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“Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

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Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#41
post #11

Call me a crank, but personally, I'm getting annoyed by people who love to blame tech companies for everything. "This unending hamster wheel of capitalism and technology is driving us all to the brink of insanity" Maybe that's true, but instead of blaming tech companies and brogrammers, maybe try taking a look in the mirror. You want to escape the rat race? Pack up your bags, move to bumfuck nowhere, and spend all yo…

If someone wants to fight the "unending hamster wheel of capitalism and technology", then certainly shutting up is a bad strategy. The reasons for making noise about this given in the article are not personal, but ideological. Presumably, it works as intended if it feels annoying.

> "unending hamster wheel of capitalism and technology", then certainly shutting up is a bad strategy

Whut? I'm not sure that has ever been effective at reversing course. Sometimes a society has changed course, but that's just because this message got lumped in with the have-nots, which is unrelated. This sentiment has never been satisfied, so I'll disagree that shutting up and moving on is a bad strategy. It's the ONLY strategy since it's tied to frontiersman thinking of having too much after enduring risk.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#43
This is driving me up the wall: why do people use pull quotes in this manner? What does it accomplish, besides tricking me into thinking that I'm accidentally re-reading the paragraph I just read, and thereby interrupting the flow of the article?

Pull quotes are a technique designed for print! You use them in magazines that have tens of articles and you want to grab the attention of somebody browsing the articles so that they read yours. But here on the web, I'm already reading your article! There's nothing else on the page - you already have my attention.

Just look at the way this article ends:

This unending hamster wheel of capitalism and technology is driving us all to the brink of insanity. “These days, everyone needs a side hustle.” Now that I think about it, that should be Elizabeth Warren’s campaign slogan in 2020. “These days, everyone needs a side hustle.” Now that I think about it, that should be Elizabeth Warren’s campaign slogan in 2020.

Why not just say that last part once? Literally JUST present it in the fancy pull-quote "this is important" format, instead of once as normal text and immediately again as fancy text. Why are you having me read this twice?

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#44
post #40
post #11

Call me a crank, but personally, I'm getting annoyed by people who love to blame tech companies for everything. "This unending hamster wheel of capitalism and technology is driving us all to the brink of insanity" Maybe that's true, but instead of blaming tech companies and brogrammers, maybe try taking a look in the mirror. You want to escape the rat race? Pack up your bags, move to bumfuck nowhere, and spend all yo…

> I like The point isn't preventing YOU , the consumer, from doing this. The point is that most people as the supplier aren't doing Uber, AirBnB, etc because they like it. They're doing it because they don't have any other good alternatives. Most of the people on the supply side of the serfdom economy are gaining very little benefit. This is a real problem.

> They're doing it because they don't have any other good alternatives.

So champion proposals that would grow the economy, create more jobs, increase the median hourly wages, and/or improve the social safety net. I don't see how vilifying Uber or AirBNB is going to help accomplish any of the above.

P.S. There is no way for you as an individual to be a supplier on the Seamless, but that still hasn't spared them the author's wrath. I don't think the author really has a clear idea of what he's complaining about.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#45

This is driving me up the wall: why do people use pull quotes in this manner? What does it accomplish, besides tricking me into thinking that I'm accidentally re-reading the paragraph I just read, and thereby interrupting the flow of the article? Pull quotes are a technique designed for print! You use them in magazines that have tens of articles and you want to grab the attention of somebody browsing the articles so…

My guess is that it's designed to provide visual landmarks for (most) people who skim articles.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hopeful the money will end up having to shore up social security or Medicare.

Dream on...

I don't dream, I do. I apply political and financial pressure against my Congressional reps, and have even threatened (with someone else's financial backing) running someone against them (which secured their vote for a socially progressive bill I wanted passed).

But you do you. I enjoy applying pressure in the political space, and I play a long game.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#48

The author needs to get outside of the SV bubble. The proletariat generally don't need two jobs to eek out an existence except in handful of expensive cities on the coast.

Not sure it's that much better off outside SV. Drive thru eastern Kentucky or anywhere in WV. High unemployment and opiate addiction rates are the norm. This will of course intensify as technology progress marches forward, though we might see a slowdown with the incoming administration's rejection of globalism.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#49
post #44
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I like The point isn't preventing YOU , the consumer, from doing this. The point is that most people as the supplier aren't doing Uber, AirBnB, etc because they like it. They're doing it because they don't have any other good alternatives. Most of the people on the supply side of the serfdom economy are gaining very little benefit. This is a real problem.

> They're doing it because they don't have any other good alternatives. So champion proposals that would grow the economy, create more jobs, increase the median hourly wages, and/or improve the social safety net. I don't see how vilifying Uber or AirBNB is going to help accomplish any of the above. P.S. There is no way for you as an individual to be a supplier on the Seamless, but that still hasn't spared them the au…

Can't we rant and wail a bit about how increasingly broken shit looks? Why always champion a proposal to fix things? But thanks for the idea that vilifying Airbnb is not going to help anyone. I agree. They exist only because we let them fill that particular part of the biosphere. Maybe we shouldn't let them.

Re: “Side Hustle” as a Sign of the Apocalypse

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everybody is struggling out there... tech has some of the highest salaries for any industry. It is workers that are not in tech like traditional taxi drivers which are losing out badly to these innovations.

yes, which is a hell of a lot more than people who work in tech, hence my point that these people don't choose this, it's thrust upon them by our flawed system which sees surplus value flow to the banks who create credit out of nothing to capture said surplus value.

Wow you got voted down
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