Working yourself to death is now something to aspire to
Fiverr, a leader in the "gig economy", thinks that this ad shows something people should want to be.
Surprisingly, not everyone agrees.
For some time now, Fiverr, a "marketplace for freelancers," has been papering cities with increasingly dark ads for their services. Capitalizing on models with chic, urbane looks, the advertisements criticize "dreamers" in favor of "doers," which is basically to say "give up, forget about health care, and do some odd jobs you find online until you can legally sell your organs."
The thing is, it's not just Fiverr.
Mary, who was driving in Chicago, picked up a few riders, and then started having contractions. “Since she was still a week away from her due date,” Lyft wrote, “she assumed they were simply a false alarm and continued driving.” As the contractions continued, Mary decided to drive to the hospital. “Since she didn’t believe she was going into labor yet,” Lyft went on, “she stayed in driver mode, and sure enough—ping!— she received a ride request en route to the hospital.”
“Luckily,” as Lyft put it, the passenger requested a short trip. After completing it, Mary went to the hospital, where she was informed that she was in labor. She gave birth to a daughter, whose picture appears in the post. (She’s wearing a “Little Miss Lyft” onesie.) The post concludes with a call for similar stories: “Do you have an exciting Lyft story you’d love to share? Tweet us your story at @lyft_CHI!”
... Look at that hustle! You can make a quick buck with Lyft anytime, even when your cervix is dilating.In the other version of Mary’s story, she’s an unprotected worker in precarious circumstances. “I can’t pretend to know Mary’s economic situation,” Bryan Menegus at Gizmodo wrote, when the story first appeared. “Maybe she’s an heiress who happens to love the freedom of chauffeuring strangers from place to place on her own schedule. But that Lyft, for some reason, thought that this would reflect kindly on them is perhaps the most horrifying part.”
It does require a fairly dystopian strain of doublethink for a company to celebrate how hard and how constantly its employees must work to make a living, given that these companies are themselves setting the terms. And yet this type of faux-inspirational tale has been appearing more lately, both in corporate advertising and in the news.
Aren't we long past due for questioning how our economy works?
Comments
The woman on the bottom
pic looks a bit like Sinead O'connor.
We're doomed. I walked out of job once because I was told I could not leave the office to have lunch. We were all supposed to sit around a communal table and talk work. Such a thing did not help my productivity, it hampered it. Not being able to step away and clear my head was not a good thing. This was 12 years ago.
One Day it will be Someday
Hey, Give Us Your
forty years of productivity, then drop dead.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Must've been a real doer who dreamed up
this nightmare of an ad campaign. But what do doers do when they're not dissing dreamers? Snort cocaine?
native
cocaine
The fiverr app and ad camPAIN, and the realities behind them, certainly seem coked up to me.
The makers of this nightmare are quite apparently on crack.....
[video:https://youtu.be/0GLoHifu6aM width:500 height:350]
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I really liked this video
.it was good and funny. So I watched some more of Left is Right on you tube. It was way too violent for me so then on the right side I noticed a Chuck Berry vid. It probably was the first glimpse I ever had of Chuck when I was so young I thought this old geezer can rock. It was on American Bandstand in it's prime. So I'm posting for no particular reason other then he died and he was great.
johnny b. goode
is the greatest rock song ever.
the lyric is poetry,imo.
he did enough with this one song to go to hall of fame.
Uber 'Subprime' Auto Loans pile on
Remembering from 2014: Uber Is Reportedly Pushing Its Drivers To Sign Up For 'Subprime' Auto Loans
and
UBER DRIVERS SPEAK OUT: We're Making A Lot Less Money Than Uber Is Telling People
I can't wait for the Uber corporation to collapse but what a bummer for all those people. I really hope that 'Subprime' issue reported is not big, not a lot of drivers involved.
Peace & Love
Speaking of Uber
did you catch this?
Like capitalism forever y'know.
And I so totally want someone driving me around who suffers from sleep deprivation. Not.
The ruling classes need an extra party to make the rest of us feel as if we participate in democracy. That's what the Democrats are for. They make the US more durable than the Soviet Union was.
