Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union • Hacker News Board

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#201

Post by ajryan » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 6:43 PM UTC

zug_zug wrote: post #129

woah wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a contractor for startups in SF for 6 years and now a founder for 1, I have found the opposite of what you have about business relationships. The homeless problem is not caused by the tech industry, it is caused by the homeowners who have been blocking apartment building construction in 90% of the city for 50 years.

> As a contractor for startups in SF for 6 years and now a founder for 1, I have found the opposite of what you have about business relationships. I'm glad not everybody had such a callous experience as mine. > The homeless problem is not caused by the tech industry I don't buy either tech nor housing as the root cause, but at the end of the day I didn't really care who to blame, I just wanted to be able to walk down…

This is an insanely privileged thing to say though. The problem, in your mind, is that you have to see sick people, not that there are sick people who need help.

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#202

Post by sarkhan » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 6:53 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #44

zug_zug wrote: post #12

"- being told you are constructing utopia while the system crumbles around you" This is the one that resonated with me. Obviously "the system" as a whole isn't objectively crumbling by traditional measures like GDP, but there were things that could give that feeling: Homeless sleeping in the subway and on the main streets, the smells, crime so rampant it's basically ignored (my car was broken into > 5 times), working…

The one thing that you didn’t get in the Soviet Union was everyday crime, well, what we understand as crime. Sure they could and did send people off to the camps for weird [political and crimes against the state] offenses, but property crimes and such were close to non existent.

Domestic violence was so absolute norm that there was a saying "Бьёт – значит любит", "he beats, means he loves". Rapes, domestic and not. So many of them. Corruption related crimes. Everywhere. Education, Health, Finance, you name it. There was not a single sector in the country that was not affected by corruption.

Also, don't forget that USSR is not only Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and few other big cities. Rural USSR was very poor, and full of all sorts of crimes. Life in SU was not rosy as they might have tried to describe.

Edit: Formatting.

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#203

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 7:07 PM UTC

fjsousa wrote: post #126

woah wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a contractor for startups in SF for 6 years and now a founder for 1, I have found the opposite of what you have about business relationships. The homeless problem is not caused by the tech industry, it is caused by the homeowners who have been blocking apartment building construction in 90% of the city for 50 years.

yeah, of course you can't blame tech itself, but the whole social democracy project is crumbling down. As an european visiting SF it was heart breaking, the disparity of living conditions. spending the first few days commuting from russian hill to the financial district vs visiting the tenderloin in my last few days. I simply can't understand how a city so socially minded accepts such a wealth gap. I mean, it was lik…

[deleted]

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#204

Post by eeeuo » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 7:19 PM UTC

grasshopperpurp wrote: post #197

eeeuo wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The term derives from someone who works in the sun. It's unambiguously elitist. I don't think you need to hedge here, it's quite clear. I also enjoy the pejorative aimed at a sectarian group immediately followed by decrying "ignorant people".

>According to Chapman and Kipfer in their "Dictionary of American Slang", By 1975 the term had expanded in meaning beyond the poor Southerner to refer to "a bigoted and conventional person, a loutish ultra-conservative."[20] If the OP was using it in this way, I don't see the issue. If he/she was using it to just describe laboring, rural whites, I agree; it's offensive and inappropriate. Given the context of the stat…

When Jeff Foxworthy does his (incredibly unfunny) "You might be a redneck, if..." bits, the crowd is not laughing and nodding and saying "That's so true, I too am a bigoted and loutish ultra-conservative!"

To many people, redneck simply describes a particular rural lifestyle. If the OP wanted to call out bigotry, they should have called out bigots.

(This, admittedly, might have been a difficult sell given that it was immediately followed up an attack on a religious group)

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#205

Post by d0lph » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 7:37 PM UTC

Hasknewbie wrote: post #194

d0lph wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iranians can revolt, most huge social changes requires revolt. Government is a result of the people, if the majority were not ok with it I think it would not last long. To me this implies on some level that the people of the country like their government.

