this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
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A Boring Dystopia

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[–] psivchaz@reddthat.com 126 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Of these, I'd like to point out that unironically Uber is the obvious choice for Best. Hear me out...

  • Outside of the really big cities, taxi service was trash. You had to find a number and a phone, the price was almost impossible to figure out in advance, and none that I am aware of were doing anything to keep up with the times or improve anything. The competition that it hurt deserved some pain.

  • People can now paw drunkenly at their phone and generally arrive home safe. Easy access to rides has almost certainly saved lives. I don't think you can say that about any of the others on the list.

But wait! I'm not saying that Uber is good. I'm just saying that, theoretically, you could start a service like Uber that isn't hot garbage, that has employees or at least better paid contractors that take home a more reasonable share of the money. Hell, a local government could create a ride hailing app that passes the entire amount back to the driver, and it would be a net benefit to society. Though at that point, maybe they should have just been looking into better public transportation and planning instead.

[–] highenergyphysics@lemmy.world 83 points 1 year ago

No Uber driver ever scammed me into paying double fare or refusing credit cards.

Uber is objectively a cancer upon society. They should legally employ their drives and pay a fair wage with prices to match.

All I’m saying is, it takes a real shitty industry for Uber to still be the better option. Every “innovation” in the picture is a complete joke and should never be used even for practical purposes, except Uber…

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I say this every time this comes up, Taxis are trash, the only reason they're decent in big cities is because that's the only place you've got real competition.

Everywhere else has a single company, at best, and a lot of the times it's a one person LLC. Even my midsize city has a single person LLC taxi and Uber.

Uber the company is cancer, Uber the service (Or idea/concept whatever) was exactly what was needed. No more calling dispatch and being told "It's just around the corner" for 3 hours or them realizing I'm not local and taking me the LONG way around or even just taking fucking card lmao

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yes taxi companies were trash but Uber/ride shares forced them to evolve. Big city taxi companies now have all the same features as Uber. (route and price in advance, app for requesting a ride, info about your driver, safety features, card payment, and scheduling.) I'm now back to using taxi companies. The price is actually lower on busy days as they don't surge charge anymore. I've actually become a "regular" at one taxi company and they know me and I know the drivers. That's something that would never happen using Uber. The only time I use ride share is when I wasn't able to plan ahead. (like when my car broke down, and I needed a ride asap.)

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[–] dubyakay@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

Budapest banned Uber due to pressure from taxi drivers union which ended up implementing an app and matching services. It took a while to mature, but the quality of the service definitely beats that of Uber now.

Alas, public transit is already really good in Budapest, so mostly only people that were using Taxis before Uber existed are using the services now. Except that you are less likely to get scammed on fares and be the victim of CC fraud due to the streamlined app process.

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Enough people were pissed off at cabs that Uber took off. Instead of cabs looking inward to improve, they decided to act worse. I know Uber has room to improve but if that is the reaction from big cab, Cabs should be completely removed from society. Cabs were a complete fail.

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[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

People can now paw drunkenly at their phone and generally arrive home safe. Easy access to rides has almost certainly saved lives. I don’t think you can say that about any of the others on the list.

This cannot be overstated.

A close friend of mine almost got robbed when taking a dodgy cab home. Driver did a detour to a rough part of town, told him to wait and then went into a random takeaway. When he saw the driver come out with four other guys wielding cricket bats, he bolted out of the cab and ran away.

Uber had unquestionably made taking cabs back home in England both safer and more convenient.

[–] SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Everyone will have something good to say of each of these, eg crypto doesn’t just benefit criminals.

[–] GutsBerserk@lemmy.world 98 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Airbnb has destroyed housing market for young people trying to get out of their parents' homes in all major Western European cities

[–] match@pawb.social 37 points 1 year ago (2 children)

What if we all just move into airbnbs and refuse to leave

[–] RickRussell_CA@lemmy.world 41 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll be going in front of a venture capital roundtable tomorrow with my idea for Squatter.home, a web site where you can find unoccupied properties and occupy them for a VERY reasonable finder's fee.

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[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] Garbanzo@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Sounds like someone who's never called the police for something like this. More likely than not they'll tell you it's a civil matter and they can't do anything without a court order.

[–] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Outside america where police violence usually involve deadly shooting and they usually happy to do so, it takes more than police to evict someone.

