Comment by santiagobasulto
5 months ago
Which makes total sense for consumers as well. If the startup succeeds is because consumers are finding value in it. Uber is the best example. Uber is ilegal only in countries with deep corruption where taxi unions can make legislators ignore their constituents. Uber (and any other car sharing app) is the best solution for me as a consumer compared to the traditional old school taxi service.
> Which makes total sense for consumers as well.
Kinda. Often this casual law breaking isn’t entirely victimless even if it benefits both consumer and the startup. I think Schmidt was talking about using content to train models. So artists getting short end of stick. Or Airbnb causing locals getting prices out or whatever.
There is certainly some dodgy protectionism happening of the sort you describe but there are also externalities borne by society for this break laws startup style.
As a user of GenAI, I get to create and save drawings in the style of any artist I like, without having to pay the artist $$$$. This is important to me because I like certain styles, but do not care for an original drawing nor have the money to pay for such.
And the externalities introduced here are not borne by all of society, but only by a small number of people (How many important artists are there? 10,000? 100,000?). Just like horse-and-buggy drivers were affected by automobiles, while the vast majority of people benefited from automobiles.
Right so externalities are fine as long as they don’t hit you and it fucks over less than 100k people…
That is…quite a stance. Not quite sure what to even say here.
Uber is objectively worse for every single party involved. Driver makes less, customer pays more, Uber has to coordinate a huge system.
Uber "won" because they cheated. They operated at a loss for almost 15 years, on the welfare of investors. Guess what, mom and pop running a taxi can't live on a negative wage.
> Uber is objectively worse for every single party involved.
Wrong on at least one count. I've never been refused service while black from Uber. The taxi industry was brought out of the dark ages of discrimination by Uber et al. Taxis (around the world) have tried to rip me off almost half the time I've used them, with no accountability.
I prefer Uber everywhere I go. Even if I pay more, I know it upfront. I have their safety in place, etc.
Okay. Objectively you're paying easily 2x more and, objectively, you're not safer in developed countries.
Totally. I propose we start a brothelBnB next door to your home. Home owner wins, customer wins, worker wins, startup wins! Score! Market has spoken!
I also recommend HoboSleepinCar Driveway as a service next to your home. The consumer has spoken!
Really good argument, congrats