The last 72 hours validate the view that Silicon Valley isn’t capable of taking leadership in fixing the problems it creates, and that we’ll have to rely on Washington to set the rules.
Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
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Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#22Hopeful: maybe a chapter has closed in terms of the shenanigans from recent years like "crypto" and not-very-meaningful "disruption". Tech is good when it's building cool things that end up making the world better, not BS stuff.
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#23The last 72 hours validate the view that Silicon Valley isn’t capable of taking leadership in fixing the problems it creates, and that we’ll have to rely on Washington to set the rules.
Washington set faulty rules in the first place. Since when was it logical to lend out money that wasn't yours?
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#24Nope. Been here for a couple cycles. As #6 says, "All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again."
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#25No. I already thought SV has a greater than average concentration of irresponsible “move fast and break things” types. Eventually the adults adults will always have to take over to avoid a disaster.
We're talking about a 40 year old bank that bankrupted itself with a 1.5% 10-year mortgage backed security. I don't think "moving fast and breaking stuff" is what got us here.
I feel like the 10 year MBS investment might actually have been a case of excess risk. In a world of zero interest rates (which I presume is when they invested in the MBS), 1.5%-2% yield makes SVB quite a bit of extra profit.
Their investment may have been a case of greed and poorly controlled risk.
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#26No, and Im not sure why it would unless you are willing to paint broad swaths of people with the same brush. IMHO, there are still a bunch of ambitious and talented people. Most of them with good intentions, many of them smart, but all human. To be honest, I didn't even see that many examples of bad behavior. Some bank managers took some big risks and an unlikely event blew up in their face. Some CEOs and VCs panicke…
What shareholder bailout? If you’re referring to SVB, shareholders will be wiped out. Only depositors are being bailed out (/made whole).
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#27The last 72 hours validate the view that Silicon Valley isn’t capable of taking leadership in fixing the problems it creates, and that we’ll have to rely on Washington to set the rules.
Washington set faulty rules in the first place. Since when was it logical to lend out money that wasn't yours?
I didn’t say that Washington setting the rules was a good thing — but who else will step in where there has been a complete vacuum of any leadership in Silicon Valley in the last few days?
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#28The last 72 hours validate the view that Silicon Valley isn’t capable of taking leadership in fixing the problems it creates, and that we’ll have to rely on Washington to set the rules.
Washington set faulty rules in the first place. Since when was it logical to lend out money that wasn't yours?
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Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#29I always suspected SV was full of awful, selfish, classist hypocrites. But now I have it confirmed.
Re: Ask HN: Has your view of Silicon Valley changed in the last 72 hours?
#30Like the titans of Atlas Shrugged, they showed how willing they were to burn it all down for everyone else in order to win. Well played.
The "titans" you speak of are Jerome Powell, and Janet Yellen. Not the schmucks that put Taxis on the internet, or effectively stole billions of dollars from SoftBank to build a rental company. These types of extremely competent people are far and few between in important parts of our society. So idk what the fuck you're talking about Yosemite? (from NewsRoom Intro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTjMqda19wk&ab_channel=tprat...).