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Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

nytimes.com

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Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#351

Post by selimthegrim »

coldtea wrote: post #310
Thorentis wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, this is a fascinating (and scary) thing to think about. What will happen to a society where every single person has their basic needs met by some form of automation, and nobody needs to work? I would say most first world countries are already in this scenario if so much money wasn't spent on non essentials. Industrial scale farming, mass produced pharmaceuticals, rapid house construction etc. mean that if a soci…

> What will happen to a society where every single person has their basic needs met by some form of automation, and nobody needs to work? Those who control the "means of automation" (robot factories, power stations, etc) --let's say 0.01%--, will rule over the rest, in gated communities and closed enclaves. A small percentage of the population will live alongside them, in B-rated residences, to provide them services…

Will be left? Come on down to New Orleans and take a tour of Peter Thiel’s cameras!

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#352

Post by rightbyte »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #322
paxys wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber as a product is very technologically complex, mainly because of the scale it operates at. You can read about some of their tech at https://eng.uber.com .

Only if you want to have a huge and complex system. If you have small and localized ones, it should be very cheap.

Ye, like one VM running per city or region. I feel they are just sinking money into software and administration of software.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#353

Post by Marsymars »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #258
numbsafari wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I will never remember the car nor the driver. I will never forget the truck, driven by a young man from Haiti whose temporary protective status was days from expiring, that had a hole rusted through the floor pan. It was a scary ass ride, but I genuinely felt he was getting as much as he could before having to go home. I'll never forget the asshole from NJ who decided that, because we were both white, he cold go on…

Spot on. I've had some crazy rides, and some terrific rides, but I always treat the car and the people with respect, which hasn't lead me astray yet. If you treat your uber/lyft driver like they're glorified taxi drivers, don't be surprised when all you get out of it is a mediocre ride from point A to point B at best.

I mean, they are taxi drivers, I wouldn't even consider them glorified. I'd treat my taxi drivers with respect too. "Glorified automaton" might be a better description for how you shouldn't treat them if you want something other than a mediocre ride.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#354

Post by dustingetz »

Thorentis wrote: post #285
xster wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is what worries me about the "mainstream" debate that might be incorrectly framing the whole problem altogether. Here, the rise of the gig economy came from automation. Not in the caricature sense that there are robot automatons that serve your plates in a restaurant, but in a sense that scalable automated processes replaced human dispatchers that answers your phone calls at the taxi companies and radios…

Yep, this is a fascinating (and scary) thing to think about. What will happen to a society where every single person has their basic needs met by some form of automation, and nobody needs to work? I would say most first world countries are already in this scenario if so much money wasn't spent on non essentials. Industrial scale farming, mass produced pharmaceuticals, rapid house construction etc. mean that if a soci…

seems like a false proposition, considering today a smartphone is a basic human need if you want to be able to apply to jobs. even the homeless need to have one. have-not is relative to the haves that you compete with in various markets.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#355

Post by hyperbovine »

lacker wrote: post #132
munk-a wrote: post #75

Uber emerged into the market as a disruptor in the absolute worst sense of the world - it was challenging an entrenched industry with low efficiency (cab companies make ungodly amounts of money in some markets) but it did so by playing by a different set of rules - skirting both the disingenuous regulations put in to protect cab companies' profit and those in place for the safety of the general public. Even disregard…

You are missing the part where Uber let you get a cab through an app rather than hoping a taxi was driving by and waving your hands at them. It really is a far, far better product when you can get a cab wherever you want, instead of just in a few areas.

