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What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

washingtonpost.com

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Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#21

Post by pohungc »

neom wrote: post #10
alex_c wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a member of either community - can you expand on the difference you see between the two?

Some people are building toys for children, some people are building tools for humans. Both are fine, in moderation. I think we see more and more the NYC tech culture feels like they are trying to build real things, the valley is stuck in consumerism and has lost the ability to push the needle, much of this is due to poorly considered greed and linear thinking. :(

What are some of the most impactful things being built in the NYC tech scene?

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#22

Post by econner »

neom wrote: post #10
alex_c wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a member of either community - can you expand on the difference you see between the two?

Some people are building toys for children, some people are building tools for humans. Both are fine, in moderation. I think we see more and more the NYC tech culture feels like they are trying to build real things, the valley is stuck in consumerism and has lost the ability to push the needle, much of this is due to poorly considered greed and linear thinking. :(

What a sweeping generalization. Can you provide any justification that the valley has "lost the ability to push the needle?"

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#23

Post by yodsanklai »

neom wrote: post #9

Yes, you are totally correct. I love my SF friends are starting to come over to NY, leave the old white men in the valley and burn it down, vive la revolution. ;)

> leave the old white men in the valley

Should I apologize for being old and white?

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#24

Post by vpribish »

wavefunction wrote: post #12
neom wrote: post #2

This article fails to address the growing divide between east coast and west coast technologist and entrepreneurs. Many of us in New York are ashamed and embarrassed by the valley, and are looking to change it via negation.

Of course there are more than just the coasts.

please cite some examples

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#25

Post by theparanoid »

wavefunction wrote: post #11
sievebrain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it a relatively poor article actually. It's longer than the speech itself yet says less: http://time.com/4417679/republican-convention-peter-thiel-tr... From the man's own words, it seems to be a combination of: • A shared feeling that America was once great, and it can be again, but currently is in decline. No other politician except Trump says this. • Dislike of foreign wars, a feeling that only Trump says…

I would like to hear a definition of "greatness" from these people like Trump or Thiel tossing it about so casually yet naming it their main impetus.

Two examples are sending men to the moon and building the interstate system.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#26

Post by jessaustin »

Nate75Sanders wrote: post #7
sievebrain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it a relatively poor article actually. It's longer than the speech itself yet says less: http://time.com/4417679/republican-convention-peter-thiel-tr... From the man's own words, it seems to be a combination of: • A shared feeling that America was once great, and it can be again, but currently is in decline. No other politician except Trump says this. • Dislike of foreign wars, a feeling that only Trump says…

I didn't walk away with anywhere near the analysis you did, so I added an edit to my original post. You can't simply hear Thiel's speech and directly get what he wants, because saying it would cause too much backlash. He wants to use the government's massive resources to carry out projects that he's aligned with -- perhaps even that he has control over.

He wants to use the government's massive resources to carry out projects that he's aligned with -- perhaps even that he has control over.

...like every politician and lobbyist and capitalist, ever? How would that be a change of any sort? If this is how he thinks, why did he spend so much of his life dressing it up in "non-conformist" camouflage? He could have just said the same things that all "great leaders" do, and spared us the confusion.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#27

Post by rayiner »

wavefunction wrote: post #11
sievebrain wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found it a relatively poor article actually. It's longer than the speech itself yet says less: http://time.com/4417679/republican-convention-peter-thiel-tr... From the man's own words, it seems to be a combination of: • A shared feeling that America was once great, and it can be again, but currently is in decline. No other politician except Trump says this. • Dislike of foreign wars, a feeling that only Trump says…

I would like to hear a definition of "greatness" from these people like Trump or Thiel tossing it about so casually yet naming it their main impetus.

The snide answer would be America was "great back when it was okay to be racist, homophobic, and sexist." I think that characterization violates the principle of charity. People are upset about the decline of American exceptionalism. It's true that in the 60's we had all those bad things. But we were also indisputably the most prosperous and successful country on earth, with a broad and thriving middle class. People want that back.

And they aren't being offered what that from liberals. Democrats promise lots of free stuff from the government, paid for by taxing the rich more. Many people don't want that. They want the dignity of meaningful reasonably-paying work, not income redistribution. That's why they vote Republican (to the chagrin of Democrats who don't understand why they would vote against "their interests"). They believe that if we got rid of all these regulations and lowered taxes, jobs would come back and they could afford to be contributors to society instead of receiving benefits paid for by other people.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#28

Post by yummyfajitas »

stephancoral wrote: post #5
neom wrote: post #2

This article fails to address the growing divide between east coast and west coast technologist and entrepreneurs. Many of us in New York are ashamed and embarrassed by the valley, and are looking to change it via negation.

Absolutely. I'm in NYC for HOPE this weekend. Coming from Silicon Valley where 1% of the workers are black, I was so happy to see such a huge diverse crowd at the conference, all there for the shared love of exploring technology and hacker culture. SV has some incredibly smart people but, in my experience, all they care about is making money. Feels like the hacker spirit has absolutely vanished

As a NY (and India) guy who occasionally visits the west coast, seriously? NY loves tech but the valley only wants to make money?

Consider the blockchain. Out west they try and rebuild the world with it - consider the (thiel funded) urbit. Back east we just replace banking clearinghouses with bank built blockchain.

What makes you feel differently? Also curious what the ancestry of the people doing tech has to do with anything.

Re: What Silicon Valley Insiders Think of Peter Thiel’s Speech at RNC

#30

Post by B1FF_PSUVM »

thormathison wrote: post #14

As an attorney and someone in tech, I used to strongly admire Thiel. He left biglaw and took a gamble, and it paid off. But between his support for Trump and the Gawker nonsense, I no longer have any respect for the man. Anyone on record supporting trump is on the wrong side of history.

> on the wrong side of history

Nikita Sergeyevich, is that you?

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