The NY Times has a beef against the tech industry. It's time to ask why.
Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
181–190 of 289 posts
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And their money is just as good for hiring programmers and renting servers as anyone else's. maybe you didn't mean it this way, but i was struck by the nonchalance of this statement, as if being able to spend money justifies taking the investment. and i presume that's exactly why the article was written, to question that kind of stance. now i love tech, and will defend our ability to progress and advance and make n…
> but none of us gets a free pass from morality, not even in business What? That's news to me. What about the entire defence industry? What about all the politicians that take a cushy job in the companies they helped during their time in office and who can be directly held accountable by the electorate? And why should anyone question the Saudis when they just signed a multi billion dollar weapon deal with the US gove…
Name checks out :)
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> And their money is just as good for hiring programmers and renting servers as anyone else's. maybe you didn't mean it this way, but i was struck by the nonchalance of this statement, as if being able to spend money justifies taking the investment. and i presume that's exactly why the article was written, to question that kind of stance. now i love tech, and will defend our ability to progress and advance and make n…
> but none of us gets a free pass from morality, not even in business.
What? It's certainly not the business role to make any moral decisions - while we don't yet have true simple responsibility principle in our society, we're thankfully have some separation of responsibility. If you think that a certain country is immoral and we shouldn't do business with it, lobby for sanctions - this way all businesses will have to abide, without (1) doing things that are completely out of their responsibilities (passing judgement) and (2) failing at their main mission - ROI - by voluntarily giving up competitive advantage.
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#184[deleted]
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#185The tech industry has, historically and in aggregate, had pretty solid rates of returns. If I was sitting on a dwindling store of natural resources as my primary store of wealth, I would probably want to try to diversify that wealth into other areas and grow that wealth aggressively while my potentially limited income source is still highly profitable. I'm not sure that more nefarious aims need to be posited than sim…
Makes perfect sense to me too.
Islam forbids them from charging compound interest, but allows them to seek riches in the shared profits of successful ventures.
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#186Earlier 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
Surely there's some people they'd turn down money from. I doubt anyone in the valley is gonna accept a check publicly from harvey weinstein right now. You're right that it's a business decision more than moral, but given enough pressure, the business decision will tilt the other way.
Anyone? Please. Show me a startup still a ways to go from Ramen profitable and I’ll show you a startup which would accept H. Weinstein money.
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
> Even if you would need this money to keep your own wife and children alive? If I'd live under circumstances where I indeed had no other choice, maybe. Luckily, I live in Western society, so the answer to your question is "can't happen here".
Do you think that livong in the West is sufficient reason? Plenty of people live in hideous poverty and destitution and some even die because thdy don't have enough money in "the West"; to say that it cannot happen is a shocking display of ignorance.
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
> Even if you would need this money to keep your own wife and children alive? If I'd live under circumstances where I indeed had no other choice, maybe. Luckily, I live in Western society, so the answer to your question is "can't happen here".
so the answer to your question is "can't happen here"
... right now. But it could not that long ago, and when the wind changes, maybe it could again. Why does the West take oil/blood money? Because we are - no pun intended - a society built on sand.
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
So, not respecting human rights is a cultural difference we should accept? And if I want free markets, and I notice that free markets lead to people being murdered, then I should be proud when people do get murdered? Otherwise I would necessarily have to reject free markets? Or what exactly is your point?
No what is your point. (a) Why does paying $300mio to Twitter results in people getting killed? (b) Why do you think your government/companies/people would do better? (c) What you should be proud of if you like free markets is that everybody with money and interest in a company can put their money in that company. In a non-free market like China you are way more limited with foreign investments. (d) "Free" means ever…
> (a) Why does paying $300mio to Twitter results in people getting killed?
Who claimed it did?
> (b) Why do you think your government/companies/people would do better?
What makes you think I think that?
> (c) What you should be proud of if you like free markets is that everybody with money and interest in a company can put their money in that company. In a non-free market like China you are way more limited with foreign investments.
Why should I like free markets as a primary value?
> (d) "Free" means everybody can do what they want. If you want to limit what people are doing you are not talking free markets. That's in fact a reasonable argument from the Socialist spectrum. Don't allow people to run around freely, harming themselves and each other. One really has to decide what one likes in that spectrum. Each direction has their own pros and cons.
If you want to limit my ability to erect a government that limits what you can do, then we are not talking freedom. Agree?
Re: Saudi Money Fuels the Tech Industry. It’s Time to Ask Why
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
A very good explanation of why capitalism is an imoral system. Anyone who can't understand this simple fact is just losing their times. The shadier your scheme for making money, the further away you get (as long as you don't go to jail) because that's the whole nature of the beast.
amoral, not immoral
but even then I disagree, just look at the life expectancy of the billions of people under capitalism.
Milton Friedman - Is Capitalism Humane?