Compete with everyone until
you die. I guess that's the message now - no loyalty, no solidarity, nope just vicious competition to prove how worthy one is while stepping over as many bodies as one has to in order to "make it." WHoopee! USA, USA, USA!!!!
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Doers!?! No, just not aking healthy choices
I once was told to work an all night'r, after an all day'r, to meet the boss' boss' arbitrary timeline.
After another change in direction, the next morning, after review of the work, i said "please, just fire me". i was soon gone. my ex-boss, having no one left to drop in to pick up, where i took the exit, was soon gone too. While i was there, no one they hired, ever showed up for the second day: It was shortsighted and self-defeating.
Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever
Mobile creatives is what Charles Hugh Smith calls them.
The clever ones and hard workers do well as they would in most circumstances. The others not so much. Basically much of this gig is semi useful, and lends a kind of itinerate freedom. It's broken down a lot of barriers so work can come you way. I remember years ago trying to get a job in a used book store. I didn't know that they got asked everyday and in any case I didn't have any experience buying books, which is one of the main criteria for working in a used book store. No experience no job. Today with a data cell phone a credit card you can have you own bookstore on line. Or selling whatever. Disintermediation, cutting out the middle man. This is the great thing about the gig economy and its hazard. The gig economy will grind you up if you let it. On the other hand it lets you " make your own job" On a macro level however our economy has become a series of extraction rackets which are already causing major problems, serious problems. Endgame is coming. Armor up.
Classic pchyops.
It's going to get worse, much worse.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
A few things about the evolution to the happy slave.
A few random observations from my life working in high tech that goes to the genesis of these ads.
The language describing the relationship between workers and companies changed in the 90's and it continues to this day. Before that, i would say it was the language of simply "I do the work I am qualified for. You pay me." It was more contractual.
Then it shifted to appropriating the language of personal relationships like "committement", "needs", "totally in", be a thunderlizard evangelist. selling the dream, "happiness engineer", and thee kicer, self-actualization.
High tech found Maslov's Hierarchy. The corporate merged totally with the personal. Your value as a human was to be expressed in the committement and loyalty to your company. Corporate life gave your life its best and highest meaning. Until that is, profits went down, and corporate executives needed more bonuses for themselves. You see, part of job satisfaction as done through surveys put money way down the list of things which produce job happiness--you see Maslov says you are down on the scale if money is your motivation--Unless you were an executive in which case your job was totally defined by arrays of bonuses to put a lot of money in your pocket.
Corporate America found a way to fix the alienation of workers.
The accountability of employees remains for results, but not for company executives. Before in the 80's it seemed that if a company laid off people, the executives were blamed as having fucked up royally. One guy familiar with Japanese companies said this was the ultimate humiliation of executives.
But now, you know what layoffs are called "right sizing", the executive keeps his job, and is praised as a financial super hero. The laid off employees? Fuck 'em.
These ads play into all the bullshit of the last 20-30 years of "personnel management". Be a lackey slave is your highest value and defines you more than your religion, your personal relationships such as family, your politics, etc.
But one thing about these ads is very very right wing--it plays off the ideas of makers/takers. The people the ads want to create produce and make things, and other people don't contribute.
In looking back, Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener" should be secretly mass mailed to all workers.
You mean like
makers/takers translate to 46% are moochers?
Ala Romney.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Corporations have become SuperPeople
and we have become serfs, toiling for their benefit and our survival. It's getting damn near time for revolt.
The real SparkyGump has passed. It was an honor being your human.
They hardly have to worry about survival
corporations are immortal.
If corporations are people, then they should be killed after 80 years, about the lifespan of a human.
IMHO.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
fiverr?
I read it as
fislaverr.I want a Pony!
My grandson died from this kind of overwork.
Don't think we can sue the company as it is a huge legal firm in NY. But I now am definitely not a capitalist. I want us to curtain capitalism in a YUGE way!
glitterscale
I remember the tragedy of your grandson, glitterscale,
when you mentioned it on TOP a while back.
