An Inconvenient Truth That Didn’t Cross Your Mind When You Joined That DAO …
Sunday night, the CBC broadcast The Gig Is Up — a video programme about the gig economy.
Being a gig worker (of sorts), I gave it my attention.
What I saw … didn’t sit comfortably.
When Uber moved into a new city …
They paid new drivers quite attractive rates.
Until they detected they had high network effect (Net FX) and dominant market share. Then the rates came down.
If you’d shelled out and taken on risk to get started (eg new car loan) …
You’d find your income dropping after the first few months. But you still had to make car payments. Your only recourse was to work harder and longer. Now you’re trapped.
You can’t quit.
Deliveroo, DoorDash and other platforms will often subsidise new customers to get Net FX and market dominance
Once they’ve got it … THEY’RE DRIVING THE CAR, not you.
In fact, YOU … are the car.
And the “indie contractors” are all RATED by the algorithm. One customer accidentally taps 1 star instead of 5 … Bingo! Your rating just got hammered, the algo stops showing you the best gigs.
Might not even be a mistake by a customer, but by the people who coded the algo.
The algo’s are constantly changing too.
Just ask any entrepreneur who’s ever based their business on Google or Facebook ads.
One algo change … Your Biz, Gonzo.
The main selling feature for these Net FX platforms is CONVENIENCE:
For customers — lunch to your door in 20 mins
And for the indies too … initially.
Quick money, you don’t have to sell yourself, or engage with your Imposter Syndrome
Sa-weet!
But before long? The indies must be glued to their phones, always looking for the next gig, working harder and harder to make the same money and cover their loan payments.
IT’S ALL ADDICTION
And the risks taken by the workers are significant.
If anything befalls you … accident, illness (gasp, Covid?) …
… the platform doesn’t back you up, you’re not an employee.
We’ve replaced Tyranny of the Boss … with Tyranny of the Algo.
The algo IS the boss — just no face to complain to.
These workers do work that computers can’t do, but the platform presents the work to customers as if it was → workers are dehumanised.
They feel terrible shame.
It’s also addictive for CUSTOMERS.
Who get used to quick convenient lunch, taxi rides, groceries, books, anything … delivered to your door.
Will we still know how to cook for ourselves in 20 years?
Will you still know how to make lunch for yourself in the morning, that you take to work with you?
Will you still know how to buy, drive and maintain a car?
Or will you only know how to tap the screen of your iPhone?
Amazon Mechanical Turk, Deliveroo, DoorDash, Uber … TONS of others.
And I’m already seeing tweets about people burning out in DAO’s …
Yes, DAO’s.
This Utopian web3 future will be dystopian for you if your mind isn’t wise to the addictive risks.
All this convenience comes at a cost.
To your independence as a Human Bean.
To your ability to think for yourself, provide for yourself (and your family), or learn new skills that will take you forward.
If you’re addicted, what’s the solution?
- Ditch the platform.
- Suffer the withdrawal symptoms — Feel the shame, loss of income.
- Dare to dream of something better … WAAAAAAYYY better.
- Feed the dream.
- Look around for other opps — they’re there, you’ve been blind to them, too busy feeding the algo.
- Look to the Universe
- Learn to Believe in Yourself, and Sell Yourself
- The withdrawal symptoms will be temporary
- Work to Learn, Not to Earn (h/t Robert Kiyosaki)
