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Life as a Service

jacquesmattheij.com

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Re: Life as a Service

#11

Post by robryan »

Anderkent wrote: post #8

While some of the complaints are fair, the conclusion is absurd. The rights already clearly outweigh the obligations, which the author confirms himself by stating that "given the option I probably would/should have signed it [the contract". It seems to me the author takes many benefits of having the "Life as a Service" subscription for granted, and thus believes they are not part of the service - that they would pers…

Yeah, I think it is more about the lack of choice aspect than the result, depending on which country you find yourself in. Coming from a rich country at least you have enough mobility to eventually overcome immigration rules and move pretty much where you desire. Not true of poorer countries though, at least not for most people living in them.

Re: Life as a Service

#12

Post by mhd »

My gist of that: society and economy are weird. (Although a few points are, well, a bit silly)

Welcome to the human condition, geworfenheit etc.

Re: Life as a Service

#13

Post by lifeisstillgood »

The essence of the (flawed) argument Jacques is making is in his passport section

  I need permission from my government if I want to leave
  the country.
Oddly, that's not true. A passport is necessary to get into a country, not leave one. The distinction is subtle but important. You can if you wish as an adult, leave the country you are in, and if they will let you in, enter another with a different set of obligations. At worst you can just bob around the Atlantic in a bath tub for a bit.

The whole set of complaints boil down to, are there other countries which have a better setup than the country I am in? Can I go now?

The answer for anyone in the West is of course, not such that you would notice. And yes, no-one is stopping you. (But I would not recommend the bathtub option)

Edit: I just realised that it could read as "well if you dont like it F off." It honestly was not meant like that - but its hard to reword the whole comment now.

Re: Life as a Service

#14

Post by jschuur »

nagnatron wrote: post #5

This hits very close and I guess you only realize it if at some point of your life you live where you'd rather not but have no way to get out. I need permission from my government if I want to leave the country. Being given a passport is apparently not a right. Oh and they cost quite a bit of money and are valid only 5 years. That works out to a certain amount of money per day just to be able to exist outside the bor…

I challenge the 'quite a bit of money' part. Fees for a Dutch passport amount to about US $100 at the UK embassy e.g. (I'm Dutch, but live in the UK):

http://www.dutchembassyuk.org/page/index.php?i=158

Sure, $100 sounds low for many people, even though it's a fortune for some. However, spread across a 5 year period, it's a little more than 5 cents a day.

Re: Life as a Service

#17

Post by fierarul »

This is a rather poor attempt at philosophy that basically rides on yesterday's blog (the pendulum one) remark about Life-as-a-Service.

If anything it should teach people about how to keep the blog audience interested.

I was pretty sure I could down-vote by now but apparently I can't downvote articles. I guess I should just upvote everything else on the page...

Re: Life as a Service

#18

Post by vasco »

peteretep wrote: post #4

Can't you simply renounce your citizenship at 18?

One would think that if one was to renounce its citizenship, waiting for a predefined age set by whom you will be renouncing would be rather odd.

Re: Life as a Service

#19

Post by fingerprinter »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #13

The essence of the (flawed) argument Jacques is making is in his passport section I need permission from my government if I want to leave the country. Oddly, that's not true. A passport is necessary to get into a country, not leave one. The distinction is subtle but important. You can if you wish as an adult, leave the country you are in, and if they will let you in, enter another with a different set of obligations.…

You need a passport to leave Australia. Australia has immigration on exit. Though, that is the only place I've seen this.
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