There is a reason why buildings in China have nets to prevent suicide and Japan has a work to death problem. Working that much is not good or healthy.
Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
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Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#32More in depth article (well, at least compared to the CNBC piece) here on Financial Times, authored by the SV investor. The comments section has some good feedback as well.
https://www.ft.com/content/42daca9e-facc-11e7-9bfc-052cbba03...
I get some of the investor's complaints about pc culture, and at the same time I wonder if this guy considers the ideal corporation one where an "employee" literally "works" 24/7, never leaves his/her desk for anything thanks to IV tubes for food, digestion, and medications to keep oneself constantly awake; and the bio-energy of the employee is harvested to supply energy for the office building.
Quite the recipe for individual and societal flourishing...
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#33Multi-billionaire with wealth accumulated from institutional gambling and rent seeking feels that wage-slaves complain about "inequality" to much and should instead behave like people in countries with no human rights.
Sounds legit.
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#34What does having discussions about ethics, morality or equality have to do with working 14 hour, six day workweeks (84h)?
Look, there's genuinely important discussions to be had right now. If he wants his son to grow up addicted to a social network he interfaces with through a screen, or his daughter to be subjected to casual sexism, because it'd hurt some engineers' feelings to be confronted with that toxic reality, then cry me a river. I for one am glad to see someone making a stand, some of the discourse we see now is meaningful and I'm happy for it. (far from all of it, don't get me wrong. but a lot of these discussions are way overdue and we shouldn't throw away the baby with the bathwater).
That having been said, this article really looks like one of those 'we paraphrased 5 minutes of nuanced commentary into a shitty one-liner'. I'm sure I'll still disagree with his more elaborate views, but I get the feeling there's more to his argument than this article supposes.
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#35I always suspected that the end goal of the wealthy was to push America into the Authoritarian Capitalist model of China or Russia. I never expected them to be so explicit about it.
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#36So basically, to us American techies, shut up and start working 100 hour weeks? What a delightful fellow. I wonder if he’s going to lead by example, or if he thinks 14-hour days are only for underlings.
Exactly, do it or else he's going to take his ball and go home (or take his fund's money and go to China) But don't tell him what happens if he ever tries to take his money OUT of China, we can let that be a "fun" learning experience for him.
You might be making the wrong assumption about why Mike is saying what he's saying. Sequoia has been investing in China for almost 13 years, with 8 funds and $2.5B USD and $4B RMB raised, and excellent returns. I don't think that Mike is trying to dupe anyone in Silicon Valley into working harder for his benefit. He's already quite fine financially and his investment bets are hedged. The ball, so to speak, is already moving to another court. That plus 13 years worth of concrete experience watching Silicon Valley and Chinese entrepreneurs and startups evolving simultaneously might be informing some of what he's saying. Ascribe sinister motives and ignore what he's saying if you like. But if you do, you better think again about who's being naive.
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#37There is a reason why buildings in China have nets to prevent suicide and Japan has a work to death problem. Working that much is not good or healthy.
> Working that much is not good or healthy.
Nor is it good for employee retention, but apparently there is no concern for employee retention.
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#38Complaining about Silicon Valley political correctness while extolling the virtues of China is at best tone deaf. It’s pretty much impossible for anyone who has any experience with Asia to deny that racism is just more socially acceptable over there than in the US. And things like homosexuality are suppressed. For example, China recently banned depictions of homosexuality on TV. So of course it’s easier to say certai…
i’ve never found a country less racist than the us
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#39Complaining about Silicon Valley political correctness while extolling the virtues of China is at best tone deaf. It’s pretty much impossible for anyone who has any experience with Asia to deny that racism is just more socially acceptable over there than in the US. And things like homosexuality are suppressed. For example, China recently banned depictions of homosexuality on TV. So of course it’s easier to say certai…
i’ve never found a country less racist than the us
There's probably something to this. I doubt we're the best. But the rest of the world, including Western Europe, is surprisingly racist, misogynistic, and homophobic. The wrong lesson to take from that would be, "so we should all chill out about racism". It's just as likely (I think more likely) that the lesson is: "the freak-outs are working".
Re: Mike Moritz slams politically correct tech culture, praises Chinese work ethic
#40A rich investor is complaining about how people are not working to their death so that his portfolio companies do better and get him more returns? Give me a break.
Why do we even have to have a discussion when all he complains about is how they work for 12 hours? They copied every SV company the moment it hit off, no real innovation besides the recent AI advancements. What good would come off by copying that model?