It has stuck with me a long time. A guy I work with's sister did the same and it has also haunted me. Although I believe she was dealing with some mental illness, she was in the end overwhelmed with debt. She was found her in her car in a parking lot with all her belongings scattered around her. She was only in her 20's I believe.
These tragedies anger me to no end, on so many levels.
And what gets me is no one who hears of these stories could turn a cold heart away. And that is precisely it. They're not being covered by the venal mainstream media because it would result in legislative action overnight, the outpouring would be so overwhelming from the masses for stopgaps to economic inequality, offer hardship allowance, prosecute the Economic Terrorists of Wall St responsible, end student and medical debt, etc.
It's bizarre to me that, even without the kind of coverage that would result in a swelling of empathy and compassion, there isn't a person alive today who doesn't at least have a close personal relationship with someone, or know of a friend, colleague or family member, who isn't struggling badly in the throes of economic hardship. The We Are The 99 Percent tumblr page is a fair representation, inspired by Occupy, of highlighting the predicaments of so many young and old who have been churned up in the merciless grinder of unbridled capitalism. What gets me then is, why doesn't this translate into the kind of moral outrage and righteous indignation that would shine a light on who the culprits are for the continuation of such a society?
And the answer for me is always found in a few very specific areas. Probably the biggest is the false and misleading notion, through relentless propaganda, of fulfilling some kind of American Dream™, which is drilled into our young minds since kindergarten, starting with the first thing recited as the Pledge of Allegiance. May seem innocuous enough, but its purpose is indoctrination, which later serves as laying a foundation for an unquestioning fealty to American Exceptionalism. From there it's all faux patriotism, not questioning one's current government, because we've been trained to think everything done in the name of the Stars and Stripes is good, wholesome and the envy of the world. This explains why it's so difficult to galvanize opposition to war, the entrenched deity of "free market" capitalism and the lure of Get-Rich-Quick/ worshipping the wealthy.
I could go on about this, but I think the point is there. Everyone has been trained to think they're just one scheme, scam or lottery ticket away from becoming the next contestant on the Who Wants To Be The Next Millionaire Sweepstakes™ show, and if you don't get it it's because you're just not using that good ole industrious American spirit to pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
Whenever I think about people crossing the line out of sheer desperation I think of one of the many concise Occupy banners:
You Are Not A Loan.
You Are Not Alone.
It's crystal clear to me in a general sense that capitalism quite literally kills, and that socialism is the only humane and dignified economic system, to prevent more from falling into the kind of desperation your grandson had. It's convincing people, who have been so indoctrinated, that the goal isn't to get rich, but to live in a society in which no one is permitted to fall through the cracks.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
Putting female faces on working one's self to death?
78% of suicides are male.
93% of work place deaths are male.
Women live longer than men.
1 in 7 homeless are women. Donate to your local women's shelter. !!??!
Working one's self to death? With no male faces?
You'll have to pardon me if I find this add bitterly offensive.
Let's put female faces on it.
With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU
You again
What is your problem with women and this site? I'm not a administrator here so I can't pull the plug on you but until I do not have to come here and read misogynistic crap from pigs like you I'm gone. Why are you here? "Be off or I'll kick you downstairs" as Father William said.
Shaz - given that we are pretty seriously a free speech site,
we will always have these types of posts. The answer isn't for the good people and quality posters to leave in anger, but for them to stay and generate push-back instead.
The comment in question is pretty much incoherent. That alone tells us that it is simply a crude attempt to use the existence of the ad as a vehicle to vent misogynist feelings by trucking out irrelevant classical male victim-hood tropes. The yet further off-topic and more wildly fallacious mini-rant regarding womens' shelters is the key to being certain that this is just vacuous anti-female shit slinging and that what you should be doing is hammering the author for the vast gulfs of illogic involved in the post and the fact that he posted it here.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hashtags you see
#BringBackOurGirls
Hashtags you don't see
#BringBackOurBoys
Why? The boys were burned to death. Too late for them.
#TheBoysInTheFireAreDead
If you think you can solve the worlds problems by talking about gay rights, trans rights, women's right and completely shutting down men's rights I must suggest that you are sadly mistaken.
