Silicon Valley Techno-Utopianism

Before Uber/Lyft, I could NEVER get a taxi to come to my house. Generally the dispatcher would pick up after like 50 rings, ask for my address, and hang up while saying "45 minutes!" Then the cabs would never come. We have Flywheel now in SF, but it's not very reliable, and they even added a "would you like to pre-tip 25%? That might make taxis more likely to pick you up!" bit that was pretty obnoxious.

Taxis were pretty terrible before Uber etc. Turned up. It at least made them buy new vehicles and it got rid of the medallion system which got more cabs on the road as well. Cab fares are still high and you get penalised for using a card to pay so I don’t bother.

Currently Uber, DiDi and Ola are in a three way fight for market share here. Fares are ridiculously low, to the extent that two people in a DiDi can be cheaper than the tram or train. They also, quite frankly make up for the fact that cross town transit is terrible in Melbourne. In and out of the CBD is great but if I want to go from here to Brunswick the busses are every 20 minutes and best and every 40 minutes at some points on the weekend if they run at all.

Transit plus Rideshare plus car share makes not owning a car very easy. Ride share is very exploitative, I’ve been doing some work with drivers for the electric vehicle company I’m doing work for and it’s a very tenuous existence, squeezed by the rideshare companies on one end and the vehicles hire companies on the other. All those discounts I’m getting are coming from their pockets, not Mayoshi Don’s or the Bin Salmans’.

I do find it slightly hilarious that three companies with SoftBank as a major investor are filing it out for market share.

Before Uber/Lyft, I could NEVER get a taxi to come to my house. Generally the dispatcher would pick up after like 50 rings, ask for my address, and hang up while saying "45 minutes!"

lol this sounds familiar

softbank is all about people with too much money trying to hold it elsewhere, make more money (because you can never have too much), or just straight up do money laundering

like, I’d be hedging by bets if I had softbank money and throwing my cash at every ride, bike, scooter, or hoverboard company I could in the hopes I’d get a (number of investments) multiplier on just one of them to break even

*Masayoshi Son and yeah there are a lot:

https://www.businessinsider.com/running-list-softbank-investments-2017-7

There’s plenty of companies on that list that don’t suck and some that might not suck but there are some real howlers there and some that just look a bit overvalued.

Before Uber/Lyft, I could NEVER get a taxi to come to my house. Generally the dispatcher would pick up after like 50 rings, ask for my address, and hang up while saying "45 minutes!" Then the cabs would never come. We have Flywheel now in SF, but it's not very reliable,

Did you/do you live somewhere "inconvenient"? When I lived in SF, I didn't have a problem getting cabs, though you had to plan for the wait time ime. It was like getting pizza delivered late night ... if they say 45 minutes, it's gonna be at least an hour. ... But I lived in a fairly dense residential neighborhood where taxis weren't common.

I live in the Exclesior.

ugh, was just reminded of the time I was staying with an ex in her friend’s place in Humboldt Park in Chicago. Cab said it’d take 45 minutes to come pick us up, then when we tried to catch a cab on the way back they made lame excuses (“I’m going the other direction”) to not take us there when we were heading back

I think that neighborhood is now pretty gentrified but it was *fine* then

...bright eyes.

Wow you know I was really worried about WeWork's future, but this slide from Softbank's earnings call really clears up all my concerns

Will make sure to use a slide like this with our other late stage companies pic.twitter.com/7IGf5FLni4

— DELIAN Asparouhov (@zebulgar) November 6, 2019

I live in the Exclesior.

I always hear this in the voice of Stan Lee (and with an exclamation point)

ya I can see why you had cab issues

Ride sharing is one thing, but the proliferation of food delivery apps (which I use, to be fair) is getting out of control. I was at Shanghai Dumpling King on Monterey the other day, and this was the scene"

https://i.imgur.com/Trrxh48m.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Trrxh48l.jpg

Increasingly we just order food somewhere and then walk over to get it.

to confirm, these are all people hired to pick up for other people?

we are a very lazy species. we all obviously need personal assistants to live.

Yeah, those people were all picking up for delivery. Pretty much all for other people, as far as I could tell. I mean, the DUMPLINGS! at SDK ARE delicious.

Wait is there a dump1ings feature on ILX that replaces the word with a capitalized version with an exclamation point?

i love those random word replacements, i have no idea where most of them came from or why

yeah, the dumps thing is a thing.

Also possible that they're picking it up for themselves, right?

Possible, but I don't think so.

Look up DUMPLINGS! (film) wiki entry

I try to order ahead from Brandy Ho's so I don't have to stand around

I like how the recent trajectory of the “Silicon Valley Techno-Utopianism” thread has been “Holy crap the unicorns are self immolating!!! ... ... I do like being able to order a taxi from my phone on occasion ... ... DUMPLINGS! are pretty good”

Uh not sure why DUMPLINGS! wound up all caps with an exclamation point kind of kills the tone I was going for.

Oh, lol

i first discovered this feature while posting about winston churchill swimming

New story about the scooter companies: They Pay their workers less than half of minimal wage, no benefits, and they can get fined hundreds of dollars for calling in sick too late.

Burn the whole thing down.

link?

https://ekstrabladet.dk/nyheder/samfund/indsamlere-af-el-loebehjul-faar-timeloen-ned-til-58-kroner/7864178

That's from an untrustworthy tabloid, but they are referencing a real story, which is beyond a paywall. So, you know...

Thanks!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EIxuYNtWkAE9--n?format=png&name=large

does B*tch Don't Grill My Cheese sell cold cheese sandwiches?

that would also work in the extreme bacon thread

IDG what phrases the second and third ones are even playing on -- Wig the Fuck Out? Peace the Fuck Out? I guess the third one is Bitch Don't Kill My Vibe but it barely even works.

they actually sell grilled cheeses for $7-11.25

adding jalapeno is $2 more

xxp
Get the Fuck Out?

i just looked at their website -- "turn key solutions" is like code for "we are exploitative douchebags"

And from someone that loathes AirBnB more than I do -- link via the SF Tenants Union

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/airbnbs-q1-loss-more-than-doubled-new-data-shows

"turnkey solutions" is a term with a definite meaning in the construction/engineering world, they're just repurposing it into a different context where it's basically meaningless

Bill & Melinda for President. Benioff, VP. Warren Buffett, Treasury. Rabois, FCC. Thiel, Chief Justice. Ken Howery, Secretary of State. Joe Lonsdale, CIA Director. Emil Michael, Defense. Reid Hoffman, Commerce. David Sacks, SBA. Marvin Ammori, AG. Elon, NASA. Travis, Transport.

— shervin pishevar (@shervin) November 7, 2019

xp - I have seen it for years in real estate investment land

I am opening a delivery-only restaurant in some rundown real estate (cashing in on the US Thanksgiving boomlet) called Turkey ******* Solutions

take a dumpling

I don't know if this is accurate, but it's definitely scary: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/08/how-big-tech-is-dragging-us-towards-the-next-financial-crash

I don't know if this is accurate, but it's definitely scary

― Frederik B

ladies and gentlemen - THE INTERNET!

wooooow

https://www.theverge.com/2019/12/5/20995453/away-luggage-ceo-steph-korey-toxic-work-environment-travel-inclusion