[lbo-talk] Jayati Ghosh on the contradictory effects of tech change

MM marxmail00 at gmail.com
Mon Feb 15 10:38:32 PST 2016



> On Feb 15, 2016, at 1:06 PM, Jordan Hayes <jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com> wrote:
>
> I agree that in many places the taxi systems are arcane, corrupt and broken; but Uber is not the way to "fix" it ...

Even this perpetuates the dominance of single-rider transportation, both on the streets (which should be re-socialized as communal spaces for recreation, parks, gardens, local markets, etc.) and in the popular imagination. The focus should rather be on demanding safe, clean, convenient, predictable mass public transportation (with communal spaces at the stops - wifi hotspots, libraries, beverages), and shorter, more flexible working hours (clawing back some of the potential benefits of those productivity gains, and giving people time to get to work without relying on cars). Is that a wild-eyed longshot? Maybe - but anything less almost certainly kills the planet’s carrying capacity within a few generations. What’s to lose - besides the false comfort of the familiar?



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