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Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

nytimes.com

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Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#111

Post by skrebbel »

harryh wrote: post #54
Barrin92 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep kind of confused to. The silicon valley is a for-profit sector, when they write "diversity, inclusiveness, fairness" and so forth on their banners they are very much qualifying this within a business context. People need to be a little more honest and accept that those slogans are marketing messages, nobody in the valley is seriously going to turn an investment away for moral reasons

I wouldn't say "nobody." I am personally aware of people who have, for example, turned down money from Yuri Milner/DST for reasons that were at least somewhat moral in nature. So it does happen. But these people had other good options so it was really a choice of who they were going to take money from. It's when you don't have a choice or a questionably moral party offers significantly better terms that it's hard to…

Just curious, what's the moral problem with Yuri Milner? I don't know much about him except that he's Russian, which I sure hope isn't considered a moral problem in its own right.

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#112

Post by pizza »

rs999gti wrote: post #106
pizza wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Psst.. You wanna see how far the nefariousness goes? Follow the money.., follow the orb... " https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8559731/Ge...

It goes back further than that, all the way back to 1940's and the meeting between FDR and the King of Saud: https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://... > They eventually came to an agreement that centered around U.S. support and military training for Saudi Arabia, then a fledgling country surrounded by stronger nations, in return for oil and political support in the region. https://www.washington…

Bitter Lake (by Adam Curtis) is a good documentary on this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRbq63r7rys

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#113

Post by rtpg »

rorykoehler wrote: post #9
rtpg wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The money from regimes that have been criticized for their human rights records — from Saudi Arabia’s government in particular, which has plans to funnel potentially hundreds of billions of dollars into tech companies through its state-controlled Public Investment Fund Lots of sovereign wealth fund cash, also people within the monarchy with money to throw around.

>The money from regimes that have been criticized for their human rights records TBF the US well and truly falls into that category too.

classic whatabout-ism that doesn't hold up to scrutiny, and more importantly doesn't matter.

"America is also bad!" would not be a defense to selling chemical weapons to Hussein. It's not a defense to helping build the Great Firewall. Your actions' consequences are your fault.

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#114

Post by harryh »

skrebbel wrote: post #111
harryh wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say "nobody." I am personally aware of people who have, for example, turned down money from Yuri Milner/DST for reasons that were at least somewhat moral in nature. So it does happen. But these people had other good options so it was really a choice of who they were going to take money from. It's when you don't have a choice or a questionably moral party offers significantly better terms that it's hard to…

Just curious, what's the moral problem with Yuri Milner? I don't know much about him except that he's Russian, which I sure hope isn't considered a moral problem in its own right.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/yuri-milner-faceboo...

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#115

Post by skrebbel »

tek-cyb-org wrote: post #109

Israel, the racist state, also fuels the tech industry. I don't hear any complaints from the new york times?

Note, you're getting downvoted not because of your actual point, but because of the needlessly inflammatory "Israel, the racist state".

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#116

Post by rixed »

wallace_f wrote: post #96
em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes moral reasons can be the profitable decision if those morales are something that includes peoples economic decisions.

The problem is that even if you have benevolent leaders in charge of the major players in a market, all it does is create opportunity for some immoral actor to enter the market to realize the profit opportunity. I can't think of an example that a modern corporation has done something against their benefit for purely for moral reasons. This is the responsibility of effective government regulation and consumer choice.…

Google leaving China may be such an exemple, although it's always possible that there were other reasons.

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#117

Post by akoncius »

harryh wrote: post #43
zodiac wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is really asking "why does the tech industry accept Saudi money?", not "why does Saudi Arabia invest in tech companies?"

Same answer: simple avarice. There is a lot of Saudi money and they are willing to invest it. And their money is just as good for hiring programmers and renting servers as anyone else's.

why they should’t?

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#119

Post by adventured »

kakarot wrote: post #86
Barrin92 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep kind of confused to. The silicon valley is a for-profit sector, when they write "diversity, inclusiveness, fairness" and so forth on their banners they are very much qualifying this within a business context. People need to be a little more honest and accept that those slogans are marketing messages, nobody in the valley is seriously going to turn an investment away for moral reasons

I took that as people need to be a little more honest and accept that those slogans are lies and bullshit. This kind of attitude is exactly the problem. Sure, they are for profit, but since when is that the only thing that matters? I would never knowingly take blood money from a dictator, even if it meant I lived an impoverished life. If the company I worked for took such money, I would begin looking for alternate em…

> What they're asking is why do we let this happen in a country that boasts about its commitment to democracy and human rights?

The let part is very curious for its implication. What would the proposal be exactly, other than using violence and bureaucracy (every investment goes through an inherently corrupt government investment approval board) to curb free association and dictate capital flows through a command & control filter?

Want to invest in Coca Cola? No you may not, they've killed millions of people with obesity, diabetes and cancer over decades. So says some government tyrant dictating what you're allowed to invest into.

Want to start a marijuana company and take an investment from another marijuana company? No you may not, it's a schedule one drug that is evil, according to some government drug enforcement tyrant. They're not about to let you do such a thing.

You'd have to isolate yourself from half the planet economically to follow it to its proper conclusion. That includes: China, most of Africa, most of the Middle East, half of South America, several Eastern European nations, Russia, along with plausibly India and the US. And really where would we draw the line (other than arbitrarily by previously mentioned government tyrants)? Let's review the historical slave trade practices of various European nations for example, surely that counts against them in this absurdist premise. No investments are to ever be allowed from the Netherlands accordingly.

Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why

#120

Post by wsc981 »

kakarot wrote: post #86
Barrin92 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep kind of confused to. The silicon valley is a for-profit sector, when they write "diversity, inclusiveness, fairness" and so forth on their banners they are very much qualifying this within a business context. People need to be a little more honest and accept that those slogans are marketing messages, nobody in the valley is seriously going to turn an investment away for moral reasons

I took that as people need to be a little more honest and accept that those slogans are lies and bullshit. This kind of attitude is exactly the problem. Sure, they are for profit, but since when is that the only thing that matters? I would never knowingly take blood money from a dictator, even if it meant I lived an impoverished life. If the company I worked for took such money, I would begin looking for alternate em…

  I would never knowingly take blood money from a dictator, even if it meant I lived an impoverished life.
Even if you would need this money to keep your own wife and children alive?
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