The days of demonizing, labeling, dismissing, shaming and silencing men and their issues is OVER Shah.
#StopKickingStartListening
With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU
If the boys are dead, they cannot be brought back
and it is the acme of silliness to bemoan the fact that nobody issues calls for somebody to do so. The petty jealousy that somebody expresses concern for somebody not of your particular gender manifested in that line of reasoning isn't worth addressing. Nobody is
except where those so called issues are phanatsms, the expressions of bitter fears that they may no longer be the unequalled dominant caste in all things and that others may be given equal treatment and consideration.
There is no point in listening to noise, btw, except to block out thought. Thought avoidance is not generally a goal here, so noise is eschewed and dismissed.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
You're not going to convince anyone to listen to you
or care about what you're saying by attacking women. Your us versus them attitude is never going to get you anywhere. If you ever figure that out, you might begin to understand how to bring up men's issues or problems in a way that would generate the attention you say you want. Instead, all you do is lash out against women, which makes you come across like an abusive asshole.
Perhaps it makes you feel momentarily better to attack women online, but it's never going to get you what you really want.
Oh and you also completely missed the point of this article and the ad. Unless you actually want these ads to promote more men killing themselves with overwork. Which would be extremely strange.
Male disposalbility
93% of works deaths are male is attacking women how?
78% of suicides are male is attacking women how?
The vast majority of homeless are male and male veteran's is attacking women how?
43% of physical domestic violence is suffered by males is attacking women how?
Women live longer than men is attacking women how?
You're going to have to explain yourself better than just dismissing through name calling if there is to be understanding.
Men have been working themselves to an early grave since forever.
How often do you hear about it?
I missed nothing in the easy. I choose to comment on an observation I made while reading the essay.
See The Red Pill by Cassie Jaye. Wake up CS.
#TheBoysInTheFireAreDead
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fMMHU-aej8 width:420 height:315]
With their hearts they turned to each others heart for refuge
In troubled years that came before the deluge
*Jackson Browne, 1974, Before the Deluge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SX-HFcSIoU
Serious question:
Do you want to understand, or not?
I'm not willing to invest any of my time in a "discussion" with someone who is lashing out and not listening. I tried to be nice as well as honest, and you lash out in return instead of listening or discussing.
I agree with Shaz. You have repeatedly violated this community's stated standards of civility and respect for others. You've admitted you have deep and unresolved hatred of women due to your past (yes, I listened and read your post about it), and you use this place at times to spew your anger. That's unfortunate and inappropriate. If you're going to act like that here, you should be disinvited from membership, in my opinion.
But like shaz, I'm not in a position to decide. EL is a site moderator, and says you have the right to use this place as a toxic waste dump if you choose. When I joined here, MRA types were not allowed, and other people got their membership revoked for less obnoxious stuff than you write. But apparently the rules have changed. I don't however see any value in engaging or responding further to someone whose only interest is using a female punching bag to take out his unresolved little boy anger.
CS - I din't intend to say that it is ok for him to post this
stuff of that he has
As a moderator, my finger wagging carries some weight, if I identify myself as such before so doing. Stuff like this, arguably calling for sterner measures, is pretty much up to JtC and Joe. I chose not to go into something akin to "threat mode" because the post was so damned incoherent and without any direct attacks on women, feminism, etc. Instead, I figured that JtC or Joe would be along relatively shortly and deal appropriately.
My "we must expect this" was just a broader caveat covering this and future posts of a seemingly improper nature that the correct response is to push-back.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Thank you for the clarification EL
I appreciate it. I'm still a relative newbie here, although it's been over a year, and I did take your response to Shaz as giving "official" permission to Dennis to post whatever he wants with no consequences.
I remember JtC having stated directly when I was first here that MRA were not allowed here, period, and a couple of other people did get booted over it, so I was confused and disappointed by this seeming rule change. I was happy to see JtC's comment last night. It helped clarify his rules and reasoning, and explained why Dennis has been allowed more leeway than some others received. I understand better now, I think, and I stand corrected.