Except not that long ago the Iranians DID revolt, following a sham election where the reformists/progressives should have won. They got into the streets. And then they got shot. You seem to be living in a phantasy world where subjects of a dictature are just "asking for it", and a 50%-or-more majority should magically change everything. That's not how power works. Money and bullets, you see, matter more than ballots.

The US did the same, revolted against a well armed adversary.

The people are the power, paper money is no match.

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#206

Post by nerfhammer » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 8:08 PM UTC

maxsilver wrote: post #195

nerfhammer wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How had growth ever been possible in the era before the last 20 years or so?

I'm no economist. But I think it has something to do with how we used to grow in ways that didn't monopolize people's needs. (better equipment, better networks, new consumer products, holiday travel, toys, fashion, etc). But now our growth is mostly in ways that do monopolize people's needs (healthcare, housing, childcare, education, transportation). If you evaluate the last 30 years using, for example, TV's or telep…

Well, I have a degree in economics. IMO housing is expensive because of an explosion of land use restrictions in recent decades, which as far as I can tell is a cultural development. Housing had always been market based prior to that.

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#207

Post by luminaobscura » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 8:13 PM UTC

coolspot wrote: post #157

> - living five adults to a two room apartment > - 'totally not illegal taxi' taxis by private citizens moonlighting to make ends meet > - the plight of the working class is discussed mainly by people who do no work > - the currency most people are talking about is fake and worthless So true it hurts. > - mandatory workplace political education Is it really a thing?

i think it's referring to things like "diversity and inclusion" trainings.

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#208

Post by coolspot » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 8:31 PM UTC

digi_owl wrote: post #193

coolspot wrote: post #157

> - living five adults to a two room apartment > - 'totally not illegal taxi' taxis by private citizens moonlighting to make ends meet > - the plight of the working class is discussed mainly by people who do no work > - the currency most people are talking about is fake and worthless So true it hurts. > - mandatory workplace political education Is it really a thing?

> - the currency most people are talking about is fake and worthless Not quite sure what that is a dig at. Unless you are dealing in fresh produce or something, everything can be considered fake and worthless... As for the political education thing: I don't think they would be overt (or perhaps even conscious) but they do have various team building exercises, no?

I guess fake currency most people are talking about in the Silicon Valley could be the Bitcoin et al.

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#209

Post by lobotryas » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 8:40 PM UTC

ajryan wrote: post #201

zug_zug wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As a contractor for startups in SF for 6 years and now a founder for 1, I have found the opposite of what you have about business relationships. I'm glad not everybody had such a callous experience as mine. > The homeless problem is not caused by the tech industry I don't buy either tech nor housing as the root cause, but at the end of the day I didn't really care who to blame, I just wanted to be able to walk down…

This is an insanely privileged thing to say though. The problem, in your mind, is that you have to see sick people, not that there are sick people who need help.

Your interpretation is not charitable.

Are these people in need of help? Yes.

Should they be out in the street while getting said help? No.

Does their presence in the street present a problem? Yes.

Here's just one example: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/09/13/550674476...

Re: Things That Happen in Silicon Valley and Also the Soviet Union

#210

Post by lobotryas » Fri, Jul 06, 2018, 8:44 PM UTC

joejerryronnie wrote: post #192

Kalium wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand why you feel that way. People are moving here so fast ! They're changing everything, and there's no way we could ever keep up with how large the hordes of new migrants are. However, I think it might actually be possible to build homes rapidly enough to meet demand. We should at least try, and if we fail we'll have a lot of new housing. That's a nice prize no matter the outcome. What's convenient about th…

My original post was sensationalist and a 'new resident tax' is ridiculous - and no, I'm not scared of the migrant hordes ;) But I do get a bit frustrated with the morally superior stance that many housing advocates take (not saying this is you). Many folks seem to believe that by repealing prop 13 and removing all barriers to development, we will magically be able to build the millions of housing units necessary to…

Many good points. Also whenever I talk to "just build more" advocates, few demonstrate they thought about scaling infrastructure. Traffic is steadily getting worse, grocery lines are getting longer and classroom sizes keep growing.

I really wish these two things were bound together.