Are we the baddies? • Hacker News Board

Re: Are we the baddies?

#361

Post by chrsw » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:14 PM UTC

rr808 wrote: post #232

ggm wrote: post #2

For some people, paying the premium to jump the queue is the point. What they didn't forsee is what happens when everyone has wound up paying the premium, and the queue is now with you again. This is mostly Australian frequent flyers, when it was a high barrier to entry it conferred advantages and now Fly in Fly out work has commoditised club status, there is next to no boarding advantage, and no points flight availa…

> My fellow Australians all feel a bit shit about the introduction of tipping in paywave and food service. That's unaustralian. We have legally enforced minimum wages and penalty rates. Turn that feature off. I think non-Americans need to take a stand against this. Refuse all tipping. Its a slippery slope - I know these guys are underpaid but if you start tipping the wages will just drop and we're all worse off.

I'm American.

This is how capitalism is supposed to work. It's supposed to seep into every crevice of society and pull money out of the poorest, weakest people and into the hands of the richest and strongest. This isn't a coincidence, it is in fact the most important aspect of the system.

Tipping went from some generous gesture to recognize exceptional service and it's turned into a mandatory, arm-twisting shakedown by businesses that simply do not want to pay their employees. Not just avoid paying a living wage (those days are long gone) but not even a _minimum_ wage. Many people involved in or invested in the restaurant businesses wouldn't have thought about getting in if they had to pay employees for an honest day's work.

Many restaurants these days aren't just local mom and pop family run businesses but large corporations who own many franchises and operate in the billions of dollars yet people like you and I are expected to pay most of the wages of the servers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darden_Restaurants

Sure, you can never eat out or only eat at locally owned small businesses. But that's just one small slice of society. The only realistic solution for many of us is to try to run the rat race faster.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#362

Post by robertlagrant » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:23 PM UTC

specproc wrote: post #273

cainxinth wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber and Lyft are expensive but anyone who says they are worse than what they replaced doesn’t remember well the heydays of taxis. Sure, people in big towns like NYC could always get one fairly easily, but everyone else was stuck dealing with whatever potentially shady operation they could dig out of a phonebook, and even then getting a car wasn’t guaranteed. Now, anyone anywhere can get a ride, often quickly. I’m no…

I'm really not sure old school taxis are actually that bad. I had two incidents in the UK recently where my app of choice failed me and I was quickly bailed out cheaper by googling "taxi $TOWN" and having a one minute conversation with an operator.

Yeah some operators use similar proper digitised internal systems now as well.

The main amazing thing about Uber is that you can go most places in the world, not know what you're doing with obscure public transport/payments/etc and just get an Uber to your hotel, no problems. It's so, so much better than what came before.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#363

Post by robertlagrant » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:23 PM UTC

jordanb wrote: post #313

jen20 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are better than they used to be because of the competition. I remember a time not that long ago where getting a minicab was nigh on impossible, and one miraculously did show up, it would be primary so the driver could try to scam you.

Not my experience using taxi call services in Chicago. Whenever I called them (before Uber) the taxi was prompt and courteous. The apps did three things that the call services did not do: 1) subsidize drivers with vc money for many years making drivers plentiful and fares cheap 2) use unlicensed cabs so they could saturate areas like Manhattan that had previously limited the amount of cabs that could operate 3) Depri…

> 2) use unlicensed cabs so they could saturate areas like Manhattan that had previously limited the amount of cabs that could operate

This is mostly a problem with the people you pay taxes to who would invent systems to restrict the driver numbers.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#364

Post by csours » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:25 PM UTC

paganel wrote: post #27

csours wrote: post #11

Before you pay for boosts on a dating app, pay for good pictures. Here is what a man seeking woman profile needs: 1. Good Pictures. Honest. Good lighting. Appropriate grooming and attire (whatever than means in your social context). Smile in a carefree way in most of the pictures. 2. Attractive man in the pictures. 3. No icks. Yes the pictures are more important than being attractive. As a matter of storytelling, the…

Looksmaxxing discourse on HN, things are getting really bleak.

Yea, that group of people is insufferable and wrong about almost everything. Dating apps are the one place where they kind of have a point; which really raises the question "Are we (app developers) the baddies?" Dating apps are not a nature preserve, they are a created environment.

Also, there's all kinds of maxing stuff, and there's basic advise, like wash your face and get a haircut before you get your picture taken.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#365

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:30 PM UTC

LeafItAlone wrote: post #310

alecco wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmmm. I'll just leave this here https://x.com/ns123abc/status/1940980667455836578

I don’t use Twitter. I believe it plays a big part in the degradation of society that geohot hot refers to in this article. Can you share that that post is about and the significance of it in relation to this link?

[deleted]

Re: Are we the baddies?

#366

Post by __turbobrew__ » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:34 PM UTC

bragh wrote: post #115

Klonoar wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No? Just... don't be creepy. I've done this a few times over the last few days alone (in Seattle no less, a city infamous for being antisocial - though I'm willing to accept some were tourists for the 4th). IME, people are actually starved for human interaction.

