really many options for the unemployed to survive.
The human connection is great and all, but the bigger thing she learned was that those drivers needed that opportunity to drive so they could meet their expenses. It still isn’t enough, but something is still better than nothing.
I fully agree with everything you said but
Unless you’re a hot chick who is willing to sell her nudes on OF
…even this will eventually dry out as IA now can churn out endless objectified nudes from nonexistent women
Trained on existing people.
I appreciate that perspective, Weird! It’s certainly true that this is tragic in its own way.
Jokes on you, i also dont like people
I like people in theory
Same here, and being in charge of them is the last thing I want.
I disagree. I love people. I want a self driving car with swiveling captain seats in the front so you can spin around and be sitting around a table, having a pint with your friends after locking out human control, on your way to wherever you’re going.
Ooooo and to save on fuel we could chain some cars together, maybe even put them on a steel rail for less friction. Maybe the cars that go really far could even have beds and sections where you can get drinks/food and go to the bathroom.
Could have smaller versions of them underground too, like some kind of weird tunnel car automated system
Dropping a self driving car on existing roads is much cheaper than building out infrastructure for trains and subs, especially in most of car dependent America. Also there are still plenty of situations where those can’t get close enough to your source/destination especially if you’re elderly or disabled.
I’m not against railed transportation (quite the opposite, I love it and would like to see more of it), but I also am pragmatic and understand that, just like a train would never be used to cross the ocean, there are quite a few applications where rails don’t solve the “last mile” problem.
I don’t think we should solve the last mile problem until the very very trivial first 80% is solved.
Agree that cars are easier to slap down of course.
I love tech wizardry too but can’t stand where the Techbros are trying to take us all for their egos and profit.
It’s strange that people who like people haven’t managed to rally people behind making a society for the people.
Even if they can be simplified down when speaking abstractly, there are so many reasons for that when speaking practically, it’s hard to know where to start. :/
Just name three, please.
To be sure I’m addressing your question properly and that we’re not talking past each other I’d need to know which specific people you’re thinking of, but just speaking generally off the top of my head, this is a sample of the kind of thing I meant:
- Generations of propaganda promoting countless forms of division and/or social hierarchy. This dilutes democratic efforts by pitting people against each other who should be on the same side. Not just the most well-known forms of bigotry but also the tendency of a lot of people to adopt the everyday elitist attitude that they’re smart while most other people aren’t, or that something obvious to them because of their own life experiences or education should be obvious to everyone else regardless of other people’s varied life experiences or education.
- A human tendency to conform to and defend the status quo at all costs (because our brains are always seeking stability), even when it runs counter to our own needs or values. This has been increasingly exploited by major political parties across the West to get people to vote based on vibes and personal affiliations rather than demanding trackable progress toward specific measurable outcomes. The UK is now shaping up to become an exception to this. Over there, urgency to end austerity has caught on as the outcome most people want, and now the debate is naturally shifting toward whether people believe the right way of doing so is to tax wealth more than work (Greens), or to kick out immigrants in the (in my opinion misguided) hope the wealthy will then decide they’ve taken enough and gladly share with whoever’s left (Reform).
- Unfortunately, power in and of itself begets “people who don’t like people.” There is a well-documented phenomenon for people with any level of power over others (could be wealth, elevated social position, a prestigious job, etc.) in which their capacity for empathy becomes impaired, which leads to all sorts of cascading effects that get reflected in both public and private institutions. (I’ve heard at least one researcher talk about ways to directly counter this with special coaching for people who get elected as public representatives, but it was a long while back so I’d have to do some digging to find that discussion again.) I think this cover leaders who think they’re doing the right thing but are woefully out of touch as well as the dangerously ambitious ones who might have convinced themselves otherwise at first but really only got into politics for clout and prestige.
Paywalled.
Not true. Those people make tools. Even those who had jobs riding oxen ended up preferring tractors.
