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A retired Penn professor has been blocking Uber Eats robots for months. This week, she got arrested for it (www.phillyvoice.com)
submitted 4 days ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53250107

Police confirmed they had responded to a report of "criminal mischief involving a robot" on the 1200 block of Filbert Street around 1:16 p.m. on Wednesday. A woman on the scene ignored "multiple commands" to move, they said, resulting in a criminal violation notice for disorderly conduct.

Uber declined to comment.

Marvin, who plans to contest the charge on the grounds of her First Amendment right to protest, has been undeterred by the arrest. She plans to continue blocking Uber Eats robots and chatting with curious passersby who ask what she's doing.

"It allows me to talk to people about what's going on," she said. "It's always very interesting conversations that we have, and I think it's good to have those kinds of conversations in public space."

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[–] 4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

I don't know if OP edited the comment after your comment, but I think it's pretty clear that OP means that companies should have to pay the same taxes that a human employee would pay per robot. IMO, that doesn't go far enough because it leaves out the secondary spending that sustains the local economy, like spending on groceries, other goods, and services.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago (2 children)

    Uh... and what about current machines? When do they even become a robot?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 days ago

    There's a lot of automation that has taken people's jobs. It goes back all the way to the Luddites.

    I think taxing them per robot misses the point. The real problem is that companies monopolise the means of production and privatise the profits from increased productivity. Worrkers barely benefit from their own increased productivity. That's the real problem.

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