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The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

simonandschuster.com

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Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#81

Post by Treegarden »

adev_ wrote: post #56
jve wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk must be one. Seems enough techy to me: Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink - software being used for the hardware in innovative ways. Edit: Oh, wow, mentioning this guy is surely controversial, sorry. However discussing whether he is a nerd, understands engineering on very deep level/gets his hands dirty OR he only manages people - there must be some psychological aspect related, a form of disagreement to discredit or…

> Elon Musk must be one Spoiler: He is not. But he is very good at faking it. Anytime he tries to give a serious opinion on anything related to computers: It is laughably bad and out of touch (SQL, compilers, languages, performance, etc... ). He definitively has a scientific background but definitively not "Tech" as far as computer are concerned.

I don’t see how “tech” is limited to software. While your case might be made for software, according to many accounts Musk is a strong driver on the hardware side. For instance, I’ve read the Tesla and SpaceX books by Eric Berger, which are much more focused on technical things compared to the more mainstream books. And while Musk is not in the trenches with a screwdriver, he’s not faking it either.

To be honest, I’m actually interested in this hypothesis: is he legitimately skilled/knowledgeable, or is he indeed faking it? And for either side I would like to see evidence. This question is interesting to me because some of his companies have made substantial contributions to pushing the frontier of technology (reusable landing, high launch cadence, electric cars, energy).

If he is really faking it, that might even be good, because the success of his companies might be replicable and could continue without him. But what if he is not?

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#82

Post by alecco »

jamil7 wrote: post #12
skrebbel wrote: post #2

I'm not a big sucker for this kind of un-nuanced "us vs them" rhetoric, but I gotta admit, the title is a stroke of genius.

It's cute but are there any actual nerds left in big tech leadership? Of the magnificent seven we basically only have Jensen Huang left as a technical leader and maybe you can count Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg? The genius coder according to the movie. Programming in PHP.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#83

Post by actionfromafar »

xg15 wrote: post #65
jve wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk must be one. Seems enough techy to me: Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink - software being used for the hardware in innovative ways. Edit: Oh, wow, mentioning this guy is surely controversial, sorry. However discussing whether he is a nerd, understands engineering on very deep level/gets his hands dirty OR he only manages people - there must be some psychological aspect related, a form of disagreement to discredit or…

I think Elon Musk just wants to be Tony Stark and cultivates the appropriate image for that. And possibly a genuine obsession with (rightwing-ish) meme/youth culture, which I think got him a lot of his initial followers on twitter/reddit/4chan/etc.

Is there a difference? I mean, he may be Tony Stark to himself but end up an oppressor to others.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#84

Post by n4r9 »

adev_ wrote: post #56
jve wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk must be one. Seems enough techy to me: Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink - software being used for the hardware in innovative ways. Edit: Oh, wow, mentioning this guy is surely controversial, sorry. However discussing whether he is a nerd, understands engineering on very deep level/gets his hands dirty OR he only manages people - there must be some psychological aspect related, a form of disagreement to discredit or…

> Elon Musk must be one Spoiler: He is not. But he is very good at faking it. Anytime he tries to give a serious opinion on anything related to computers: It is laughably bad and out of touch (SQL, compilers, languages, performance, etc... ). He definitively has a scientific background but definitively not "Tech" as far as computer are concerned.

Good example if anyone wants it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZslebJEZbE

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#85

Post by konart »

arthurofbabylon wrote: post #63
konart wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be great if you have tried to express yourself other than some weird implications.

The comment is sincere. You appear to disagree with the book’s argument prior to having heard it — a great candidate for a mind-opening read. If the book (once published) proves its premise, you’ll disproportionately benefit from the read. (I personally like it when a book stretches my existing conceptions.)

I thing you might have misunderstood me.

I do not disagree with the book's argument. I'm just pointing out (or rather expressing my doubt) that the word "code" brings no additional context to the sentence.

As others (and I) rightfully noted - code and modern tech does make things cheaper and easier, but this can be said about all advances.

The "nerd reich" is not possible without code, code is not possible without computers, computers are not possible without abacus etc.

As I see it the word "code" sells this book better than, say, "taxes". Because taxes are boring and obvious.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#86

Post by ManlyBread »

lapcat wrote: post #25

Is there a HN convention for links to books? This book appears to be available only for preorder now, not yet published. Nobody here has read it, nobody here can read it, and even if they could, this submission will disappear off the front pages before commenters have a chance to order and read the book. Thus the comments section here is going to be useless (or at least more useless than usual).

I don't know what happened to this website but stuff like this keeps hitting the front page more and more often despite having close to zero value. It feels like SEO spam to me.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#87

Post by lagniappe »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #80
jamil7 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cute but are there any actual nerds left in big tech leadership? Of the magnificent seven we basically only have Jensen Huang left as a technical leader and maybe you can count Zuckerberg.

> maybe you can count Zuckerberg I think that you definitely need to count him. He's always been a massive nerd, his attempts to bulk up and become a MMA competitor notwithstanding.

>his attempts to bulk up and become a MMA competitor notwithstanding

a lot of us nerds value physical strength, it's 2025, we're not mouthbreathers anymore.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#88

Post by lagniappe »

alecco wrote: post #82
jamil7 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cute but are there any actual nerds left in big tech leadership? Of the magnificent seven we basically only have Jensen Huang left as a technical leader and maybe you can count Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg? The genius coder according to the movie. Programming in PHP .

Are you new? PHP was the standard for that type of app at the time.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#89

Post by RealityVoid »

lagniappe wrote: post #87
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe you can count Zuckerberg I think that you definitely need to count him. He's always been a massive nerd, his attempts to bulk up and become a MMA competitor notwithstanding.

>his attempts to bulk up and become a MMA competitor notwithstanding a lot of us nerds value physical strength, it's 2025, we're not mouthbreathers anymore.

My body is just the vehicle that carries my brain around - and my brain deserves a smooth, luxurious ride.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#90

Post by nephihaha »

This is far more similar to Communism than Fascism. Their mentality is that they are a scientific vanguard (like Marxism) and that the ends justify the means. They also share the binary thinking of Marxists. They part company with Fascism because most of them are internationalist.
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