Hacker News Reader

Comment by gerbilly | Hacker News Reader

> Yea - And those darn kids play music too loud too!

I sure hope so.

> I visit NYC once a year. Plenty of people (esp immigrants from other cultures) don’t have “street smarts” that match what some urbanite 30 years ago would have.

Ironically, the immigrants probably have more street smarts.

> The driver claimed he didn’t know where my hotel was, or even the neighborhood (“Chelsea”).

And you rode with him anyway? Why would you do that?

Reliance on Apps to intermediate everything is bullshit in my opinion. Plus I personally specifically don't want to share my location with some app written by people I've never met who are 100% likely to either misuse it themselves or to sell it to someone who will.

When they want to take your freedom away, they won't come jackbooting in with rifles, they will do it by offering you convenience.

View on HN

I can navigate around my city effortlessly, but I’m not someone-else’s-street smart. Don’t expect me to know the rules in Tokyo, NYC or Rio. I don’t expect a Japanese person to know the NYC, Rio, or SF rules and I don’t expect a Brazilian to know them either.

I rode with him anyways because all this people on hacker news told me using an app instead of a Taxi would mean I would lose my freedom. I have him an address… which he put in an app that surely is the exception and doesn’t misuse it. Realistically, this taxi driver just didn’t want to drive to Manhattan during rush hour, and knew damn well where Chelsea is. We all knew this was the reality. But at the airport there’s a queue for taxis and he was next in line and had to take me.

I actually took a taxi instead of Uber because in NY they use regulatory capture to ensure they have better airport placement than Uber and I chose that “convenience”. I think Uber is way more freeing than a taxi because I can go to almost any metro in the US and get a ride without having to learn the local system. It’s a tap away. It’s way more freeing and has emboldened me to explore more than I might otherwise. That is freedom.

> Reliance on Apps to intermediate everything is bullshit in my opinion. Plus I personally specifically don't want to share my location with some app written by people I've never met who are 100% likely to either misuse it themselves or to sell it to someone who will.

Have you tried taking a taxi in a country where you didn’t know the language?

> Have you tried taking a taxi in a country where you didn’t know the language?

Yes, lots of times.

It helps to know the rudiments of the language, but mostly we communicated in a kind of pidgin.

Travel books used to have lists of phrases at the very back for this kind of thing. People figured it out.

How many different countries and phrase books only takes you so far. I know barely enough Spanish to almost get by. But I wouldn’t have wanted to depend on it when I was in Los Cabos for three weeks staying in a hotel and I definitely wouldn’t have been as comfortable going around Mexico hailing a cab and giving directions as I was with Uber - and also needing cash.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com