(Not) My Circus, (Not) My Monkeys?

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Quandoo

11 min readJan 9, 2020

Most of us had many (or not so many) toasts to a smooth start of the year 2020, and by now we’re ~10 days into it. And, with reference to my recent Dreaming Into 2020 post, I’m pleased to say that some of my dreams might have slowly moved into the “coming true” phase ! :) There’s little fanfare, on the surface, in what I’m going to share with you. I saw a humble piece, the title of which read: Germany’s Bosch to offer lower-cost sensors for self-driving cars. Why is that so cool, you might ask? Well, it’s cool because, quote: “ I dream of safe self-driving cars produced by a firm that has enough managerial, engineering and ethical competence to get those cars tested before letting them out onto public roads”. And, Bosch is cool because they’re a reliable and a well-reputed company which wouldn’t bother the ether at all if their products and/or technology are not ready for mass consumption. As a side note, I’m a happy user of quite many Bosch’s home appliances, and I respect this company (and, no, Bosch is not paying me for endorsements). The self-driving car fatalities from the list all go with Tesla and Uber as manufacturers. When I hear “Tesla” with regard of the cars , I recall stories of collisions and mishaps. And, when I know that such an essential part of a self-driving car as a 3D sensor is produced by Bosch, I’m relieved knowing that not all is lost for this world in terms of sanity and common sense, because this crucial sensor would come from a reliable manufacturer.

And, as far as I’m concerned, the best part about the Bosch-made car sensors is not even related to tech. My mental eye immediately produced a vision of how good these sensors are going to be for the German car makers, in general. For employment. For social security. Rather fittingly, the news feed that reported on Bosch-made sensors had another optimistic headline: German employment hits record high in 2019.

Unfortunately, the news feeds for 2020 haven’t been all filled with the hope-inducing pieces so far (and, I’m not even talking politics and matters sensitive to anyone who cares about peace on Earth). Here’s the neat “tech” piece which goes all gleeful about the US VC funding expected to pour into Europe: US VCs are coming, and it’s no friendly football match. I cringed, as I read. All this guy appears to be fixed at is “high growth”, despite everything that has been said on how “high growth” has proven dysfunctional and perilous in the long term for some US and/or Silicon Valley founded start-ups, and not only for them. Probably, many regard the prospect of the US-based venture capital pumping into Europe as a positive trend. Not me. My problem is that I… can only think Big Picture-ishly. Shallow thinking is simply not compatible with the way I look at things. I’m not able to jump for joy here because my heart has been bleeding for the people and for the communities affected by the dysfunctional side effects of the so-called “high growth” or “unicorns raising more cash in rounds”, etc. etc. Not to mention the dysfunctional workplace practices of which I’ve written before(see Tides, Lambs, and Technology; The Vocal Villains and The Silent Fears; Beware Flat Hierarchy).

Think Uber. Think delivery start-ups which have strained the infrastructure in the cities which weren’t — and haven’t — been designed with “deliver everything” in mind as in here: Delivery dilemma: Americans are ordering more, but the U.S. can only handle so much, or here — another myopic view — The next silicon valley won’t be in the US. Heh, and probably this one has been tweeted by someone with a jumping toddler giphy.

To me, “Uber” represents an umbrella term for the start-ups that clog and slow traffic in the cities, and, of course, aggravate the air pollution (and, entice people into the “hustle-and-slowly-kill-yourself” way of living). The likes of Uber — and the cadavers posing as humans who run them — are fixated on “growth” with no regard to a bigger trouble that this growth inflicts. The unsubstantiated growth only comes with making some resources scarce, or with some heavy costs to … yes, to a greater good and to a collective well-being. And, isn’t it menacingly fitting that the ill-reputed ex-CEO of Uber who said “bye” not only to Uber but to Uber’s stock as well (dumped all of it), is going to found another “delivery” thing! CloudKitchens, which rents out space to restaurateurs for delivery-based businesses. Would this be “a greater good“ business”? No. This would be the WeWork plus “delivery” wrong-doing combined.

I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again: my gratitude goes to Quandoo for helping restaurants facilitate human exchanges and gatherings, where people from different walks of life can mingle and see one another. “Food delivery”, to me, has become synonymous with the locked-out silos of dwelling in one’s own “flatfish den”. In case you didn’t know, flatfish have both of their eyes on the one side of the head, much alike to some bipedals whose eyes have come to resemble those of the flatfish’s — simply due to the fact that 95% of their wake time goes into staring at a screen. Get out of your screens, eat out, at a public place, do not stay in (and Quandoo is more than happy to assist you with that, via your beloved smartphone screen :) Go see how other people live their lives, let your eyes roam free and look around! I probably sound overly hostile, and, to be clear, I’m opposed to the “delivery” thing mostly in the context of urban living. We’re separated by the polarizing AI-backed narratives enough, via the screens (see The Tricks of Us vs. Them), and to get back to knowing ourselves and to who we are, there’s no better way than to go outside, eat out, as well as do our shopping at the retail outlets, or — even better — at the farmer’s markets. And, as responsible citizens, to have not only our pizza delivery in mind, but the congested traffic which leaves lesser and lesser air for breathing.