[–] retrolasered@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago

I thought states also required a crane as well every so often?

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[–] Kase@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

What're they gonna do if you refuse to leave tho? Stay there until you comply?? No sir, I cannot be forced to quarter troops!!

(This is a joke. I'm aware they'd just use force lol.)

[–] LostWon@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Interesting. I thought it was just the US and Canada where AirBnb was messing up housing for new buyers (as well as taking away options from renters).

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think it was Britain that recently made headway on changing their housing laws to put a halt on Airbnb screwing up the economy on people who need homes. Canada are just catching up to it. in some places in Canada there are 7 empty houses to each homeless person. They are just changing the laws now. Even people who have jobs can’t afford a home. It’s so absolutely stupid airbnb went unchecked.

[–] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 6 points 1 year ago

Same for Malaysia. Lot and lot of highrise are build for exactly this purpose. High cost, "luxury" looking design, and boasting a "mall" just below the highrise. The result is a tons of dead mall, empty apartments, empty house, and unaffordable housing.

The government then regulate it, where they allow these place to continue to run but only on "commercial building", which mean only on these highrise build for the purpose of short term renting. It still doesn't solve the fundamental issue but at least we have law to combat these.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 37 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Everytime this pops up I have a brief moment where I'm like "what the hell is an illegal crab company?"

[–] MeatsOfRage@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Crabtocoin. Basically you pretend a PNG of a crab is worth something.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

"I have an NFC."

"Don't you mean NFT?"

"No. It's a non-fungible crab."

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

As opposed to fungible crab...

Yes...

I know they're bugs.

[–] Annoyed_Crabby@monyet.cc 3 points 1 year ago

They are bug crab, just like plant monkey and self-roasting chicken and pig.

[–] Kase@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I don't care what anyone says, those there are crabs

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[–] JGrffn@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

brief moment

Speak for yourself. I read your comment and it still didn't hit me until like 5 minutes later

[–] Emerald@lemmy.world 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Plagiarism machine"

Ironically, this is a repost

[–] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 year ago

So is the screenshotted post (afaik)

[–] 21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.com 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fake money for criminals bought me a lot of fun drugs back in the day so...

[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Right? Thanks Ross Ulbricht!

Edit: Ulbricht not Ulbrecht

[–] off_apparition@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How is the usd a tech innovation 💀

[–] Caboose12000@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

I think they're justbtalking about crypto

[–] GutsBerserk@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Uber (and other similar apps) are expensive than traditional taxi where I live.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

You couldn't pay me to take a taxi again, Uber can get as expensive as they want (Eventually it'll start to be cheaper to just rent a car for the day lmao)

[–] averagedrunk@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'll still take an Uber because I'm an average drunk and I don't want to be behind the wheel (you don't want me there either). I'll walk 10 miles before I take a taxi though.

[–] BingoBangoBongo@midwest.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As in, on average you're drunk, or your drunk as often/much as the average person?

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[–] Deceptichum@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’d still take that over ever using a taxi again.

[–] candybrie@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Most are a lot more like Uber and a lot less like taxis of 15 years ago now.

[–] BustinJiber@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

You forgot extensive algorithmic protection for art thieves.

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So its just violations of capitalism. Perhaps the problem isn't the tech.

[–] Zorque@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Are you implying that capitalism is violating or being violated?

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago
[–] LostWon@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't think the poster was blaming tech for the problems that resulted. The intent seemed to be to point out that these ventures weren't so innovative as popular media would have had us believe until recently. Plenty of blame to go around for the companies' exploitative practices, for media that just repeats what's in the press release/ads uncritically, and for government regulators, as well.

[–] Tarkcanis@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

The fact that GenAI is the top choice is just more proof.

[–] Smoogs@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)

I’d rather an illegal cab company doing things right because the ‘official’ unchecked cab company is corrupt doing illegal things and people finally got fed up with it. that shouldn’t have been a thing that needed to happen to get a safe(and reliable and relevant i mean you could enter your credit card for fuck sakes that should have been updated in cabs by then) and affordable enough ride anywhere. That is a sign of a broken system when the word ‘legal’ in application lost all relativity to who it was supposed to protect in that situation. Heck, I’d drop it from all use in this case.

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