Chickenized reverse-centaurs

[RandomGuy]

The chickens come in a bit later in the article.

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Reverse-centaurism isn't the only human-life-destroying area where Amazon leads. It's also a leader in "chickenization," a labor economics term that comes from the US poultry industry, where workers are misclassified as independent contractors.

The poultry packers have divided the country into noncompeting territories, so "independent" farmers only have one vendor who'll take their birds. The farmers have to buy their chicks from that monopolist, who also specs their feed, medicine and housing.

The farmers are told everything – except what they'll be paid. When the farmers bring their birds to market, the monopolist exploits its information asymmetry advantage to offer just enough for the farmer to start over again, but not enough to get ahead or out of debt.

Chickenization is like avian flu: prone to jumping its niche and spreading virulently to every corner of the world. Chickenization is now rampant across all labor markets, from call-centers:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/c...y-arise/#arise

to medical care:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/18/a...on/#telehealth

Amazon loves chickenization, too. Its Flex delivery program uses employees misclassified as independent contractors, paying sub-minimum wage. The company subjects these drivers to constant overt and covert surveillance.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/02/f...ickenized-flex

But as bad as Flex is, it's not the end-state of Amazon's innovative workplace terrors. For that, you need to look at Delivery Service Partners (DSP), a workforce of chickenized reverse-centaurs. This is some peak innovation right here.

Writing for Wired, Caitlin Harrington describes the suffocating horror of chickenized reverse-centaurs.

Amazon claims that DSP drivers don't work for them. Instead, they work for "entrepreneurs" who buy Amazon delivery vans and pay drivers to operate them.


AI researchers talk about "centaurs" – machine-human collaborative teams that outperform either computers or people. The greatest chess players in the world are collaborations between chess-masters and chess software.

But not all centaurs are created equal. A "reverse centaur" is what happens when a human is made to assist a machine, rather than the other way around. Amazon may not have invented the reverse centaur, but they perfected it.

... read the rest at hte URL below.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/19/t...wn/#weird-flex

[DMC]

moar really important news

[Ef-man]

The chickens come in a bit later in the article.

---------------------------------

Reverse-centaurism isn't the only human-life-destroying area where Amazon leads. It's also a leader in "chickenization," a labor economics term that comes from the US poultry industry, where workers are misclassified as independent contractors.

The poultry packers have divided the country into noncompeting territories, so "independent" farmers only have one vendor who'll take their birds. The farmers have to buy their chicks from that monopolist, who also specs their feed, medicine and housing.

The farmers are told everything – except what they'll be paid. When the farmers bring their birds to market, the monopolist exploits its information asymmetry advantage to offer just enough for the farmer to start over again, but not enough to get ahead or out of debt.

Chickenization is like avian flu: prone to jumping its niche and spreading virulently to every corner of the world. Chickenization is now rampant across all labor markets, from call-centers:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/c...y-arise/#arise

to medical care:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/18/a...on/#telehealth

Amazon loves chickenization, too. Its Flex delivery program uses employees misclassified as independent contractors, paying sub-minimum wage. The company subjects these drivers to constant overt and covert surveillance.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/02/f...ickenized-flex

But as bad as Flex is, it's not the end-state of Amazon's innovative workplace terrors. For that, you need to look at Delivery Service Partners (DSP), a workforce of chickenized reverse-centaurs. This is some peak innovation right here.

Writing for Wired, Caitlin Harrington describes the suffocating horror of chickenized reverse-centaurs.

Amazon claims that DSP drivers don't work for them. Instead, they work for "entrepreneurs" who buy Amazon delivery vans and pay drivers to operate them.


AI researchers talk about "centaurs" – machine-human collaborative teams that outperform either computers or people. The greatest chess players in the world are collaborations between chess-masters and chess software.

But not all centaurs are created equal. A "reverse centaur" is what happens when a human is made to assist a machine, rather than the other way around. Amazon may not have invented the reverse centaur, but they perfected it.

... read the rest at hte URL below.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/03/19/t...wn/#weird-flex

That you Reck?

Asking for a Poster B that was highly disappointed that the article had nothing to do with fat handed sex with chickens.