Dennis1958...
I'm going to ask you once and only once to stop this mode of operation.
We pride ourselves in our open discussion policy, to a certain point. That point is when the open discussion becomes trolling. In my humble opinion your last few essays and subsequent comments fit the classic definition of trolling a site. You have become a one trick pony with what appears to be an agenda that you know pushes many members buttons, and you seem to revel in the reaction that said button pushing brings to the surface.
There are many different ways to troll a site, and many different issues with which to troll by. Several users have been asked to leave here when it was deemed that their sole purpose was to disrupt the membership. We've had trolls of various flavors and they were tolerated only so long.
Now, with your total participation here in mind I'm not really sure if you truly are meaning to troll us. It may be that you are stuck on an issue that is dear to you. This recent behavior isn't indicative of your earlier postings here so I don't really know what happened to the Dennis of old but I wish he'd give up this vendetta and return to his old form.
I can't let you go on disrupting this site and potentially chasing folks away for the sake of free speech and open discussion. If you want to see where that can lead take a look at the comments at Zero Hedge. I'm a big free speech proponent but I can't allow that privilege to be abused.
I like you Dennis and that's why I'm asking you only one time to give this up.
Thank you JtC
I very much appreciate your explanation and intervention.
who is this guy/girl in the video who talks about Boko Haram
as if she/he has a clue about it?
I don't know who is more sicko, the character sitting on bench with a cup of coffee musing about life of boys and girls in Nigeria or the guy/girl who produced the video.
Do I despise the technology that enabled the sickness of it all? Yes, in a sick way, because I consume its products.
Trying hard to not go nuts these days may be the only thing we should try to do.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Since nobody here wrote the ad, why don't you take that whine
to the firm using & buying the ad, or to the firm who drafted it? It is offensive, but not for the reasons you cite. You give the impression that you would approve of the ad & message if the photo were a male. That's pretty sad.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I don't get the general animosity.
It seems to be artificially whipped up by the essay.
I've always been an independent contractor. I work long projects, but I take short ones or gigs when I want to. I give the work and take the money.
I have several friends who drive for Uber. They give rides in their own cars and take money. Uber is not a final career destination for anyone. It's a marketplace. They also drive for Amazon and Lyft on various days. One of them is putting himself through school. He drives between classes. Another is driving full time to help support his family. He already has a degree.
I also have a couple of friends on fiverr. One does voice-overs for ads or videos or whatever. That is a career destination for him, but fiverr is just a marketplace, like ebay is if you have something to sell. When he's not doing the voice over gigs he loves, my friend works as a bartender. He's a single father.
I have another friend who sells the shower curtains she makes on Etsy. All she wants to do is make shower curtains, but Etsy is not her slave master. She also goes to farmer's markets.
Who does it help if Uber fails or fiverr fails?
Humankind has been doing gigs since the beginning of time. Full employment is a very recent development in the history of civilization. How does ripping up their marketplaces help people like my friends sell their goods and services?
Basic national income is the only sensible answer. We're a rich country, but it would actually cost us less than all the bloated social programs to distribute to everyone the amount needed for a basic life with freedom from hunger and some kind of shelter. It's time to end the dystopia and the need for crime that capitalism has brought. If it is not making the nation a beautiful safe place for everyone, then it is asset stripping everyone. Regulate it.
"artificially whipped up by the essay" Digital Disruption
that's an interesting take on the comments, reminded me the phrase Creative Destruction. That "marketplace" thingy you speak of sounds exactly like modern slavery to me, there is no "there" there, nothing to gain except some "idea" about individual freedom because people have such chaotic schedules, meeting absurd demands.
Not sure where I found this meme it was a graphic with no embedded meta, else I'd source it. It says what I think. That "marketplace" is always net negative for workers. Way more destructive, and who is creating what now? Not a very lively marketplace if you ask me. Billionaire bubbles to mask the downward spiral. "My friends like it." is no excuse in my view, overall society is suffering. I can't stop it and I don't hate anyone for trying to survive, so go on. This is what "asset loss" looks like for the generation that built it, American Dream reversal, everything turned to paper in a bubble.
