Id rather know that a human pilot can jump in at any time if the computer — Mark Dennis
That is how they fix issues with drones during their flight. Of course, these flights are closely monitored. There isn't anybody suggesting that flight control would no longer be needed. Still, why does that person need to sit inside the plane? In what way would that help anything? — alcontali
What Uber does is set up people to work for companies who can shut them off and tell them what to do, but the companies have no responsibilities for the workers because they consider them customers. So it is a worse kind of labor relation. And I am not sure how that relates to not needing pilots since Uber and Airbnb generally have drivers and people taking care of where people stay. And these companies are both american companies I believe. If Singapore is so much smarter in general, why did it need the West to come up with these services, and Grab has its Western counterparts.We also no longer need taxis, because we have things like Uber. We don't need hotels, because we have things like Airbnb. All these technologies and business models are being held up in the West by the same problem: outdated and counterproductive regulations. Countries that do not have them will simply leapfrog ahead. — alcontali
What Uber does is set up people to work for companies who can shut them off and tell them what to do, but the companies have no responsibilities for the workers because they consider them customers. So it is a worse kind of labor relation. — Coben
This sounds like you were in a professional field, probably well educated, and your clients are seeing you are more or less an equal, not simply because of your qualities, but because of the type of contracting you were doing. Your work, it is very likely, allowed you to self market, direct to businesses or whomever the clients were. This is a very different situation for whatever an individual taxi contractor would be like. Uber's rates are low, saturates the market with so many drivers that individual drivers have to work long hours at low pay pay their bills. Uber is neither client nor employer, it's a middleman that creates a situation where indepedendent contractors can compete,since they will not have the infrastructure to reach clients, except by lining up outside events and stations and the like. It's not a parallel situation, at all.Before cashing out from my startup, I always worked as a contractor. For various reasons, I strongly preferred that arrangement. I never had a "boss". I always had a client. I cannot stand employment labour arrangements. Seriously, I hate employer-employee situations with a passion. — alcontali
I won't take up the Singapore vs. The West, since this is a bit like comparing bycicles and oranges. But it seems odd that Singapore's medication prices are 300 times cheaper, since pharmaceutical companies tend to price along national income level lines. I don't think it is government regulation that sets medication prices high in the West. As far as health care in general a quick look I took at the Singapore system makes it sound very interesting. It is heavily government regulated, with mandatory health care savings at the individual level, the tier system and so on. It seems to be working well. How well would be tricky to decide where information flows less freely, and a small country like this is dealing with a different range of issues.Medication is up to 300 times cheaper here than in the USA — alcontali
This sounds like you were in a professional field, probably well educated, and your clients are seeing you are more or less an equal, not simply because of your qualities, but because of the type of contracting you were doing. — Coben
This is a very different situation for whatever an individual taxi contractor would be like. — Coben
Uber is neither client nor employer, it's a middleman that creates a situation where indepedendent contractors can compete,since they will not have the infrastructure to reach clients — Coben
But it seems odd that Singapore's medication prices are 300 times cheaper, since pharmaceutical companies tend to price along national income level lines. — Coben
As far as health care in general a quick look I took at the Singapore system makes it sound very interesting. — Coben
Well, you don't need a degree for software engineering. All programmers are essentially self-taught. — alcontali
Perhaps, but there's still a difference between a programmer and a taxi driver, probably even in Singapore. For example, Uber drivers are not able to increase their salaries or develop niches of expertise that they can advertise. You can. You can grow and it is your field of expertise. Probably most of these drivers either have no other skills that they can market or they do, but the economy does not offer them much opportunity. It's a fallback job, an extra income. You can actually pursue a career. Uber drivers, because they are 'customers' do not have the rights that workers have if the actual customers, the passengers, complain about them, rightly or wrongly. The companies need not have any process to see if the complaint is justified. There are hidden fees that can actually bring the commission up to 50%.Often, clients did not see me as an equal. I often found them quite arrogant — alcontali
According to a study published by MIT, the median profit for drivers is an abysmal $3.37 an hour, and that’s before taxes. Ultimately, 74 percent of drivers earn less than minimum wage and, once vehicle expenses are taken into account, 30 percent actually lose money every mile they drive.
With upwork, if you are earning a living through it over time, the percentage they take goes down. Uber stays at 25 or 30 percent. Period.Upwork is just a middleman similar to Uber. — alcontali
So these countries are selling drugs that Western research developed for low prices?Just look up the molecule name for the brand that the doctor prescribed, and then order online Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, or Vietnamese generics instead. Instead of paying $1000, you can often buy the medication for $3 or $4, if you do that. Very little of that medication is still under patent. — alcontali
The only legal/moral issue would be bodily autonomy, the right to do with ones body as one wants; but then again, we wouldn't be licensing sex per say, but rather, the procreation of children...and people are all-for stripping women of their bodily autonomy... — Grre
As for stripping women of their bodily autonomy - it seems to me that, if anything, such a policy would enhance their autonomy overall, given that mother nature seems to be something of a misogynist and so - historically anyway - leaving things to nature to regulate has led to women being burdened with the lion's share of the disadvantages that accrue to those who procreate irresponsibly.
it was actually radical feminist Firesmith (Firestone) that wrote that it wouldn't be until women were freed from the burden of reproduction that they could be truly equal. — Grre
I often feel the same when I'm waiting in line at the drugstore to get emergency contraception at nine in the morning while my boyfriend gets to stay in bed and sleep off his hangover. — Grre
And for doing next to nothing, but dominating google, they skim large amounts of money off the hotels. — Coben
They are parasites. — Coben
With upwork, if you are earning a living through it over time, the percentage they take goes down. — Coben
So these countries are selling drugs that Western research developed for low prices? — Coben
is there any reason why we should not licence procreation, given that we licence adoption? — Bartricks
The only version of this I could get onboard with would be to sterilize people who partake in severe child abuse. — I like sushi
Well, apples & oranges ... for starters. — 180 Proof
But, anyway, I think it would be more practical (i.e. enforceable) simply to register parents - birth & adopted, citizens & foreign residents - as 'child raisers' and hold them criminally liable - same offense & conviction record, — 180 Proof
Well, that's exactly the basis upon which I am arguing for licensing procreation. I just don't see why you stop at child abuse. Surely children do not just have a right to be free from 'severe' child abuse, but all manner of other abuses, including being brought up very badly? — Bartricks
Maybe you assume I meant sexual abuse only? Being brought up ‘badly’ means what, and exactly what is it social services do that doesn’t cover this already? — I like sushi
Denying someone the joy of children because you happen to think IQ matters or some other daft criteria is utterly facile. — I like sushi
Nope. Eugenics is about selecting for breeding whilst my position is simply about preventing severe abuse of children by vicious people. — I like sushi
I don’t regard ‘intelligence’ or ‘money’ as indicative of ‘good parenting’. — I like sushi
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