On: Disruption for Thee, But Not for Me

[chrisseaton]

It sounds like you want to enjoy talking to people, experiencing a culture of negotiation, taking part in local services, handle local money.

I just want to get from A to B with as little hassle as possible so I can concentrate on things I think actually matter.

[gerbilly → chrisseaton]

I do a bit of both, as I'm sure you do.

I'm just advocating for the full contact approach to living which I think is being subtly eroded by disney, cruises, resorts, cashless restaurants and uber and so on.

I don't know if you read travel writing, but imagine trying to read a good travel writer like Paul Theroux, except by first transposing everything into the mediated realm.

Instead of taking a cab and then staying at a small local hotel and eating at a market stall what if the writer took an uber then stayed in a resort and ate at the buffet?

[chrisseaton → gerbilly]

I understand your point of view, but an argument about a taxi fare, and paying a restaurant bill with cash instead of a card just don't seem like high quality life experiences worth cherishing to me.

[gerbilly → chrisseaton]

Yeah, but I think removing the possibility of those experiences introduces too much intermediation into daily life for everyone else.

I cherish those possibilities, like I cherish freedom.

I may not exercise my full freedom every day, but I do cherish it.

[icebraining → gerbilly]

Cash itself is intermediation.

[mprev → gerbilly]

But most people aren't travel writers. I travel on business. I want to get safely from one place to another, with as little drama as possible.

Fine, Uber isn't for you but other people's preference for that style of transaction has nothing to do with infantilisation.