stuck in a taxi

Originally published in The Paper

I just returned to Shanghai from the United States a few days ago, and I got together with my friends to watch "In the Octagonal Cage". I bought a ticket on Dianping and took a taxi, which is much more convenient than in the United States. The car arrived soon, and the driver didn't drive in a hurry after getting in the car, but looked at me suspiciously: who are you?

I was stunned for a moment, then came back to my senses, and handed the phone to the driver: "I'm the one calling the car. Isn't your car ending in 847, Mr. Song, going to Hongmei Plaza?"

The driver said he was right. But when he called the customer who placed the order just now, the other party said he made a mistake, what's going on?

It dawned on me. Because I haven't returned to China for more than four years, the previous phone has long been abandoned and probably has a new owner. My Dianping was registered many years ago, so it caused a bug.

After explaining to the driver, I didn't think it was a big problem, so I urged him to drive. After all, the movie is about to start. But the driver let me look at his mobile phone with a helpless face. It turned out that the system allowed him to start the car only after entering the last 4 digits of my old mobile phone number. Otherwise, it would be regarded as an illegal operation to leave the waiting area without authorization. The driver looked at me innocently: "Do you still remember the last four digits of your mobile phone?"

This stumps me. In the past ten years, I basically drifted abroad and only came back during vacations. I have forgotten how many phone numbers I changed during the period, and I even told some friends not to save my number. While my mind was blank, I contacted two old friends, and they did not back up my mobile phone number.

At this time, a friend who was traveling with me said, how about the driver, please use the software to call back the number corresponding to this account, and ask him what are the last 4 digits? The driver said that he probably wasn't happy about it, thinking it was a scam.

As soon as the movie started, I had a flash of inspiration: Since the original intention of the ride-hailing platform is to share the economy and make use of spare private cars for the convenience of passengers, and I have already got in this car, I should pay cash directly to the driver and let him Can it be opened? Ignoring the platform, my current situation is no different from hitchhiking on the road. What is there to worry about?

When I told the driver this way, he was also enlightened. That's right, can a living person suffocate to death with urine? Since the system is not humane, let's bypass the system and return to the most primitive cash transaction. However, the system is not that stupid. As mentioned earlier, if the driver does not enter the last four digits of the mobile phone, he cannot leave without authorization. So, the driver tried to shut down and go offline, but then realized that I had to cancel the order before shutting down, otherwise it would be a breach of contract. And we have to act quickly to ensure that after the cancellation, the driver will go offline immediately to prevent other orders from coming in. After the plan was made, the driver also said, including the platform fee of 16 yuan, I would give him 15 yuan in cash.

I said it's no problem, I happily searched the previous page and canceled the order. My happiness lies not only in being able to catch up with this movie, but also in the fact that the driver and I bypassed the cumbersome controls of the system in the simplest way, demonstrating the small and stubborn initiative of the individual. This thrill of free will reached its climax the moment I clicked "cancel order".

"The cancellation was successful!" I told the driver excitedly, as excited as reporting a successful rocket launch.

"That's great...huh?!" The driver looked helpless. It turned out that the moment I canceled it successfully, the system instantly arranged another order for him.

I tried to struggle: Can we not accept this order?

The driver was helpless: No, it’s a breach of contract if you don’t pick up.

So, 5 minutes after the movie started, I stood on the side of the road and took a taxi again. The driver's initial confusion, anxiety, excitement when he conspired loudly, and finally his helpless apology kept replaying in his mind. I feel that the next two hours of the movie can hardly compare to the shock brought to me by the 5 minutes in the taxi.

The driver and I, it turned out there was simply no way to get out of the system. Our little cleverness is easily handled by a line of code.

I thought of an internet skit called "There's No Winner in This Deal." It is about an online car-hailing driver who finds an online car repairer. Because the repairman’s skills are not good, the driver threatens with bad reviews, verbally abuses, and even slaps the car repairer. When the car is repaired, The driver took an order, and it happened to be the car mechanic again, who did the same thing, threatening the driver not to detour with bad reviews. Later, the car broke down while driving, and the car repairer was about to slap the driver, cursing, but the driver realized that it was the car repairer who didn't fix the car, so the two workers slapped each other in the car.

There is no winner in this deal: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV12r4y1t7hv/?spm_id_from=333.788.top_right_bar_window_default_collection.content.click

Of course, my experience was not as dramatic as that skit, and the driver and I chose to cooperate (confrontation system), rather than the two in the skit being disciplined by the system to kill each other. But one thing is similar. As a transcendent existence, the system seems to be imperceptible, yet ubiquitous. Ten years ago, it was hard for me to imagine why one day my friend and I got into the car of a driver, and we were obviously in love with the driver, but in the end we were driven out reluctantly. There were only three living people in the car, who drove me out?

Foucault said that power is not a kind of possession, but permeates everywhere in all relational networks. In this intelligent society, platforms or systems visualize this invisible power relationship to some extent. Neither the customer nor the driver has the right to make decisions about driving. We are more like two shadow puppets. At first glance, we have the freedom to act on our own, but in fact, our every move is within the scope of the system's manipulation.

Hearing what I said, my friend said, "Look, at that time, it would be better to let the driver call through the system and ask the person who is using your mobile phone what is his last number. We explained the ins and outs a little bit, and he still It might help."

I thought about it, and yes, looking back, it seemed like the only way. I didn't use it at the time, because I was worried that others might not help, and I was confused by the excitement that I thought I could bypass the system, so I didn't think so much.

But in other words, the reason why my friend’s strategy is feasible is that within the scope framed by the system, I tried my best to compromise and act cheaply; while the driver brother and I were clearly plotting wrongdoing, trying to challenge the system in vain, so that we failed miserably.

Arrived at the cinema about ten minutes late. We found out that the tourists who were late with us were not in a hurry, so we took the time to take selfies with the movie tickets. I was inexplicably sad: In an era when the subjectivity is being rubbed on the ground by the system, is our only initiative left to take out our mobile phones to take pictures of food, books and movie tickets?

At this time, my friend reminded me, hey, it’s only 11 yuan when we take a taxi from behind. Why did the driver just ask you for 15 yuan?

Good guy, that old driver ignored his friendship and tried to trick me in the end.

But this long-lost sense of deceit still makes me inexplicably feel a little bit of human tenderness.