Needs an update, but I'm nenni ekki. You get the point.
Thanks
Great comment
I tend to agree with the points you make.
I didm't write it that way, but I can see it that way, too. Things are getting very virtual and disconnected. This is a time of tremendous transition as far as "working" for a living goes.
I especially agree with this:
Some of the people I described are artists. Artists have a particular path through life, working McJobs so they can do their art. Others are just getting by. I'm pretty sure they don't want that full-time soul-sucking job at a collection agency. I think they've all decided to settle for less for now, which is what the gigs are.
That digital destruction meme really nails it, though. Einstein ex[pressed it this way:
Thanks for the feedback.
that response is a bit astonishing to me
coming from you. I pretty much doubt that "someone's dream is to make shower curtains and sell them on Etsy". I do believe that this someone has no other choice than to sell her shower curtains through Etsy to get some moeny for a product she produces without having customers who ordered them before she produced them. And that alone is a matter of concern.
Who would it helped if Amazon had failed in 1997 and on? It would helped thousands and thousands of brick and mortar booksellers, whose livelihod got destroyed by Amazon using the technology that allowed the company to exclusively having bought the rights to books in print databases and put it online to create the "biggest bookstore on earht" (that was their slogan way back) and with it erasing the sales for the existing brick and mortar (and later other bookstores who tried to sell online) for ever. You think that kind of marketplace is fair and social and beneficial to the 99 percent of little people's companies?
I am still puzzled why people who work on "gigs" think that "the marketplace's technology" their gigs are based and dependent on, still believe it's a socially beneficial activity. Too many people believe that the "freedom of speech in anonymity" the inernet technology allows to engage in, to be a protection against oppression of free speech and a protecetion of their own fair and social entreprneurial activities. But it doesn't protect against authoritarian technologies and their market places they create. I believe it is a basic human thought fallacy that most believers in the internet's free speech capabilities have. If Uber fails, taxi companies, who were so fair to invest in their own car fleet, win. And they deserve to win. Corporations should have never equated to humans, free speech should have never have been equated to money and the internet technologies should never lead to a few corporations to dominate the marketplace like they have, being nothing better than authoritarian despots in pre-internet times.
I doubt very much that "a basic national income" will resolve the social unfairness the technology enabled. The first thing that would happen is a war among those who receive that income and those who don't, and for sure just because it's called "a basic national income" doesn't mean every human being on earth is getting it.
I feel like giving up on commenting, it always feels I am "not getting it" and I am sick of it.
https://www.euronews.com/live
"I feel like giving up" me too sometimes
good morning, don't give up because how else do we come to consensus on anything? Just because there is disagreement doesn't mean we should stop talking. Me, I'm trying to take the 99% thing the whole way, and keep my heart open while I'm bitchin' from the ditch, so to speak. There has to be a way to overcome seven people, or whatever that number at the top is currently. Topsy-turvy party is yuge, if ever enough were wrangled at once.
Kurt Cobain came from Aberdeen
California Solidarity off-topic right now. I was just reminded of him twice lately, RIP Kurt.
Me too, it bothers me too.
Peace & Love
I really have difficulties to follow
as I don't understand so many things c99ers talk about being grown up in the US and being familiar with all their surrounding culture, history and educational backgrounds and being all so involved in politics, news and being "media sinners" (heh ahem my word creation) That makes it hard for me and of course I would like to be "a little bit more" capable of "getting you guys and gals".
Heh, one day at a time, that's my motto and for sure tomorrow is another day. Thank God.
PS. I liked your digital disruption list that had already occured. Just saying.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@mimi, don't give up.
, don't give up. Everyone is confused by the changes.
My friend copies sonnets onto shower curtains in handwriting. They are lovely. She's an artist. She does okay.
I liked the world of small booksellers but the future arrived. Words went digital and Amazon created a different marketplace for them. When my books were sold in bookstores, I received 7 percent of the cover price. When I sell a book on Amazon, I earn 35 percent of the cover price.