It makes no sense to have a high risk of getting blasted all over local Facebook groups/Instagram/Tiktok for daring to approach while being ugly when they can use dating apps for zero risk. And if dating apps feel expensive to use, then there is Photofeeler also to validate your attractiveness.

Honestly if you are ugly the only chance you have of getting a partner is in real life. Dating apps only serve the top 10% of men, and this isn’t even red pill incel conspiracy, this is fact corroborated by studies done by companies such as okcupid.

Second, if you talk to a stranger in line at the coffee shop nobody is going to put you on the local creeper list, maybe just don’t comment on how smooth their skin is.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#367

Post by bigyabai » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:54 PM UTC

zdw wrote: post #323

bigyabai wrote: post #4

> It’s not okay. Advertising is not okay. Price discrimination is not okay. Using big data, machine learning, and psychology to manipulate others at scale is not okay. Stop participating. Hinge is towards the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you'll do just fine without it.

Thanks for parroting https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/we-should-improve-society-som...

I am literally replying to an article worded thusly:

  Someday, people will have to realize we live in a society.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#368

Post by spacemadness » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:55 PM UTC

alganet wrote: post #36

afiodorov wrote: post #13

We should not underestimate the timeless human response to being manipulated: disengagement. This isn't theoretical, it's happening right now. The boom in digital detoxes, the dumbphone revival among young people, the shift from public feeds to private DMs, and the "Do Not Disturb" generation are all symptoms of the same thing. People are feeling the manipulation and are choosing to opt out, one notification at a tim…

> disengagement. That disengagement metric is valuable, I'm not gonna give it away for free anymore. I'll engage and disengage randomly, so no one knows what works. > The boom in digital detoxes, the dumbphone revival among young people That's a market now. It doesn't mean shit. It's a "lifestyle". > People are feeling the manipulation They don't. Even manipulation awareness is a market now. I'm sure there are YouTub…

Have you read anything by Mark Fisher? He spoke about capitalism absorbing all resistance which makes it almost impossible to ever escape from. Which is what you’re saying I think. Resistance becomes the next market and works through the same economic systems it’s attempting to resist.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#369

Post by bigyabai » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:55 PM UTC

HeartStrings wrote: post #31

bigyabai wrote: post #4

> It’s not okay. Advertising is not okay. Price discrimination is not okay. Using big data, machine learning, and psychology to manipulate others at scale is not okay. Stop participating. Hinge is towards the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you'll do just fine without it.

What? Sex is a basic need in Maslow’s hierarchy.

Yes, and Hinge is not the sole human corollary of sexual intercourse. Ask your parents.

Re: Are we the baddies?

#370

Post by jlokier » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 4:59 PM UTC

jksflkjl3jk3 wrote: post #167

jlokier wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taxis are almost always twice or sometimes (airport) 3x the price. Not where I live. Here, Uber is 50-100% more* than the price of a local taxi, at all times of day. Uber is also at least 30% more expensive than hailing a black cab. So even though I have the app, after optimistically checking the Uber price, I invariably choose to book a taxi instead. The shorter arrival times shown in the Uber app are sometimes te…

> Not where I live I never understand why people make comments like this and leave it to the reader to guess where they live. Your profile has your email and linkedin, so it's not like you're trying to stay anonymous. And to your point, local taxis being less expensive is unusual in my travels from 50+ countries. Uber/Grab/Bolt/Gojeck/Maxim are almost always significantly cheaper and more reliable in my experience, e…

> I never understand why people make comments like this

It's intentional, because the location has nothing to do with the actual point. Stating it invites people to focus on the location too much instead of the actual point, or to say things like "oh that's just your country / town, we can assume that's anomalous".

Which would be missing the point entirely.

If you're interested in the location you can find out. It's no secret, though I would advise against trusting people's locations on LinkedIn, they are often not where the person currently works or lives.

But I'm not interested in stating it. For the point I was making, the specific location, or even the country, detracts from that.

You've traveled in 50+ countries. Just from that, you're an extreme economic and social outlier. You are almost certainly taking journeys that are systematically different from those taken by the majority of people, and the price brackets and journey routes you're comparing between services are different than those used by other people. It may well be that the comparison works out differently as a result.

Not to disregard your experience. You've plenty. But you are very unusual, and it's impossible to travel that much without taking journeys that other people never or very rarely take.

I would not be surprised if the "obvious foreigner" premium is there for taxis, even if you're experienced. I'd find it unlikely that you became so intimately familiar with all 50+ countries as to get the true "favour for a friend" fare in all 50+ including those where that's more common, and that you took the same journeys as locals do in all of them.

On the other side (and on the original topic), Uber has reason to optimise for traveller cohorts. If Uber wanted to seem cheaper than local taxis to people in your cohort, to a greater extent than for other people, they could probably do that, and it would make economic sense if their algorithm statistically optimises for that. Profit-maximising algorithms with "personalised" pricing default-optimise for trade with wealthier customers who use their services more often, for journeys associated with other spending, such as to/from travel hubs and hotels, and for separating out cohorts in subtle ways that maximise the inability of cohort members to detect the separation.