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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

#71

Post by Ekaros »

antb123 wrote: post #65
bfung wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't disagree with the article, I don't fully agree with it either. The article cites a study on (USA) GDP as a metric measuring of productivity, however, GDP is a poor proxy measure of "things being produced". USA GDP includes financial services and consumer spending, so using debt to pay for things vs. producing more, can still boost GDP. In the United States, pre-Uber around 2010, it was very hard to find…

++ taxi companies were corrupt due to the taxi medallion system.

As decided by the people. They could have politically campaigned to change that, buy out all the medallions at fair market price and the redistribute them for free in sufficient quantity.

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

#72

Post by pokepim »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #33
Jabbles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

Maybe you were unlucky but I never had an issue at all in Essex growing up or Newcastle where I spent 15 years. Also Blueline taxis had an app before Uber gained market relevance in the UK and it was great.

If 87 in your nickname suggest your age then I guess you are not the target for Uber. I’m 10 years younger and almost all of my peers never used Taxi and take Uber/Lyft quite often.

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

#73

Post by [deleted] »

flohofwoe wrote: post #14
heurisko wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree that writing software is comparable to literacy. I think it's more similar to any other profession, with a skillset you can learn if you're interested, or learn to get paid. Not everyone is interested in writing software, and that's fine. It has also never been easier to tinker with things, as root VMs are cheaply available, in comparison to 20 years ago, when you really were just given a cpanel interface,…

IMHO software development is closest to research work. E.g. a software development company is much closer to a research institute or design center than an assembly line in a factory. Unfortunately in reality it's more often treated like a late-medieval manufactory, or at best a scriptorium in a monastery.

[deleted]

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

#74

Post by whitepaint »

waynecochran wrote: post #34
Jabbles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

But Uber is horribly in the red financially. They disrupted a poorly ran industry, but didn’t produce anything that truly raised the economy… that’s the point.

> but didn’t produce anything that truly raised the economy… that’s the point.

Utterly false. They produced people taking way more rides. More rides = more people going out to different places.

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

#75

Post by a-dub »

this is what the real web3 is actually going to solve.

out with globally centralized service dispatch and paupers doing the work on unencrypted user data siphons and in with decentralized identity, reputation and commerce systems that sell to small business.

tools so small business can be as good as uber, everywhere.

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

#76

Post by jasode »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #67
whitepaint wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You click a button, someone comes to pick you up in a few minutes. You know exactly how much you are gonna pay. Even if you are just a tourist. Uber (and other applications like it) is so much more superior to taxis that you cannot even compare them (unless you want to frivolously whine). They brought insane amount of innovation and I am so thankful for that.

I already had access to this exact experience with a taxi firm in Newcastle where I used to live pre Uber - so yeh, I don’t see what benefit Uber brought. Also, the firm that had that app had clean cars, with driver in clean clothes and they knew the roads well.

>I already had access to this exact experience with a taxi firm in Newcastle where I used to live pre Uber - so yeh, I don’t see what benefit Uber brought.

It seems like the benefit of Uber was that it provided better service for many who didn't have the superior taxis in Newcastle.

If all the other replies (including some UK ones) in this thread contradicting your personal experience don't convince you, would that be a form of solipsism? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism)

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

#77

Post by bombela »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #67
whitepaint wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You click a button, someone comes to pick you up in a few minutes. You know exactly how much you are gonna pay. Even if you are just a tourist. Uber (and other applications like it) is so much more superior to taxis that you cannot even compare them (unless you want to frivolously whine). They brought insane amount of innovation and I am so thankful for that.

I already had access to this exact experience with a taxi firm in Newcastle where I used to live pre Uber - so yeh, I don’t see what benefit Uber brought. Also, the firm that had that app had clean cars, with driver in clean clothes and they knew the roads well.

You were lucky. Before Uber it was almost impossible to get a taxi in San Francisco and Paris for me. Now it just works the same on both cities.

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

#78

Post by AussieWog93 »

heurisko wrote: post #6
lifeisstillgood wrote: post #4

My take on the productivity paradox is software is a form of literacy . We have put a pen and paper onto every desktop and every pocket but almost no-one can read or write. Edit: And those that can find that only a tiny fraction of the fold is written down (accessible through the virtual cyber world). Amazon's secret to success was forcing every service to live behind a "public" API.

I disagree that writing software is comparable to literacy. I think it's more similar to any other profession, with a skillset you can learn if you're interested, or learn to get paid. Not everyone is interested in writing software, and that's fine. It has also never been easier to tinker with things, as root VMs are cheaply available, in comparison to 20 years ago, when you really were just given a cpanel interface,…

>I think it's more similar to any other profession

Could not disagree more. I run a small business selling used video games online, and come from a SWE/EEE background.

The fact that we've got processes in place that are built from the ground up to be scalable and automatable, as well as the simple Python scripts to perform this automation has basically tripled or quadrupled our productivity.

I could see much the same happening for a lot of workers who handle data, and as more people who have learned to code enter the workforce I'm not sure employers will continue to tolerate (for example) accountants who can't write their own report generators.

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

#79

Post by ALittleLight »

waynecochran wrote: post #34
Jabbles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

But Uber is horribly in the red financially. They disrupted a poorly ran industry, but didn’t produce anything that truly raised the economy… that’s the point.

That's Uber's problem though. Essentially their billionaire investors subsidized car rides for lots of people. Maybe it'll work out for Uber in the long run. Maybe not.

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

#80

Post by simonbarker87 »

Crazyontap wrote: post #68
Jabbles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 n…

You're absolutely right. I don't know what OP is going on about but no there were 0 taxis with apps at least in Birmingham. I just checked with my friends too and not one person remembers using an app to call a cab before uber. It is possible that some company possibly offered it but it certainly wasn't a popular option before Uber and it was just awful using the taxis here.

Blueline taxis had one in Newcastle - you could also send a text message and they’d come pick you up
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