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The techlash that never happened

eriktorenberg.substack.com

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Re: The techlash that never happened

#31

Post by Zetice »

Just off the top, I'm seeing a common logical misfire here, specifically:

> If you asked the average American on the street about tech, they would tell you they like to use products like Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Facebook, Amazon, and many other supposedly maligned companies.

It's actually a bit of a giveaway when you say "on the street". Most Americans aren't on the street at all.

I dunno what the quality of this source is, but I found that Doordash delivers to 20 million consumers in a given month[0], which if true, accounts for 6% of Americans! 94% of Americans do not "like to use" Doordash.

Even Uber, which according to the same random well-SEO'd source, has 93 million monthly platform consumers[1], which means only 28% of Americans use Uber.

I'm not sure if there's really a larger point to make here, or if I'm just quibbling with terminology, but it's a giant mistake to presume "most Americans" do nearly anything.

[0] https://backlinko.com/doordash-users

[1] https://backlinko.com/uber-users

Re: The techlash that never happened

#32

Post by fallingknife »

repsilat wrote: post #22
ojbyrne wrote: post #7

The top graph (Gallup 2017 Business & Industry Ranking Net Positive Scores) is 6 years old. 2022 results can be found here: https://news.gallup.com/poll/12748/business-industry-sector-... Computer Industry is now 3rd and the Net Positive has gone from 67 to 35. Internet Industry has gone from 5th to the bottom half of the list and the Net Positive has gone from 41 to -2. Perhaps the Techlash was just a little late.

> just a little late It fits with the article's explanation really. The media hate tech, propagandize against it, and they eventually win people over.

I really don't understand why tech companies don't play hardball with them. Tech controls their distribution, so without their help they would just be screaming into the void.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#33

Post by bitwize »

c22 wrote: post #21
chrisco255 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Silicon Valley is 15% Republican and 53% Democrat [1]. Tech is a highly skewed industry. 98% of Netflix employees donated to Democrats in 2020, 77% of Amazon employees. Overall 84% of political donations in major tech companies goes to Democrats [2]. https://siliconvalleyindicators.org/data/governance/civic-en... https://www.newsweek.com/big-tech-employees-donate-overwhelm...

If you look at the chart over time it looks like 'no party preference' is eating the republican side of the graph. It looks like the republican party is fracturing, which is great because we need more than two political parties. I wish the other side would break up too.

Having a more-than-two-party system would require restructuring the Constitution entirely.

So let's do it. Start with South Africa's constitution as a model.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#34

Post by boondoggle16 »

Zetice wrote: post #31

Just off the top, I'm seeing a common logical misfire here, specifically: > If you asked the average American on the street about tech, they would tell you they like to use products like Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Facebook, Amazon, and many other supposedly maligned companies. It's actually a bit of a giveaway when you say "on the street". Most Americans aren't on the street at all. I dunno what the quality of this sour…

Bubbles are super common, and even more common on the internet. I find this phenomenon fascinating.

For example, there are many people on HN who absolutely cannot comprehend why people prefer single family housing, with a yard, and a car. So much so, that I've considered writing an article from my perspective, about why I prefer low-density housing.

The ratio of commenters to lurkers is super low, and (speaking from experience), commenters often have mental problems, which drives them to post excessively.

The vast majority of Americans are absolutely nothing like the drivel we read online. I waffle between thinking this is caused by "terminally online" folks like myself, and bots aka astro-turfed corporatism. Either way, the opinions we read online do not reflect reality. Historians will have a hoot interpreting our society and describing it from the perspective of the Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#35

Post by Hermitian909 »

Zetice wrote: post #31

Just off the top, I'm seeing a common logical misfire here, specifically: > If you asked the average American on the street about tech, they would tell you they like to use products like Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Facebook, Amazon, and many other supposedly maligned companies. It's actually a bit of a giveaway when you say "on the street". Most Americans aren't on the street at all. I dunno what the quality of this sour…

> Even Uber, which according to the same random well-SEO'd source, has 93 million monthly platform consumers[1], which means only 28% of Americans use Uber.

