Doctorow, per usual, writes with the certainty of an out of shape sportswriter playing Monday morning quarterback. He just doesn't know what he's talking about.

For example, he says "Uber...allows them to illegally discriminate against people with disabilities" Does he really not know the long history of cab drivers not stopping for black passengers? This has been frontpage news on multiple occasions, most famously with Danny Glover. Multiple friends have told me how much Uber/Lyft have improved this situation.

Meanwhile, Doctorow's meta platform idea literally steals revenue from people who have added tremendous value not only at time of transaction but after via the reputational system and other customer service functions. Nevermind that it would be trivial for Uber to squash this via cancellation fees and driver derankings.

If you want to form a co-op app, go for it. But find a better thought leader than Doctorow.