> "Dashers have a new way to earn on their own terms"
The classic meaning inversion of precariousness and lack of benefits as a virtue.
You have to be kidding.
In the current US political system, the hard part would be finding examples of a politician doing anything but.
Sure, go ahead and make fast food delivery a highly regulated line of work that pays $30/hour with benefits. Just don’t be surprised when it no longer becomes economically viable for DoorDash to continue operating.
Maybe, although it seems unlikely. These sorts of tasks aren't going to be worth most companies hiring someone to do it full time. Instead, the work simply won't be done and the business will just be a little less efficient and responsive.
The other alternative is that someone would start a specialized service providing each of these types of tasks, and hire full time workers to do the work, and then contract out the services directly.
Is that better for the workers? Maybe for some, they will have full time employment. But will they make more money? Maybe, but now there is a new company extracting profit, with overhead and all the related costs.
Is that a better world for the average person? I don't know. I just don't think the answer is as simple as saying DoorDash obviously makes it worse.
It will absolutely be a full time, below minimum wage job that desperate people do. The same as uber, delivery drivers, and the entire rest of the gig economy
Also who are these non-theoretical people who in this economy can afford to sit around but are suddenly economically motivated by gig economy offerings?
Anyone know why that is?
(Claude thinks it's because those places have gig worker protection laws such that "classifying Dashers as independent contractors for non-delivery work is most legally risky")
Takes like yours used to baffle me, until I realized that the US was founded on enslaved labor and to this day there remains a silent expectation in some circles that there must be a laborer class which should be as inexpensive and disposable as possible, and is fundamentally distinct from the consumer class. A lot becomes clearer all at once when you realize that to some, there's a whole segment of the population that is not expected to benefit from the economy, only serve it.
Historically, such worldviews have in the long term tended to bring sharp misfortune to those holding them. I'm hoping for a better outcome here, though.
As for slavery, the poorly educated believe that it was a uniquely American phenomenon. Slavery was a global institution practiced by every civilization, nation, and culture on earth. In fact, it’s still alive and well in multiple places. The US abolished it fully in 1865. Products produced by slaves accounted for around 15% of our GDP at its peak.
You learned something today. I’m proud of you.
>excluding California, New York City, Seattle and Colorado.
I question your basic math skills if you conclude that those jurisdictions amount to only 1% of the U.S.
I can't imagine what these innovators will come up with next.
* Slavery - End the unjust and anti-competitive prison system monopoly
* Restore the rights of oppresed White Nationalists - The right to hire whom you please
* End the unjust prohibition of "rape" in marriage - Be free to do what you want with your property
Smart move, Zuck.
It is a VA firm.
As for Magic, they were an SMS-based virtual assistant. They still exist today. They went downhill. https://getmagic.com/
They can't reverse and brake?
No employment contracts. No benefits. No protections. Unpredictable wages. But hey, it's great because in this new model people have "flexibility" and "freedom".
I’ve been obsessed with this problem for the better part of 20 years
The fact that we’re finally starting to see it realized is very exciting
Problems aren’t solely technological in nature, nor are their impacts and solutions. Never forget the humans behind the models.
At its core, it's about understanding (the metaphorical) you are not a single person but a cog in a much larger machine, and that your actions reverberate throughout that machine in ways that are largely predictable, at least for a reasonable number of next-order impacts. Putting aside emotional intelligence like empathy and compassion for a bit, the practical intelligence needed to solve these tasks at a scale where robots or machines can displace labor implies a similar capacity to understand the harms and impacts of said solutions on a populace. To focus solely on solving the problem before you rather than acknowledging the impact it will have beyond you is to willfully reject accountability in favor of achievement, and we have enough vainglorious chuds in technology as-is.
https://kemendo.com/Myth-of-Scarcity.html
So I’m pretty sure I’ve got it covered. Good ideas though
I'll add said paper to my reading list, at least.
If you want the deeper math then read my GTC paper
But the organized right-wingers regularly talking about scarcity. The unelected deep state DOGE operatives who have never run for office. Does contradicting the narrative about scarcity necessarily mean undermining the top billionaires?
Here is the idea: programmers may move to a DoorDash like model as well in the future. You may have full time employment but it will be at a much lower base salary than in the past.
Instead of working on "stories" you will work "contracts."
So someone wants feature X or system Y, that's a contract. You get paid on delivery.
Meaning, since it will become possible to build more complete / fleshed out things with enough requirements and so forth with the use of AI, the best programmers will really be the best 'coding drone operators.' Whoever can get the most jobs done in the shortest amount of time at the highest quality for the least tokens, they'll rule the roost.
Real compensation will then happen in terms of boosts to the base salary for getting contracts done, similar to how many execs are paid a low salary and then are expected to earn their keep by the bonuses and equity the earn for delivering results. (Yes, I know, delivering results, har har).
Not sure if I follow all that! What’s a real photo? So, no one from a restaurant can take a photo of their own dish which they just made?
> helping a hotel make sure a delivery driver can find a drop-off location by taking photos of the hotel entrance
Hotel staff can’t update Yelp, Google Maps location with the info? Or can’t drivers call the hotel or location? Also, it seems to be a very infrequent occurrence, Once per driver maybe?