What's the Replacement?

Uber is one those reviled-yet-needed companies, especially in the West (Asia, on the other hand, either loves it or creates copy cats a la Ola in India and Didi in China). I was reminded of this aspect when I read Om Malik’s commentary on Uber. He starts off by accepting that Uber “has been a godsend for me”.

But then starts his criticism of Uber:
-         It has taken in so much information about its users, and it has even tracked its riders in the past;
-         Their data got hacked, and Uber didn’t even bother to disclose that until recently;
-         The estimated time of arrival of the ride is often way off the mark;
-         The cars are often dirty;
-         And Uber seems to care more about its drivers than its riders:
“The whole equation assumes that riders have nowhere to go and are merely a resource to be mined.”

Sure, some of that criticism is valid, but overall, are things really worse than the pre-Uber world? Since that is obviously not the case and it provides a service that most of need and appreciate, why do some people like to criticize the company so much?

All this reminded me of the Batman movies by Christopher Nolan. As Batman is saving and protecting Gotham City, Harvey Dent predicts how Batman would be perceived as time passed:
“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
That itch to tear down things, institutions (and heroes) is apparently wired into all of us. That being the case, one can only hope that we have replacements in mind before we tear down the existing system… Else, we’ll end up like Russia after the Russian Revolution, France after the French Revolution (they killed Louis XVI and before one could blink, Napoleon became the new emperor!), Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam… you get the idea. And yes, having the alternative worked out has been done: think of America and India after they threw out the British.

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarJanuary 12, 2018 at 2:37 PM

    The question "What is the replacement?" is politically (and socially too) relevant no doubt. Not only France was not clear how to go ahead (after actually chopping off many heads which was the easy part), it appears to me that Iran too was to some extent confused after their revolution threw out the Shah of Iran, a close ally of the US then. They were a little carried away and instead of building the nation in a better way, Muslim clergy were at the helm; and they don't have a democracy comparable to other Asian democracies who are better at it. They are not downhill, fortunately.

    While the question "What is the replacement?" is an important question, in most worthwhile democracies, two party system offers a standard alternative and that takes care of the blog's question to a large extent. By alternating between the parties, the political situation can be kept under some balance by the people who vote and who know to make the choice.

    That is the reason, some of us in India are unhappy that the probability and stability of having two party system can be in jeopardy here. When we hear rants from the BJP that their aim is to decimate the Congress, we are unable to dismiss them as the usual political bla bla and junk them. Since the Congress dug a considerable part of its own grave the rant is disturbing. The possibility looming large that BJP will over-control and damage our democratic path is daunting.

    Should we not care to address the blog's question in today's political scenario that we have in India here and now?

    Perhaps our democracy has taken fairly good rooting in the last six decades. There maybe nothing much to worry about. Many parties will exist with some at national level too. Parties will rule and parties will go too, either from time to time or at least over time. I certainly pray that should be the case.

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