News and Views from Political Author Steven Hill
by Steven Hill, Quartz, June 26, 2017
CEO Travis Kalanick’s departure from Uber is not a surprise to those who have been following this company for the last several years. In my book Raw Deal about what I call the “Uber Economy,” I predicted this would happen. With Kalanick gone, does Uber stand a better chance now of turning around its fortunes?…
By Steven Hill, MarketWatch, June 24, 2017
Uber risks burning through its remaining $7 billion in startup capital within about 3 years
The dirty little secret of Silicon Valley is that seven out of 10 startups fail. Uber is on track to become one of them.
While Uber has become popular as a taxi company for the digital age, and its valuation has reached $70 billion — now greater than Ford, General Motors or Tesla — the company has been losing money at a rate that some tech analysts say is faster than any technology company ever.…
by Steven Hill, Salon, June 17, 2017
CEO Travis Kalanick is out, but Uber’s problems won’t be solved with just a new hire
CEO Travis Kalanick’s departure from Uber is not a surprise to those who have been following this company for the last several years.
Since February, Uber has been rocked by one scandal after another: allegations of rampant sexual harassment at the company and of stealing trade secrets for self-driving cars from a competitor (Google/Waymo), poorly performing self-driving car experiments in San Francisco and Pittsburgh (the vehicles ran numerous red lights and were involved in fender benders, requiring constant intervention from their human drivers), and getting caught red-handed with secret software called Greyball that allowed Uber drivers to evade local authorities trying to enforce traffic laws.…
By Steven Hill, Handelsblatt, June 16, 2017
(German version “Warnung und Verheißung für die Wirtschaft” here)
Instead of chasing Google or Facebook, Germany should take the best of its innovative Mittelstand and combine it with a homegrown startup scene.
All over Germany, I hear various political and business leaders asking the same questions: “Where are the German Facebooks, Googles, Amazons and Apples?…
Interview with Steven Hill, A2larm, Czech Republic, May 30, 2017
Prague interview: “If we are not careful, technology will destroy us”
Steven Hill interviewed by Václav Drozd, A2larm, Czech Republic, May 30, 2017, on the pros and cons of “platform capitalism” and digital technologies. Link here…
Interview by Václav Drozd, A2larm, May 30, 2017
My interview with A2larm, by editor Václav Drozd, an important publication in Prague, Czech Republic, on the pros and cons of “platform capitalism” and digital technologies.
http://a2larm.cz/2017/05/pokud-nebudeme-opatrni-technologie-lidstvo-znici/…
Interview with Steven Hill, Lidové noviny, May 29, 2017
Interview by Jan Klesla, a lengthy interview in Prague’s leading newspaper, Lidové noviny, lidovky.cz, about the impact of “platform capitalism” and digital technologies on society.…
Interview by Jan Klesla, Lidové noviny, May 29, 2017
This is a shortened version of a lengthy interview that I gave to Prague’s leading newspaper, Lidové noviny, lidovky.cz, about the impact of “platform capitalism” and digital technologies on society.
Thanks to Kateřina Smejkalová and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung for inviting me.…
By Steven Hill, Berlin Journal, May 27, 2017
English excerpt from the Introduction of Die Start-up-Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert by Steven Hill, published in German in May 2017 by Droemer Knaur.
When travelers arrive at Berlin’s Tegel Airport and exit Terminal A with their roll-aways, they are immediately greeted by a monstrously large billboard in the quasi-shape of a giant football goalpost.…
Lecture by Steven Hill, Telefonica Basecamp, May 11, 2017
Digital Masterminds: Steven Hill über die Startup-Illusion, Telefonica Basecamp, Berlin…
Gruenderszene, May 11, 2017
Nicht alles, was die Startup-Welt hervorbringt, ist automatisch gut, sagt der Journalist Steven Hill. In seinem neuen Buch knöpft er sich die Szene vor. Mit seinen Aussagen darüber, dass Startups den Sozialstaat ruinieren würden, entfachte der US-Journalist diese Woche auf der Republica eine lebhafte Debatte.