Uber drivers must invest in their own new cars, as well. Every time they give a ride, they are graded by the consumer in real time. Bad ratings will lose them their gig. So they are very accommodating to riders and their cars are very clean and nice. I am always on the side of the consumer and I think consumers should be the ones who decide who wins — ride sharing or taxis.
Everyone in society will get a check for the same amount — the rich, the poor, children and adults. It evens out the opportunities because everyone has the same human rights including freedom from hunger and health care.
I tend to support those goals that seek to dignify every human life. I like seeing individuals empowered to follow their dreams and be the best they can be. But I also want those goals to build better societies in beautiful surroundings.
There will be missteps along the way to utopia, but it is so much better than living a life when the people have no grand vision at all.
Talk about vision Pluto.
Thank you for this comment, in full. From the beauty of sonnets written on shower curtains to the beauty of a dignified life.
"Everyone is confused by the changes."
thank you for this, please let me illustrate. For some stupid reason I still torture myself looking at craigslist, and right now saw this great example:
(shakes fist, yells at sky)
This is good generational perspective to take, I really appreciate it. I didn't realize some people imagine gigs as being a road to a basic income utopia. When I worked construction in early 80s, good people made about $25 an hour. Today, I only know one person's wages currently, but he is making exactly the same wtf? Now he gets to compete with TAKL come April. It looks bad to me, that's all. He is getting worn out, and doesn't have anything saved. There is nothing like basic income even near The Overton Window as far as I can tell. Thanks.
Peace & Love
@ Pluto, honestly, I have to say
that "your vision" is not "my vision".
Really? Sounds like the "Deutsche Waehrungsreform: after wwII, ie monetary reform" the Germans had after wwII. It worked within Germany, because we had been on the bottom of the barrel, all of us, completely morally and economically and physically destroyed. And it was only a one time payment for every German, not a continuous basic income.
How wide is your horizon for which you have a vision? So, in some mysterious ways every human being gets a check for the same amount of money and we people of the world will have our dreams fulfilled, worldwide? Of course. The buying power of the money will be the same all over the world, I assume.
I wonder what you consider a dignified life. Little people, who have no other choice than to converse in the virtual world of anonymous blogs, facebook and whatever else? So much dignity in that. I see it everyday how people despair of not having physical contact to people to talk to and being emotionally dependent on their online conversations via mobile phones and computers.
I am silent now. I am sick and tired of Americans telling non Americans how wonderful their country is, because the US is willing to offer anyone to "fulfill their dreams". (just not for all of their own folks...)
Would you please consider that talking about the US fulfilling other people's dreams is uncomfortable somewhat? This kind of "cuddly talk" seems to be ingrained in the American psyche, though, I guess ingested as an ingredient of the American mother milk, which is of course so much different from other countries mothers' milk.
Quite frankly I am not confused, but because I know I can't counter verbally your arguments on a factual basis (like shaharazade for example) and tried to circumvent a situation, which would lead JtC to send me in the corner for "bad behavior", I said so. And I am certainly not giving up on anything. /End of rant.
https://www.euronews.com/live
I don't agree with
a lot of your points regarding our virtual reality and economy. First I do not think that these changes are 'inevitable' or progress. I hear a lot that this is the world as we find it and that there is no going back so accept it. Like with the industrial revolution it's not the technology itself that's to blame it's unfettered disaster capitalism writ large. To me it's an ass backward viscous economic system run amuck. If there is no market place other then the virtual one and no other goal except to make obscene funny money for the creators of virtual reality be it selling people's work or products to each other it doesn't seem like it will lead to utopia but hell on earth.
How would a guaranteed universal income ever come to be in a globalized virtual market place? Robots should be taxed says that asshole Bill Gates. I just think that a world where no one works and Artificial Intelligence (an oxymoron if ever there was one)) is the new order and profit for the bogus free market is the only consideration is in no way going to lead to a utopia. Centralization and concentration of wealth is already occurring. It makes humans nothing but slaves who have to hustle to make a living on the fringes of a society. Then there is the age old question of how will your friend sell her shower curtains if our economy is one big scam for the likes of Bezos and co.