Looking at month to month stats like this seems like a poor proxy for "likeable". Something like Uber tends to have a core set of heavy users with a long tail of more infrequent users.

I and most people I know use Uber every few months and often in spurts e.g. I travel a few times a year and don't rent a car at my destination. My uber use spikes during this time but is otherwise close to zero.

Similarly, some people seem take a "uber in an emergency approach" to the service. This is something I certainly appreciate about the service as well.

None of this actually tells us how "liked" the service is though.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#36

Post by [deleted] »

Zetice wrote: post #31

Just off the top, I'm seeing a common logical misfire here, specifically: > If you asked the average American on the street about tech, they would tell you they like to use products like Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Facebook, Amazon, and many other supposedly maligned companies. It's actually a bit of a giveaway when you say "on the street". Most Americans aren't on the street at all. I dunno what the quality of this sour…

[deleted]

Re: The techlash that never happened

#37

Post by boondoggle16 »

Phiwise_ wrote: post #25
mnkv wrote: post #8

Of all the absolute horseshit in the article, the most obviously wrong is saying that "tech doesn't play both sides of the political aisle". So obviously wrong if you look at any single company. Just recently, we saw how FTX was lobbying hard for both sides. And there absolutely has been a backlash against tech. Ask any Facebook employee how people react when they say where they work.

>Of all the absolute horseshit in the article, the most obviously wrong is saying that "tech doesn't play both sides of the political aisle". So obviously wrong if you look at any single company. Just recently, we saw how FTX was lobbying hard for both sides. Wider data seems to suggest it's not that simple: https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights... >And there absolutely has been a backlash agai…

I think you're on to something here. I myself as a tech employee have scapegoated FB, but the reality is, every small startup I've worked for has has questionable ethics. That's just how business people work, they don't see things the same as us regulars. Hence why they get so rich.

I do think that tech workers have something, morally, to gain from lambasting FB. But the wider US sphere of influence does, as well. US tech makes the US super strong, and super rich. If we just forget about Google's sins, we can keep being rich and powerful.

Tech workers, politicians, heck even normal people receiving Google accounts, all have something to gain by denying reality.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#38

Post by Sprocklem »

Zetice wrote: post #31

Just off the top, I'm seeing a common logical misfire here, specifically: > If you asked the average American on the street about tech, they would tell you they like to use products like Airbnb, DoorDash, Uber, Facebook, Amazon, and many other supposedly maligned companies. It's actually a bit of a giveaway when you say "on the street". Most Americans aren't on the street at all. I dunno what the quality of this sour…

And even those that do "like to use" those products may still take issue with those companies on moral grounds while continuing to use them, either because there is no meaningful alternative for their purposes or because the convenience overrides their moral objections.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#39

Post by hgsgm »

bitwize wrote: post #33
c22 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at the chart over time it looks like 'no party preference' is eating the republican side of the graph. It looks like the republican party is fracturing, which is great because we need more than two political parties. I wish the other side would break up too.

Having a more-than-two-party system would require restructuring the Constitution entirely. So let's do it. Start with South Africa's constitution as a model.

As soon as elected officials agree, it will happen. 99% of aaod officiala are in one of the 2 major parties.

Unless non elected-officials win a revolution.

Re: The techlash that never happened

#40

Post by cavisne »

A lot of this was manufactured, it came out recently that NYT has a top down editorial policy that tech cannot be portrayed in a positive light

https://twitter.com/KelseyTuoc/status/1588231892792328192

I'm surprised this wasn't a bigger story at the time. News orgs will obviously have a bias based on who they hire. But historically they always try and appear to be balanced at the editorial level, ie Fox News has a few token left wing people, CNN has/had a few conservative punching bags.

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