An escalator can never break—it can only become stairs. You should never see an “Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order” sign, just “Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience. We apologize for the fact that you can still get up there.”
Mitch Hedberg, on designing systems to fail gracefully
‘I got an idea for sweatshops—air conditioning’ Mitch Hedberg
Development Economists are say we shouldn’t close sweatshops as they are the workers best options. I don’t see why altruists can’t pay for air conditioners to be installed in sweat shops.
I don’t see why altruists can’t pay for air conditioners to be installed in sweat shops.
Air conditioning has some cost associated with it; would the workers rather have the cost, or the cool air? It might be better to just give them the money, in which case it now competes with all other cash transfers for effectiveness.
This subsidizes the owners of sweatshops, which may have undesirable downstream effects, or set odd expectations.
Mitch Hedberg, on designing systems to fail gracefully
I have seen escalators sufficiently out-of-order that they were completely non-traversable.
My regular commute has been impeded by such a set of escalators (currently dismantled for repairs from fire damage) for weeks.
How?
One or more steps completely missing. Or, more commonly, the escalator blocked off because some repairmen are working on it.
‘I got an idea for sweatshops—air conditioning’ Mitch Hedberg
Development Economists are say we shouldn’t close sweatshops as they are the workers best options. I don’t see why altruists can’t pay for air conditioners to be installed in sweat shops.
Air conditioning has some cost associated with it; would the workers rather have the cost, or the cool air? It might be better to just give them the money, in which case it now competes with all other cash transfers for effectiveness.
This subsidizes the owners of sweatshops, which may have undesirable downstream effects, or set odd expectations.