Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you • Hacker News Board

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#291

Post by jedrek » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:13 PM UTC

jartelt wrote: post #126

jedrek wrote: post #49

What this piece misses the obvious financial privilege that many startups have. Uber is slaying yellow/black cabs around the world, but only by massively subsidizing its rides through investment capital. Amazon is the world's largest store, by working on margins that don't let people who actually expect a return on the investment compete. It's gotten to the point that if a company actually does things the old fashion…

Uber/lyft are also slaying yellow/black cabs because the cabs chose to just milk their monopoly for maximum profit for 30 years rather than invest in any technology or make any improvements to rider experience or comfort. It's not just the subsidies. It's the fact that calling random 800 numbers trying to get a cab is really frustrating, especially when they do not show up 20% of the time. For Amazon... are their mar…

Online retailers HATE amazon because they've gotten customers to expect free second day shipping.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#292

Post by Clubber » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:13 PM UTC

CalChris wrote: post #113

snerbles wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author danced around but missed the detached, holier-than-thou elitism that radiates from the entire Bay Area.

There's a huge difference between being elite (we are and I sure am) and elitism . In fact the author stabs at the heart of Silicon Valley elitism: Your ideas are only as good as the people in the room. And your door is shut to most people.

I don't think I've ever heard someone call themselves elite outside of a gaming session. You should probably use the numbers 1337 though.

Wouldn't calling yourself elite, seemingly unaware of what that projects to people count as elitism?

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#293

Post by Caveman_Coder » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:15 PM UTC

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #19

wtflmaohnisdumb wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you get similar salary / benefits (adjusted for rent)?

No. We're full. Stay in SV please /s There's good companies and bad companies, just like everywhere else.

Are you in PHX? I get the sentiment about us being full. Traffic on I-17/51S in the morning is hideous.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#294

Post by brandmeyer » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:16 PM UTC

thriftwy wrote: post #259

aaron-lebo wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're presenting everything as ideal case. $12k a year means $1k a month to live. You'll be buying lots of cheap carrots and potatoes and rice because that's all you'll have money for. You won't have a choice. Go break down the budget at $1k a month. You'll find that people on government welfare often already live better than that. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/... ...earning $10,000 a…

If you are raising two kids, isn't it kinda obvious that your BI payout is 3 * $12k = $36k? Anything different just doesn't make sense in my opinion. You also seem to discard the value of work (on a 10 hr workweek perhaps)

That's not at all obvious. You'll have people screaming about welfare queens, for example. Never mind the fact that some of this screaming comes from a racist place of giving money away to brown people, it does need to be addressed in order to gain broad acceptance.

One way to defend against the welfare queen argument might be to recognize that there are economies of scale in child-rearing, and pay out adult/2 for the first child, adult/4 for the second child, etc, never going above one whole adult worth of BMI income no matter how many children you have.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#295

Post by leggomylibro » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:17 PM UTC

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #274

leggomylibro wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has nothing to do with Silicon Valley; don't conflate issues. The widening wealth inequality in this country is a product of much larger forces, don't blame people simply because they've happened to have found a modern-day trade which lets them eke out a middle-class lifestyle in the current economy. It seems like you're the one shifting blame, onto people who have no power to change the situation. How about tak…

> How about taking a look at DC, Virginia, and NYC, where the real power is? Uh, SV is an area with a concentration of power, money, and influence as well. Think of the incredibly influential power a company like Google could have on a democracy. Think of how they are trying to shape popular culture to suit their needs. If you don't think it is powerful, then spend some time in rural Arkansas and see what a stark con…

So Google "could have" seriously influential impact eventually. And they "are trying to shape" narratives and policies.

I guess, but I'll keep focusing on institutions that "are having" serious impact, and that "are successfully shaping" those discourses for now. The stark differences that I see across the nation are more a product of those than any young, nascent, 21st-century forces.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#296

Post by Klockan » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:18 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #289

Klockan wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If startups are begging for more women Why would they start doing that? Eliminating sexism just means that you don't have any bias, not that you suddenly see them as the next coming.

Because they provide a valuable insight that is currently being systematically ignored, which can allow businesses to meaningful engage with and provide useful services to a currently poorly serviced market segment.

I haven't worked at a single team without at least one woman, why wouldn't people just ask them instead of going out of their way to get more? I mean, if we reduced the amount of sexism then the voices which are already in the field would suddenly be heard and we would no longer have the problem you are describing.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#297

Post by brandmeyer » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:19 PM UTC

richardknop wrote: post #255

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Middle America is not too keen on your "basic income" solution to all the problems you are creating. It brings to mind a future of living in a 300 square foot government apartment in some hideous Brutalist concrete block of a building, eating our daily Amazon rations, knowing that's just how life is going to be, forever, no need to have dreams anymore. Except that all of those things are the exact opposite of what…

What about argument that basic income will cause prices to rise since people will be able to afford X spending per month. Wouldn't this be free market's natural response? Supply of money / disposable monthly income would increase therefor prices would go up?

Depends on how it gets structured. IIUC, basic income is implemented by progressive taxation (aka redistribution).

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#298

Post by floatrock » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:19 PM UTC

aylmao wrote: post #224

bogomipz wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"People generally do love Silicon Valley and what it creates." No, your average non-techie consumer knows and cares very little about Silicon Valley. People like convenience and innovation that leads to convenience in their lives. There is no transitive property where if I "love" ride-sharing I "love" Uber's leadership, business tactics and company culture. >"Ask people to go to a world without iPhones, Facebook, Go…

This. So much this. Companies love to think that people "love them" but truth is people like to use their products. I'd say people often dislike the company, but will buy the product anyway because that's what they care about. Everyone has heard about Apple's douchey tax business, Google and Facebook's extreme data-collection, Amazon's aggressive business practices, etc. I'm not in "love" with any of these brands by…

> we keep using them because we need their products to some degree

In the same way we need nicotine or doritos: because they've been engineered to make us need them. I think people are starting to recognize it.

That 'our minds can be hijaked' article from yesterday -- headline is pretty click-baitey, the reading raises some legitimate points -- that article is a good companion to this thread's. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15421704

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#299

Post by aylmao » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:19 PM UTC

bllguo wrote: post #275

aylmao wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It lets the person whose labor is only worth $3/hour take a $3/hour job and still not starve to death. You'd still know that your labor is worth only $3/hour, and if you're not starving to death it's because you're on this safety net. How is this feeling "you're serving a purpose" and that "there's value in what you do" as per my parent comment? Again, a job is about much more than the money, and "not starving to d…

Sure, ideally everyone gets well-paid, fulfilling jobs... So, when do we start talking about practical solutions?

A reasonable minimum wage

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#300

Post by southphillyman » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 5:19 PM UTC

Klockan wrote: post #228

jeffdavis wrote: post #115

Sincere question: what is problematic about the word "bodega"?

Cultural appropriation of Mexican small shops. Note that I don't really see the issue, the name describes their business well.

Bodegas traditionally are run by Puerto Ricans and Dominicians in the NE (Not Mexicans). Taken into a NY-centric context it's easier to understand the backlash in a rapidly gentrifying and appropriating atmosphere.