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We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

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Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#21

Post by sokoloff »

andi999 wrote: post #13
verve_rat wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not writing software, using it requires software literacy. How many people do you know that refuse to learn the software they use everyday? How many times have you helped a friend or colleague with some problem just by googling it even when you don't really understand what they do for a living? It's not that we need everyone to create software, but it would unlock huge productivity gains if everyone stopped pasting s…

Somehown I think the literature on excel is lacking. Do you know any reference which shows 'how to use it' in your sense?

I think learning has changed as well. It’s no longer a (traditional canonical) reference that’s most useful (though Microsoft surely has one on each version of excel) but rather “how do I formulate a search to help myself here?”

Programmers have been doing GDD* for a while. Other knowledge workers will catch up or be left behind their peers.

I use Excel weekly, but not daily. The last thing I remember googling in it was last week and it was (for the fiftieth time) “excel format as millions”.

* Google Driven Development

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#22

Post by Jabbles »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

Absolutely disagree - taxis in the UK used to be awful, none of them had apps before Uber. Black cabs in London were generally good due to the high entry requirements but you could only get them by flagging them down somewhere fairly central.

Uber introduced competition which has massively improved all other taxi services. These days there's nothing special about Uber except its ubiquity so I don't care if it fails now. Ofc this doesn't excuse their illegal practices.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#23

Post by [deleted] »

ur-whale wrote: post #20
simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

How do you pay your regular taxis in the UK?

[deleted]

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#24

Post by colinb »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

“Taxis have never been an issue in the UK” is a statement that does not match my experience.

Living briefly in London taught me that you cannot reasonably expect a hailed taxi to take you from A to B no matter how hard it is raining or how obviously pregnant the person you’re with is, if the taxi driver doesn’t fancy going to B, even if B is still within 20m of A.

Living for far longer in Edinburgh taught me that the credit card machine is manufactured by the same company that sells McFlurry boxes to MickeyD’s. This was still true when I visited Edinburgh again 3 months ago.

Uber seems to me to be abusive to their drivers. And occasionally to their passengers. But there’s a good reason they were so successful early on. They made my life, as a customer, better, easier, simpler, less encumbered with bullshit.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#25

Post by Barrin92 »

One of the most interesting insights to me about this dynamic of profitless, innovation lacking platforms came from reading a Varoufakis piece.

To him the reason platforms exist as they do right now is because they constitute a fundamental shift away from market capitalism to what he calls techo-feudalism.

Instead of thinking of companies like Uber as selling software and paying wage labour to generate profit, it makes much more sense to think of it as a fiefdom that extract rents directly from its users outside of markets, maintains unpaid or barely paid labour, essentially a techno-peasant class, and is funded by barons in the form of VC capital directly and the state indirectly.

Through that lens for the first time to me it made perfect sense why it isn't so absurd to have gigantic companies that barely make any profits, have no differentiated products or much of a workforce. The point of these new businesses isn't to dominate markets and sell things at great margins, it's to claim territory, extract value and then use that control to directly command users on your behalf.

https://metacpc.org/en/crypto-blockchain/

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#26

Post by marksbrown »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #15

Fully agree with this. It seems like so many of the apps that come to dominate just make up for shortcomings unique to the US that then, with money, take over the rest of the west for no good reason other than scale to get 25 people at the top of those companies rich. I’ve never seen the need for Uber. Taxis have never been an issue in the UK and the most successful firms in the city I lived when Uber was starting ou…

In some places with expensive unreliable public transport, the quickest & cheapest way (a group) into town was by taxi. Minicab to precise. The five minutes away for 45 minutes variety. The cancel without any notice. The sorry I don't take card mate. How about the ones who got hopelessly lost to charge you more?

The old way was awful and Uber got a hell of a first mover advantage.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#27

Post by nonrandomstring »

taurath wrote: post #11

Having taken a $30 Uber to drive 15 minutes lately, when a taxi would’ve cost $10 or so, I don’t think they’ve ultimately created much value with their rideshare service. They’ve basically just moved the entities around, and now it takes a lot longer to get a taxi. Ultimately this is an era largely of the conglomerate, it doesn’t matter who you are unless you’re one of the big fishes. Media, Advertising, etc. Its no…

> And all the problems we have left are things like education, homelessness, lack of meaning, healthcare, etc. All problems so entrenched I’m willing to say at this point they can’t scale, and therefore won’t be solved. Maybe the next technological revolution will be a social dynamic. Who knows.

Hoorah to that!

We need a "cultural revolution" that let's us catch up with our technological advances. New forms of digital literacy will change the idea that any technological advance is good for its own sake to seriously asking "what for?" of any technology.

Mere "efficiency" and "inevitability" will be seen as dumb reason and forms of technological ignorance.

Intelligence amplification (IA) will usurp "artificial intelligence" (AI), putting human agency ahead of laziness and "convenience".

For now I think we have to go through this runaway period of technology, to get it out of our system. Let's hope it doesn't kill us.

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#28

Post by unicornporn »

xmprt wrote: post #18
taurath wrote: post #11

Having taken a $30 Uber to drive 15 minutes lately, when a taxi would’ve cost $10 or so, I don’t think they’ve ultimately created much value with their rideshare service. They’ve basically just moved the entities around, and now it takes a lot longer to get a taxi. Ultimately this is an era largely of the conglomerate, it doesn’t matter who you are unless you’re one of the big fishes. Media, Advertising, etc. Its no…

That doesn't sound right to me. The only place where you're paying $30 for an Uber where 1. it would have been possible to call a taxi, 2. the taxi only costs $10, 3. it's a 15 minute drive, is in the middle of a big city. In that case, why are you calling an Uber instead of using public transit? Yes, Ubers are more expensive than taxis in some cases, but in many other cases, they can do things that taxis can't.

> but in many other cases, they can do things that taxis can't.

Like what?

Re: We must return to an economy fueled by innovation, rather than disruption

#30

Post by totetsu »

Barrin92 wrote: post #25

One of the most interesting insights to me about this dynamic of profitless, innovation lacking platforms came from reading a Varoufakis piece. To him the reason platforms exist as they do right now is because they constitute a fundamental shift away from market capitalism to what he calls techo-feudalism. Instead of thinking of companies like Uber as selling software and paying wage labour to generate profit, it mak…

Techo Serfdom.
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