The app is a good idea. But not a $UBER_MKT_CAP idea.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#356

Post by ndarwincorn »

Decathect wrote: post #291
xster wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is what worries me about the "mainstream" debate that might be incorrectly framing the whole problem altogether. Here, the rise of the gig economy came from automation. Not in the caricature sense that there are robot automatons that serve your plates in a restaurant, but in a sense that scalable automated processes replaced human dispatchers that answers your phone calls at the taxi companies and radios…

Wealth is accruing to people with power and capital. The people who produce automations are laborers like the rest of society, just with a temporarily elevated standard of living. As writing software is deskilled and supplanted, it'll be increasingly apparent that we were just a midterm necessary evil to the people signing our paychecks. To me, the central problem is wealth disparity as a proxy for power disparity: o…

Probably not a popular opinion on a board for entrepreneurially-inclined programmers, but this is the truth.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#357

Post by virtualwhys »

DantesKite wrote: post #265
ensmartha wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all gig companies are the same. Uber is not a real business. Nothing about hiring a driver or maintaining or running a car is cheaper now than before Uber. Uber will never be profitable unless people are willing to pay the same amount as for regular taxis or for a private driver (i.e. expensive). Airbnb on the other hand is a real and vastly profitable business. Yes there need to be tighter regulations because we…

Yes there need to be tighter regulations because we don’t want Airbnb everywhere. How come? It seems like a great company to me.

> How come?

Oh, I don't know, maybe because every host on the planet will "share" their room/apartment/house at exhoribtant nightly rates in lieu of renting by the month, which leads to housing shortages for people who need a place to live vs. those who are going to visit X part of the world for a few days.

The Airbnb-ification of the world is decidedly interesting for owners, while for everyone else an added hardship whether or not you use the service.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#358

Post by Marsymars »

cryptozeus wrote: post #303
coldtea wrote: post #95

Glad they're down, and hope the whole "gig economy" burns down too. Where gig economy = padding the loss of decent jobs by replacing the bottom end with desperate deals where "non employed" employees, without regular salary, benefits, company provided work tools, etc., make a pittance, while the organizing company gets a cut from millions of transactions. In some cases, no jobs is better than subsistence/dead-end/exp…

“Uber, which aspires to become an Amazon-like store for all forms of transportation, is also investing in the development of autonomous cars, public transit deals, the expansion of its bicycle and scooter business, and in its freight delivery platform.” Remember how amazon was never profitable for years and everyone missed the boat on crazy upside. Remember Tesla ? Remember facebook and twitter before they started ma…

> I can’t imagine my life without uber.

You literally can't imagine your life, if say, you lived in Vancouver?

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#359

Post by SomeOldThrow »

Shivetya wrote: post #316
coldtea wrote: post #95

Glad they're down, and hope the whole "gig economy" burns down too. Where gig economy = padding the loss of decent jobs by replacing the bottom end with desperate deals where "non employed" employees, without regular salary, benefits, company provided work tools, etc., make a pittance, while the organizing company gets a cut from millions of transactions. In some cases, no jobs is better than subsistence/dead-end/exp…

I know of no one who drives for Uber/Lyft who doesn't think they are doing well. Seriously, where did this meme come about where they are all slaves to Uber? Between what two bring in each week and their mileage deductions they are tempting me at times. the real tripe in the gig economy is all the pontificating coming down from top how they all care about rights of people, except it only is Western people they care a…

> if that takes more than one job then so be it, many of us have been there before and did it

No amount of hard work buys you the right to hire around wage and employment laws.

Re: Uber Posts $5.2B Loss and Slowest Ever Growth Rate

#360

Post by sharadov »

Decathect wrote: post #291
xster wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is what worries me about the "mainstream" debate that might be incorrectly framing the whole problem altogether. Here, the rise of the gig economy came from automation. Not in the caricature sense that there are robot automatons that serve your plates in a restaurant, but in a sense that scalable automated processes replaced human dispatchers that answers your phone calls at the taxi companies and radios…

Wealth is accruing to people with power and capital. The people who produce automations are laborers like the rest of society, just with a temporarily elevated standard of living. As writing software is deskilled and supplanted, it'll be increasingly apparent that we were just a midterm necessary evil to the people signing our paychecks. To me, the central problem is wealth disparity as a proxy for power disparity: o…

How is Sander's solution different from Yang's? Asking, since I don't know?
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