We too have been independent contractors since the 80's. We're a service business to business sole proprietorship. We we're both underpaid 'creative' techies who worked for corporations and could not live on what we made being full time employed. So we went free lance. We lived in SF which at that point was ahead of the trend as far as stratified income went. I use Constant Content to market our services. I worked in marketing advertising as an graphic designer/artist before computers took over. They are a tool I learned out of necessity much like the printing press of old. They did not make graphic art/design more creative. Adobe's geeks ate the human aspect's of art and craftsmanship. Are these machines intelligent hell no. So in the end humans become redundant and life/work is just a profit loss.
These changes do not confuse me they are crystal clear, so is the destructive anti-human agenda of this inevitable brave new world. I think people know exactly what's going down. What confuses them is how to find a way to exist in this horror show. How can we live with out any community/society that is not virtual but physical and of the earth. Will they still need net's to catch the suicidal robots in the sweat shops of China or Haiti? Who will make the robots? Other robots? Perhaps uber drivers can be replaced by self driving cars that can work unlimited hours?
@shaharazade - don't you think that ...
...globalization and global corporations' disaster capitalism couldn't have developed without the internet technology? At least I think without that technology it wouldn't have be a that fast and a that profound change of the work environment for the 99percent?
https://www.euronews.com/live
My vision is not part of the Brave New World vision.
My vision is to mitigate the damage caused to people by the Brave New World. It's to smooth the way during the transition when we discover there is no need for everyone to "work" for a living. Only a few people need to work. My vision is to enhance the lives of those who do not work, for whatever reason, so they are not thrown away like garbage.
My sympathies are for the Uber driver (the individual) over the taxi company (the corporation). The consumers will choose the Uber experience every time. Nobody wants to ride in those smelly cabs with their hostile drivers. That's one transition. It will be followed by another transition to driverless cabs. Now we are left with a population of former drivers and no jobs for any of them to do. My vision is for them. The beautiful towns and cities are the paces we must build for people to gather and learn to enjoy one another. There, they will discover their real purpose. A basic income will sustain them.
It is easy to cast a futurist like me as the enemy. I have my eye on a greater enemy. Things have been very lopsided since the Age of Enlightenment ; the Age of Reason. Technology came much too soon to humans. We needed another hundred years for collective spiritual growth and self empowerment. It began, but it drifted. Capitalism came too early as did efficient weapons.
This type of accident happens often on planets where sentience develops. Only rarely is it survivable for the uplifted species. That's the perspective I work from.
I did the same thing you did in the same place at around the same time. Portland seems like the perfect place to end up, all things considered.
“My vision is for them”
One’s purpose (or vision) can be the key to what contributes to the evolution of our communal lives.
“The means are the ends in the process of becoming” Gandhi.
I agree that basic income is the ideal from which to start, to enjoy and sustain oneself. And in that place I believe, can one thrive and contribute to the whole.
@ Pluto, tell me what the "Brave New World" is, please.
I doubt that many of the 99 percent will discover that there is no need to work for a living. In which world are you living?
I understand now that you are a futurist. You are not my enemy. I just prefer to live in the present, and afaik, the 99percent will all have to work for a living. And will certainly like to drive their cars themselves, too.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Fiverr = Israeli co. PewDiePie used for fake anti-Semitism joke
http://www.polygon.com/2017/2/14/14615142/what-is-fiverr-pewdiepie-anti-...
Broken algorithms ruling the modern world
you just brought out my tin foil hat with that link. Gee thanks.
Ding! Fake jobs, only a few can productively exploit. Must compete with global poverty, pay no attention to the wealth piling up at the top. That is the power of media if you ask me. Unplug is the answer, some kind of modern day Leary, or something sober I don't mind. Something/Anything, gigs and apps are killing older workers, which if fun for younger folks. As long as they never grow old. /peterpan
Peace & Love
Use Fiverr to hire poor folks to perform “pranks” — North Korea?
https://www.rt.com/news/378597-kim-jong-nam-murder-suspect-prank/