(Excerpt from Die Startup Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert, published by Gruenderszene, one of the leading publications in Germany covering the startup economy) https://www.gruenderszene.de/allgemein/startup-illusion-stephen-hill-buchauszug…
By Til Knipper, Tagesspiegel, May 10, 2017
Review of Steven Hill’s book Die Startup Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert
Wired.de, May 9, 2017
An article reporting on Steven Hill’s appearance at Berlin’s re:publica 2017 conference, and discussing his new book Die Startup Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert
By Benedikt Plass-Fleßenkämper
Wie könnte Deutschland so innovativ und flexibel wie das Silicon Valley werden, dabei aber eigene Stärken beibehalten?…
Lecture by Steven Hill, re:publica-Berlin, May 9, 2017
re:publica – Festival for the Digital Society, Berlin , Steven Hill keynote speech, “Future of Work: How can Germany be a leader in the Digital Economy?”…
Deutschland Radio/Deutschlandfunk Kultur, May 9, 2017
Author Steven Hill is interviewed on Deutschland Radio/Deutschlandfunk Kultur by host Dieter Kassel about his new book Die Startup Illusion: Wie die Internet-Ökonomie unseren Sozialstaat ruiniert (link to audio and transcript; the interview is in German)
In seinem Buch “Die Start-up-Illusion” blickt der Journalist Steven Hill auf die Kehrseite der Internet-Ökonomie: So würden sie deutlich weniger Jobs schaffen als die traditionelle Wirtschaft – und oft nur prekäre.…
By Steven Hill, In These Times, April 5, 2017
Ranked choice voting offers a proven solution that empowers communities of color as well as candidates.
Ferguson. Michael Brown. Racial tensions at the University of Missouri. St. Louis being crowned as the fifth most segregated city in the United States.
If ever there were places in need of racial healing, they are the state of Missouri and the St.…
By Steven Hill, Huffington Post, April 3, 2017
Most Americans don’t realize it, but yesterday, April 2 the US quietly celebrated the centennial of an event that is as auspicious as Martin Luther King’s birthday or July 4, Independence Day. On April 2, 1917, Jeannette Rankin from Montana was sworn in as the first woman ever elected to the U.S.…
By Steven Hill, American Prospect, March 13, 2017
Everybody knows that for decades Big Tobacco profited from deception and clever marketing. The companies even conducted their own studies and concluded—surprise, surprise—that tobacco was a safe product with no link to cancer.
Now Uber has been caught in a similar ruse.…
Washington Post, March 10, 2017
(Interview by Frederick Kunkle)
Steven Hill, who wrote about Uber in his book about the sharing economy, compared Uber’s alleged deception about its autonomous vehicles to the practices of Big Tobacco. Uber is betting big on developing an autonomous fleet of driverless taxis, but it has also been accused of deceptive claims about its self-driving program before.…
by Steven Hill, Die Zeit, February 16, 2017
(English version; for the original German version, click here)
Recently I was having a pleasant conversation in Berlin with a highly-regarded professor and former university president when the conversation turned unexpectedly disagreeable. We hit an impasse as we discussed the impact of new digital technologies on society and the economy, specifically the impact on jobs and the labor force.…
By Steven Hill, American Prospect, January 30, 2017
Why Uber’s business model keeps bleeding money—and how it might yet right itself as a useful but less grandiose venture
Uber, the wildly popular ride-sharing company, now hopes to pioneer both self-driving and self-flying vehicles. But long before Uber gets to that futuristic strategy, the company’s core business model appears to be in serious trouble.…
CityLab, December 14, 2016
Unlike most experts who pontificate about the gig economy, Steven Hill is actually part of it. The 58-year-old author, formerly a fellow at the New America Foundation, hasn’t worked at a permanent position for several years. In the opening of his 2015 book Raw Deal, he describes seeing more and more of his peers toiling under similar conditions.…Interview with Steven Hill, CityLab, December 14, 2016
by Jake Blumgart
A sharp critic of the gig economy says a “portable safety net” would help today’s untethered workers.
Unlike most experts who pontificate about the gig economy, Steven Hill is actually part of it. The 58-year-old author, formerly a fellow at the New America Foundation, hasn’t worked at a permanent position for several years.…
by Steven Hill, Guardian, November 16, 2016
WikiLeaks and a network of anonymous hackers have become a major influence – but are they enhancing our democracy or undermining it?
A new and disturbing factor emerged during this presidential election, and one that may change elections forever: democracies are now at the mercy of hacking and surveillance technology – and those who control it.…
By Steven Hill, EU Observer, October 31, 2016
On Sunday the European Union and Canada finally signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or Ceta, following an 11th hour resolution between Wallonia and the European Union.
The pressure on tiny Wallonia and its politicians was immense, as it was being blamed for scuppering a trade agreement that was seven years in the making, and turning the EU into a laughing stock before its Canadian partners and the world.…