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Build Unix, Not Uber

thesephist.com

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Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#41

Post by cpursley »

seized wrote: post #30
aunderscored wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GLONASS, But that's splitting hairs

Although the Russian air force planes with a Garmin taped to the control panel may indicate otherwise on that technology....

I get it, reddit is a fun place to beat up on the Ruskies. But the usage of a Garmin doesn't mean GLONASS is bad.

GPS and GLONASS use different frequencies and redundant signaling systems is common in aviation.

And Garmin actually works with both for a more accurate location:

https://www.getaway.co.za/gear-reviews/news/garmin-russian-s...

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#42

Post by abathur »

andrewxdiamond wrote: post #14
abathur wrote: post #5

At the risk of saying something dumb and meta... it's ideas all the way down (for a really long time now). The individual corporations are ideas, and then of course there's the idea of the corporation itself. As the post notes, corporations only work because of other ideas about property rights and scarcity. But more fundamentally they only work because they're an idea quite a few people already believe in. I'm a lit…

> good ideas that don't make market sense I think this is incorrect framing. You have to shape the market, not the idea. Capitalism’s fault is not accounting for externalized costs, like climate change. The market allocates resources very effectively, but the costs the market uses to allocate resources are lies. They omit costs that producers can ignore or otherwise avoid paying for. If these externalities were captu…

I agree that there are multiple roles here (making EVs for the market that exists vs. shaping the market for the EVs you make or want to make)

That said, I don't really mean products that don't make sense to the market as it exists--I mean that all good ideas are not necessarily products. There are good ideas that don't fit the logic of the market (regardless of what it thinks it is a good idea at the moment).

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#44

Post by throwaway14356 »

CSMastermind wrote: post #32
dasil003 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Middle three don't feel a major dependency. I would say: - Twitter without iTunes Podcast Directory (because it killed Odeo, the parent business) - Facebook without MySpace / Friendster - Reddit without Digg / Slashdot

Even then they might look different but someone would have had the idea for social media. Those exact companies might not exist or they might look different but it's not like the business model would go away. Take away GPS and Uber is a fundamentally different product.

If gov does identity and personal data is sensitive it might as well offer social connectivity?

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#45

Post by cauthon »

pj_mukh wrote: post #38
sklargh wrote: post #2

It's always interesting to me how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story. The existence of space-based, free and ubiquitous semi-precise navigation was an enormous subsidy.

I want something that doesn’t operate on scarcity (like the corporation), but can work at the velocity of a corporation. Things like GPS and the internet would’ve been deployed much faster by a private corporation but then they would be dumb monopolies as opposed to the public good they are now. Also we need a space to work on big dumb ideas and toys[1] and neither Unix, Uber or GPS fit in that category. What is that…

> Things like GPS and the internet would’ve been deployed much faster by a private corporation but then they would be dumb monopolies as opposed to the public good they are now.

1) at least in the USA, access to the internet is not a public good, it is provided by an oligopoly (and in many circumstances a functional monopoly, where service at a given address is only available from a single ISP)

2) why do you believe that either GPS or the internet would have been deployed faster by a private corporation?

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#46

Post by systemvoltage »

sklargh wrote: post #2

It's always interesting to me how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story. The existence of space-based, free and ubiquitous semi-precise navigation was an enormous subsidy.

Uber wouldn't exist without Government™ built roads as well.

It is an expectation that we get good services based the taxes we pay.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#47

Post by treeman79 »

cosmotic wrote: post #8
tmp_anon_22 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story Uber would not exist without GPS. I wonder how many other of the unicorns: * Twitter without Rails * Facebook without PHP (I think this is fair but maybe not) * Reddit without Python * Tesla and Solar City without huge government subsidies Crazy to think how many Lake Tahoe vacation homes were transferred thanks to these projects.

There are a lot of alternative programming languages that those companies could have used. There's no GPS alternative for Uber.

Alt to php at that point in time was usually Perl.

Don’t think Facebook would have succeeded with Perl.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#48

Post by CSMastermind »

throwaway14356 wrote: post #44
CSMastermind wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even then they might look different but someone would have had the idea for social media. Those exact companies might not exist or they might look different but it's not like the business model would go away. Take away GPS and Uber is a fundamentally different product.

If gov does identity and personal data is sensitive it might as well offer social connectivity?

Honestly I'm half expecting the US government to offer an identity service at some point. I know it would probably be challenged on constitutional grounds but it would finally be a somewhat authoritative way to cut down on fake accounts.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#49

Post by zrail »

thesephist wrote: post #3
sklargh wrote: post #2

It's always interesting to me how little credit is given to GPS in Uber's story. The existence of space-based, free and ubiquitous semi-precise navigation was an enormous subsidy.

That's interesting! I think GPS falls in the category of "works so reliably that I don't perceive it as technology" for me. But yes, GPS an underrated piece of infrastructure, even more impressive as it's globally available (edit: as in, US tech infra made available beyond US).

Atomic clocks! In space! That's the epitome of modern technology for me.

Re: Build Unix, Not Uber

#50

Post by pj_mukh »

cauthon wrote: post #45
pj_mukh wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want something that doesn’t operate on scarcity (like the corporation), but can work at the velocity of a corporation. Things like GPS and the internet would’ve been deployed much faster by a private corporation but then they would be dumb monopolies as opposed to the public good they are now. Also we need a space to work on big dumb ideas and toys[1] and neither Unix, Uber or GPS fit in that category. What is that…

> Things like GPS and the internet would’ve been deployed much faster by a private corporation but then they would be dumb monopolies as opposed to the public good they are now. 1) at least in the USA, access to the internet is not a public good, it is provided by an oligopoly (and in many circumstances a functional monopoly, where service at a given address is only available from a single ISP) 2) why do you believe…

I would compare GPS to something like Starlink which went from idea to activation in 5 years while GPS took over 15.

While of course, Starlink relied on government know-how, given away for free, the speed of deployment was 2-3x.

In the end we’re left with a monopoly service which sucks. But, it came together quick. Why can’t we have both? Fast deploying public goods.

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