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Comment by oytis | Hacker News Reader

People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people. Which makes me pessimistic about the future of humanity given recent developments in AI really

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I question that as a general statement if the "other people" are competent, clean, and polite. That's not to say I won't do something online if it's lower friction than going into a DMV office or whatever. Though I don't really do online food delivery in general, I'm perfectly happy going to a number of local restaurants.

Other people are different, that's the thing, while AI is generally predictable quality, and it's not going to go down. Autonomous driving is just one example, I really think it's a general pattern

> AI is generally predictable quality, and it's not going to go down.

"Not going to go down" does not seem consistent with the way other tech trends have developed: magical at first, then subject to endless churn to seem dynamic and reduced quality, increased costs, or both as it becomes harder to squeeze out additional revenue.

If I could be 100% certain that every Uber/Lyft driver I encounter would give me a perfect "social" experience (where "perfect" varies for me depending on the day), I'd choose it over Waymo at the same price. But of course that's unreasonable and impossible to expect. So for a comparable price and wait/drive time I'll pretty much always pick Waymo.

It does make me sad to some extent; I do enjoy interacting with people working service jobs in my neighborhood, people I see on a regular basis and who recognize me. But I don't think that's ever going to be the case for me for something like a taxi/rideshare driver.

When I take a booked private car back and forth to the airport (about an hour) I don't really have an issue. Sometimes the driver is chattier. Sometimes I'm chattier. Probably (likely) more expensive than an Uber would be but 100% reliable even at zero-dark-thirty times. Never had a real issue of any sort.

Uber Black provides a similar experience, or at least it used to (haven't used it in many years). I think it's a matter of having professional drivers, where there's an expectation that their customer/client isn't there to socialize, and their job is to drive, and that's it. It's more of a "high class" thing, for lack of a better term.

(IIRC when Uber first started, before UberX, their driver pool was essentially just this sort: people who drove for private car services.)

Shared van services got ridiculous sometimes and then I had a couple of incidents related to driving/parking at the airport (like a 10pm cold weather flat). So I just started using a car service at a new job (I think) and the company never flinched. Now--especially as I'm usually taking longer but fewer air trips even if it's usually on my own nickel these days--just keep doing so.

Well it's not just the talking or otherwise awkward interactions. It's also smells and generally being in a person's personal space. Let's face it, sitting in a car, you physically get closer to the driver than you'd normally be comfortable with in an open, unrestricted space. And the car is closed too. You are essentially forced to be in their personal space. Not so with a driverless car.

Waymos are more pleasant to be in and people value comfort. I've had many Uber drivers who love to speed, which can be terrifying in SF. The bus can be a real crapshoot with who's on it. The bus also can take forever depending on where you start and where you need to go. The service that waymo provides is just on average better.

I've had many violent and borderline reckless drivers in my time in Poland. In the end, taking the tram was much safer and less stressful.

Threads like these remind me that Hacker News posters and my friends are two completely different types of people.

We don’t mind rideshare at all.

> People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people

I wonder if it's cultural. For instance I always hear how Japan has a lot of vending machines and am wondering if it's just pure tech advancement and efficiency at work, maybe lack of space to open a proper kiosk with a seller, or there is a cultural element of not wanting to "inconvenience" others having to interact with them.

Japan does have a lot of vending machines. Maybe less vandalism in Japanese cities?

But they also have a lot of staffed convenience stores (typically 7-Eleven) that are generally better than the random chain convenience store in the US (often in a gas station).

Don't know the history.

One is low crime rate, vending machines even in major cities do not get vandalised or broken into. The other is Japan's massive focus on convenience.

I don't think lack of space is the issue. Combinis are everywhere but you'll still see vending machines in most parking lots and laundromats.

Tech advancement is also relevant. I believe Japan invented vending machines that serve hot and cold drinks simultaneously and they adjust with the seasons. They invented improved ways of loading the cans and spend a lot of effot on the design and art, there are even vending machine exclusive drinks etc.

Given how Japan works in general I bet it's the latter. It's a great country to travel and eat alone, for example.

For Japan I expect it's also a matter of population/crowd density in the cities. There are tons of staffed convenience stores (7-Eleven, Family Mart, Lawson), but even with a high density of stores, they're often fairly crowded.

Having lots of vending machines even for simple things like bottled water and soft drinks reduces the pressure on the convenience stores quite a bit. More advanced vending machines with other products helps even more.

It could be that a particular segment of the population prefers the privacy and is willing to pay accordingly, while other segments of the population don't mind the social interaction, or at least are not willing to pay for its absence.

Kind of how like some people greatly prefer WFH, whereas other people like the social interaction of being in a shared working environment.

From my perspective, having the choice of whether to ride with a driver or not is a good thing.

people love other people; but transactions bring out the worst in people

this is true, but people are also eager to pay nothing, so I'm not sure how much "generalizations about products" are worth

People who like Waymo (and those who hang out on HN) are probably to a good degree neuro diverse, so I wouldn't write off humanity just yet. My experience with the majority of people is that they do like interacting with humans. I guess that's why we still have stores, restaurants and gasp offices when, technically speaking, there hasn't been too much of a need for any of these things for about two decades now.

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