Here’s another instance of “no-regard-for-greater-good” attitudes: Suppose, some “growth-oriented” government body at a hypothetical nation wants to scoop more fees from tariffs for used car imports. It never occurs to them that their “growth” in tariffs would incur more traffic, and more congestion, and more air pollution. Not to mention the urban parking disasters. My guess is such government officials should watch the somber videos of cities in China, of Shanghai, in particular, where people are wearing masks just to breathe and to save their lives. Usually, I stay away from bad language, but the words that I’d have for those “growth-minded” people in power *sarcastic* would be these: dumb idiots.

One more example of “a dumb-headed” growth which lead to a public woe: the head space in passenger air jets. Finally, I’ve bumped into a deep analysis of an issue which is causing soo much hassle for air travellers. To sum up, the rat race for “growth” ignores the hidden costs of the growth. The tumoric growth which makes another resource — a much more valuable one — scarce, and — with the airlines — the resource I’m talking about would be the passenger’s comfort and emotional harmony that comes from quietly knowing that you’re all settled for your flight, with no need for hassle. Unless… again, what if some planes simply have not been designed to carry the bulk of the weight in the overhead bins? Just as the cities haven’t been originally designed for “all-things-delivery”. What if this “luggage fees growth” might entail a graver discomfort, such as a plane crash? Brrr.

Many are talking about carbon footprint and lesser air travel, but that would be a story from another department. What’s gonna replace travelling by air, when you urgently need to get from point A to point B? Like, to attend a funeral of a close relative (sorry, I’m somewhat into sad examples today)? Would such urgent kind of transportation be provided by The Hyperloop, a giant tube promised by Mr. Musk of Tesla? Or, are we supposed to board a transoceanic ferry?

Behold another specimen of the long-term dumbness: drones delivery. They’re drooling over the perspective. Not only have they congested the ground traffic, now they’re onto clogging the air space. Look, I’m not a fan of the buzzing — or, no-noise, doesn’t matter — hornets from hell when I lift my eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of a blue sky. Or, even of a grey one, because in some Earth’s regions the sun and the blue sky have become something akin to a precious commodity. Speaking of tech, I’d rather see a start-up that would help the sun-deprived European regions get more sunshine. Or, provide a state-of-the-art, thoughtfully made, and utterly useful technology for urban bikes parking. Here’s a YouTube video, if you will. Works for cars as well.

Bike parking and car parking technology in Japan. Growing peonies in Alaska. Any tech and endeavor, or an enterprise that brings people together and aligns them with nature and/or their living environment in a thoughtful and caring way — that’s what’s going to be trendy, in 2020 and on. Farmer’s markets. Restaurants. Even retail brick & mortar outlets are bound to re-establish their clout. I’m simply guided by common sense, as I make these predictions, so to speak. And, then again, there’s much talk of “loneliness”. For God’s sake, if those “lonely” folks ditch their smartphones, they’ll have no other choice but to go outside and interact with other people! Will someone finally see the connection here, in the stats? Those whose best friends are their smartphones, are said to be the loneliest ones! Historically, trade and commerce have been the facilitators of contacts and diversity. These days, tech businesses facilitate exclusion, alienation, and locking up in a silo. At least, that’s how the media machine wants us to see things by feeding the info bits of how bad tech giants now are, as opposed to what they were putting into our heads in the early 2010's.

Plus, as for “delivery” and “gig” , we’re going to see more of this: the regulatory legislation to curb “the growth” at the cost of the fellow humans’ well-being.

What can we do? Everyone knows that the competition in hiring is tough these days. The so-called “tech” news media keeps chopping the wood with their one-dimensional chants about shortage of talent. There’s no shortage of talent in_tech, trust me. However, there’s a major lack of Big Picture thinking and of discernment in the matters that go beyond_tech. And, well, if we identify ourselves as “a tech talent”, we can protest by refusing to be hired by the growth VC or whichever funded machines, that have no concern or no clue of how their “growth mania” affects the environment and people’s overall well-being. And, this goes on top of the growth, should I say, non-ethos in start-ups, of which a lot has been said and tweeted by DHH as in here, for instance.

We can discern and opt for where we go and where we put our talent into. Even unionize, if you will, and Googlers have already acted this way. Of all the sources that I’ve linked to in this article, this one is a must check.

I believe that “tech talent” is capable of seeing beyond tech, despite many efforts from many “tech” media to block their view, so what I’m betting on is that more “tech talent” is going to follow in the steps of Google’s brothers-in-arms (or sisters/brothers, or whichever other gender) by showing that they have their own voice, discernment, and will. And, what is someone’s financial tool (read: VC portfolio of start-ups) is not going to come at the cost of collective well-being and trade-offs in ethics.

Basically, the options are few:

VC capital bubble implodes, and here’s a quote:

…companies that scale properly attract more capital and customers, and eventually hire more employees. Based on the Startup Genome report, none of the startups that scaled prematurely passed the 100,000 user mark. — source

And, do I need to cite those numerous sources and lessons-learned stories of how much trouble, and turmoil, and health-related issues have been caused by the “premature scaling” and “fast-growth”, in the long run?

2. Or tech unionizes (see above).

3. Or, well, we are going to be the witnesses — and maybe the participants — of both 1) and 2).

I’m not looking at things from the point of view of what investors should be worried about in terms of their capital. To me, a wise investor would be the one who uses their wallet to provide help in solving some urgent matters of the community life, e.g. invest in affordable housing, as written in Lend Them A Helping Hand, or provide a graceful infrastructure for urban parking.

Let me close today’s story with one more quote: