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Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

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Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#161

Post by nvahalik »

guacamoleSoda wrote: post #23

This sounds like something out of Eyes Wide Shut, but with social awkwardness, baggy dad jeans, and crocs and socks. I can't imagine this is emotionally healthy for most of the folks involved. The once socially-exiled men trading wealth and drugs and (implicit) promises of career advancement for sex. The women who hope to leverage their looks for access to a better life, but risk ruining their reputations due to soci…

> Orgies are fine. I've never been to one and have no desire to go to one. The real issue here is the power-asymmetry between the men and women involved.

If orgies are fine then why aren’t they part of mainstream culture? They aren’t part of the mainstream culture because orgies themselves are opposed to the things that are part of a working society: sacrifice, honor, wisdom, and self control.

Thank God that our society isn’t like this or we’d all be dead.

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#162

Post by philwelch »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #121
lhnz wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be non-consensual if you didn't give affirmative consent. However, reading this, it seems that affirmative consent was given at all times, first to taking drugs and then to making out (or having sex) so this article is basically just a hoo-hah over consenting adults engaging in drug-enabled group sex.

Rich men vastly outnumbered by 20 something women? The men are finally in positions of power and the women think that being in the ‘inner circle’ might open doors for them? In might be consensual in the sense that everyone said yes, but there’s a known balance of power. Sounds like coercion and naivety.

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac” —Henry Kissinger

How do you know these women don’t genuinely want casual sex with rich, powerful men?

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#164

Post by philwelch »

rayiner wrote: post #99
blueyes wrote: post #47

This is a nothing burger of an article. It's about consensual drug use and sex among adults. It happens to involve rich and powerful people who (gasp) can throw these kinds of parties. In any unequal society, there will be people who are willing to trade sex for financial security or access to power, with others who are seeking sex. It would be deeply naive to think otherwise. The outrage here strikes me as hollow.

The fact that it's consensual doesn't mean it's not coerceive. > “What’s not O.K. about this scene is that it is so money- and power-dominated. It’s a problem because it’s an abuse of power. I would never do it again.” Can we imagine a society in which men with money and power in an industry don't use it to try and sleep with young women? Maybe that's desirable and maybe it's not. But society defines a wide range of…

> Can we imagine a society in which men with money and power ... don't use it to try and sleep with young women?

I can imagine it, yeah. But it’s one of the less plausible utopias.

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#165

Post by stcredzero »

empath75 wrote: post #151
ImSkeptical wrote: post #34

This article makes me wonder, what, exactly, is wrong and what is supposed to be done about this. I get that it seems exploitative and probably does have consequences for social attitudes at work, but what I don't understand is what's to be done about this? Surely there's nothing (drug use aside) that's legally actionable about this. The encounters seemed consensual in the sense that the women weren't threatened or f…

As someone who did a lot of ecstasy in the late 90s, I’m skeptical about how much actual sex is happening at these ecstasy fueled parties. Back when I was going to ecstasy-fueled weekend-long after parties at peoples houses, there was a lot more talking, hugging and dancing happening than sex. I think people who haven’t tried ecstasy have a really skewed idea about how people behave on it. Mostly you just want to lis…

Back when I was going to ecstasy-fueled weekend-long after parties at peoples houses, there was a lot more talking, hugging and dancing happening than sex.

I only ever attended one party with MDMA. After I took a 1/2 tab, I emerged from the kitchen thinking to myself, "I'm going to try and give a massage to every woman in this living room!" I never made it past the cute med student who took the other 1/2 of the tab, and we both left the party with the illusion that we had just found our soul mates, then proceeded to have a 2 week relationship that suddenly evaporated.

I think that was 1999. It's confusing to talk about these things, because "ecstasy" or "E" means something very different today than what it referred to back then.

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#166

Post by stcredzero »

strong_silent_t wrote: post #103
blueyes wrote: post #47

This is a nothing burger of an article. It's about consensual drug use and sex among adults. It happens to involve rich and powerful people who (gasp) can throw these kinds of parties. In any unequal society, there will be people who are willing to trade sex for financial security or access to power, with others who are seeking sex. It would be deeply naive to think otherwise. The outrage here strikes me as hollow.

As a tech-bro type person I'm not enjoying our daily two minutes of hate from ivy league and oxbridge types against our various failures of moral purity. But there is a lot of value in this type of piece for i.e. a 22-year old female fresh grad entering this environment to cast aside euphemisms and frippery and explain in real basic detail exactly who is getting fucked by whom, and what the terms are and are not.

As a tech-bro type person I'm not enjoying our daily two minutes of hate from ivy league and oxbridge types against our various failures of moral purity.

As an Ivy-leaguer, let me say this: There was plenty of questionable stuff that went on when I was an undergrad!

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#167

Post by SkyMarshal »

jpzisme wrote: post #48

What's up with all these sensational articles about Silicon Valley? Maybe the lifestyle is different as a VC, but as an engineer, this seems so disjointed from reality that it's almost farcical. I can barely get some of my coworkers to stop talking about code for more than a breath. There's no way that they're engaging in any of these activities. Can anyone vouch for this behavior being prevalent? To me it just seems…

>What's up with all these sensational articles about Silicon Valley?

I suspect some of it is due to SV being under attack by political opponents. Telecoms who want net neutrality/open internet dismantled, and perhaps politically right folks who see lots of political support and donations for Dems coming from SV. The recent spate of articles advocating breaking up Google and other SV "monopolies" is especially suspect, considering they don't have strong competitive moats (at least not compared to owning the physical infrastructure of the Internet).

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#168

Post by stcredzero »

mruniverse wrote: post #61
crmd wrote: post #7

I'm trying to imagine a cringier situation than a druggy sex party full of industry people. Try chilling with artists, musicians, chefs, teachers, dog walkers, anything but tech people. The mutual discovery of each other's worlds is really hot, and it minimizes the chance of ever being in a work meeting with someone where we need to pretend we haven't seen each other naked.

Artists are very cringy. A lot of musicians are cringy. Some teachers are cringy. Not sure about chefs or dog walkers.

My experience with chefs: Lots of fun to party with. Terrible neighbors. In general, do not date, or at least be cautious. (Based on a low sample size.)

Dog walkers: Can be lots of fun to party with. Terrible band mates. In general, do not date, or at least be cautious. (Based on a low sample size.)

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#169

Post by nonce42 »

ImSkeptical wrote: post #41
tathougies wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The entire article was on how these interactions are facilitated by the intentional use of illegal, mind-altering drugs. Aside from the obvious fact that the drugs are illegal, there is also the question of whether those who are under the influence of these drugs can consent to sex.

I think if you consent to go to the sex party, you consent to physical romantic activity, you consent to taking the drug knowing your context and what the drug will do, and then you consent to sex throughout the experience, it's hard to see how it's anything but consensual. If you have a colonoscopy done, the medication they give you will make it so you don't remember things or (I hope) feel things, but, my doctor to…

> If you have a colonoscopy done, the medication they give you will make it so you don't remember things or (I hope) feel things

Maybe a bit off topic but I skipped the drugs for my colonoscopy and it was less discomfort than a trip to the dentist, plus watching my insides on the screen was very interesting. I definitely recommend considering no medication.

Re: Silicon Valley's Secretive, Orgiastic Side

#170

Post by mintplant »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #167
jpzisme wrote: post #48

What's up with all these sensational articles about Silicon Valley? Maybe the lifestyle is different as a VC, but as an engineer, this seems so disjointed from reality that it's almost farcical. I can barely get some of my coworkers to stop talking about code for more than a breath. There's no way that they're engaging in any of these activities. Can anyone vouch for this behavior being prevalent? To me it just seems…

>What's up with all these sensational articles about Silicon Valley? I suspect some of it is due to SV being under attack by political opponents. Telecoms who want net neutrality/open internet dismantled, and perhaps politically right folks who see lots of political support and donations for Dems coming from SV. The recent spate of articles advocating breaking up Google and other SV "monopolies" is especially suspect…

I think you're painting with too broad a brush here. Concerns about the power wielded by massive tech corporarions aren't exclusive to the rightward end of the political spectrum.
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