Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#1

Post by dsr12 » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 4:16 PM UTC

Stop treating tech jerks like gods
nypost.com

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#2

Post by captainbland » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:15 PM UTC

Yeah I've been thinking for a while how strange it is that Musk, for example, seems to have a strange little cult of personality surrounding him.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#3

Post by jfasi » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

> Despite tremendous financial security, success and personal comfort, these men gained a reputation for being petty and ungenerous whenever possible. They don’t exemplify very many personality traits we associate with a good person.

I realize this is beside the point, so downvote me if you like, but I'm not sure a Trump mouthpiece like the NY Post has any business calling people out for being petty and ungenerous...

Add to that the mostly-baseless anti-tech crusade the president and his media friends have been on for the last year or so, I'm very surprised to see this rag getting any sort of traction at all on HN.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#4

Post by Ashcroft001 » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:16 PM UTC

I don't think denying financial support to family is evidence of being a scummy person. I expect being of noveu tech wealth makes everyone you know to try to pry flesh from you.

I expect it's rather lonely.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#5

Post by bsaul » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:17 PM UTC

This article completely misses the mark. People worship jobs or elon because they’re the modern rock stars. They entertain us with technical marvels, and we’re grateful to them. Nobody care if keith richards is a nice guy, or if kurt cobain took drugs or was nice to kids. We liked what they did professionally, and we don’t car about the rest.

Nobody is saying we should copy elon work ethic, or public communication, or jobs’ family affairs. Everybody agrees they’re not perfect and can probably be aholes sometimes. But we don’t care. And we’re angry at people trying to focus on the bad aspects of their personalities as a way to diminish their professional accomplishments.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#6

Post by simplecomplex » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:18 PM UTC

The NYP should stop treating the jerk in the White House as a god.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#7

Post by tokai » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:20 PM UTC

I think Bill Gates have hurt the world more than Musk and Jobs combined. I don't subscribe to utilitarianism, so giving money to charities don't make up for damaging personal computing.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#8

Post by SimonPStevens » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:29 PM UTC

This was flagged and I've vouched for it as I really don't see why. I'm hopeing it wasn't because Musk fans are just flagging anti Musk content, I believe that his community is above that kind of behavior. Perhaps a mod has the ability to review,or a flagger can comment on their reasons. I think the topic of the article is something that should be discussed in the tech sector.

I actually origianlly came here to say it's interesting that the article picks Gates as a counter example as during his working career he was known for being ruthless, and found guilty of anti competitive behavior by several jurisdictions. I agree he's a role model now, but not sure he has always been.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#9

Post by klmr » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

jfasi wrote: post #3

> Despite tremendous financial security, success and personal comfort, these men gained a reputation for being petty and ungenerous whenever possible. They don’t exemplify very many personality traits we associate with a good person. I realize this is beside the point, so downvote me if you like, but I'm not sure a Trump mouthpiece like the NY Post has any business calling people out for being petty and ungenerous...…

> a Trump mouthpiece like the NY Post

I think you might be confusing something … the NY Post, while being a right-wing tabloid, has been quite outspoken against Trump for a long time.

Re: Stop treating tech jerks like gods

#10

Post by ChrisSD » Mon, Sep 03, 2018, 5:38 PM UTC

bsaul wrote: post #5

This article completely misses the mark. People worship jobs or elon because they’re the modern rock stars. They entertain us with technical marvels, and we’re grateful to them. Nobody care if keith richards is a nice guy, or if kurt cobain took drugs or was nice to kids. We liked what they did professionally, and we don’t car about the rest. Nobody is saying we should copy elon work ethic, or public communication, o…

Well I mean beside the fact people do say that Elon's work ethic is inspirational or that he's a great communicator. You might not but a loud and aggressive minority do.

That said, although I can see why you might disagree with others on Musk I don't really understand why you'd get properly angry on Musk's behalf. Musk is rich enough, powerful enough and old enough to stand up for himself without needing an army of internet warriors.