The author reflects on the experience of moving back to the suburbs of Wisconsin after living in Taipei, highlighting the contrast between urban convenience and suburban life. They note how the pandemic shifted their perspective on living downtown, leading them to embrace the suburbs, where they feel more at ease. The author recalls the idyllic freedom of their youth in small-town Wisconsin, juxtaposed with the modern challenges facing younger generations who often find suburban life isolating. The piece transitions into a critical examination of Uber, emphasizing the company’s contentious history and its path to profitability. The author references a debate from the 2010s about Uber's viability, touching on Hubert Horan's skepticism regarding Uber’s financial sustainability and the reliance on massive investor subsidies. As of 2025, Uber has reported $4.5 billion in operating profit, which challenges past criticisms. The author argues that understanding scale is key to recognizing how Uber transformed into a profitable entity, despite earlier doubts from experts like Aswath Damodaran about the company's true market value. The author dives deeper into the financial evaluations of Uber, specifically critiquing Damodaran's assumptions regarding the total addressable market (TAM) and Uber's potential market share. Damodaran estimated the taxi and car-service market at $100 billion and assumed a maximum market share of 10% for Uber. The author points out flaws in these assumptions, noting that Uber's gross bookings were significantly higher than projected, totaling $93 billion in rides and $86 billion in deliveries over the past year. This discrepancy highlights the miscalculations in prior analyses and underscores how quickly market dynamics can shift.