Some points about my personal experience with Uber in my city:
1. Drivers listening to evangelical stations very loudly, spewing hate between musics. Most get angry if you tell to lower the sound. God forbid you ask to change the station;
2. Many drivers trying to rig the system, which in turn costs me money. Uber gives me credit for most complaints, but I can only use it with Uber, so my lost money is good for them either way;
3. I've rated many drivers negatively. Whatever happened to them? Who can tell?
Also, having your health care, retirement and general well-being tied to a particular job reduces employee "freedom", which in his point of view is not efficient.
It is not a matter of whatabaoutism, it's a direct attempt to divert attention from wrongdoings, building a narrative that justifies imperialist actions by the USA.
The US has 800 military bases spread across the globe and is currently involved in many "destabilization" efforts (not to mention actual armed conflicts), all funded by billions and billions of dollars.
And the media is demonizing Russia. Talk about a PR campaign.
I agree that automation should be (and many times do) helping people perform their jobs (and daily tasks). However, those who are 'in charge' financially are actively seeking ways to replace humans in a blind race for maximizing short term results.
In a 'healthy' society, automation should be employed to make humans work less hours and with less risks. Somehow many people think this statement is absurd.
Your somewhat patronizing analogy misses the point. If our ultimate goal as a species is to survive and live well, then cutting hundreds of thousands (millions, actually, if you think about the implications of automation in other areas) is in conflict with that goal, thus 'unnatural'.
> Second, the people who lose their jobs will move on to different and hopefully better jobs.
They do move to different jobs, but most likely not better ones. An observable consequence of automation is to put pressure on the 'labor market', leaving fewer and fewer opportunities with increasing requirements for job seekers.
> I imagine it also helps the platform hide and demote content that is ideological unfavourable or competitive to the platform.
I'd say it also helps the platform hide a potential fake users problem. For instance, you can no longer see the low engagement on users' posts who paid for followers.
I was pointing to an actual case of state intelligence working with private entities to achieve shady goals. It is well documented, not a "conspiracy". You are simply refusing to read the material I have already provided and indicated (as in the Promis "incident"). Try reading the article and checking its sources before making snarky remarks.
You really should look into the Promis scandal, on how historically Intelligence agencies have used shady private entities in order to avoid public scrutiny. It's very didatic.
> does the article suggest evidence that Israel (or someone on its behalf) have done any espionage in US?
Yes it does, many times. I'd also suggest you read the series on Epstein in which MintPress unravels a deep web of crooked connections between Intelligence and wealthy individiuals. They also go through the Promis software scandal (backdoor installed by Israeli intelligence).