Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Silicon Valley's Problem

cbracy.tumblr.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 106 posts

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#31

Post by edderly »

Reading between the lines it sounds like the author is just struggling with the amoral nature of most businesses. Superficially company mission statements and slogans may appear to contradict this assertion, but they are best guidelines rather than constitutional legislation. At least in Tech as a creator you can find a path within your job to generate something meaningful if at worst only for personal / technical pride.

Personally, I cordially dislike most attempts by corporate (and entertainment) celebrities to influence domains outside their primary interest. It's easier to appreciate Bill Gates as a full time philanthropist than Bono the singer and part time pamphleteer.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#32

Post by cbracy »

javajosh wrote: post #29

This post sucks. There are a lot of reasons for sucking, such as describing a non-problem. That's not this posts problem. This posts problem is that it describes a very real problem, and then basically throws up it's hands in defeat. That's actually worse than not saying anything at all, as it leaves the reader upset, but with no balm for the wound. Thanks for wounding me and not giving me a bandage. Or, as I've hear…

Sorry. You're right. But I don't think I'm throwing up my hands. I think there are many solutions and certainly not ones that are easily laid out as a final paragraph in a post like this. I'll definitely follow up when I think I have ideas (or share other good ones when I see them) but for me this post was an important first step to clarify my thinking about what the problem is.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#33

Post by larrys »

cbracy wrote: post #22
WiseWeasel wrote: post #18

My impression is that the tech culture pervading SV is built on a foundation of decentralized problem solving on a global scale, finding people who share an interest in the solution to some problem they're faced with, and working towards that solution with them. Intermediaries such as NGOs and governing bodies are not valued, because their operation isn't transparent or accessible. National borders and the government…

I think you're misunderstanding. I think it's exactly that decentralized, networked approach to problem-solving that holds the potential for technologists to fix big problems. The issue is that in SV most are not focusing on those problems. I WANT the tech community disrupting those old institutions, and I'm frustrated we're not doing more of it.

Well written. This is you?

Catherine Bracy

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/cbracy

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/catherine-bracy/19/84b/350

You might want to include an "about" page on your tumblr it's nice to know who is saying what and I had to follow some links to find the above.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#34

Post by xugle »

rayiner wrote: post #12
fleitz wrote: post #6

The underpinning idea in US governance is the idea that if you don't like the society you live in you can build a new one a little further out west. Until seasteading becomes feasible SF/the internet is as west as it gets. Amazingly, or unsurprisingly to libertarians, we can build our own society with out government telling us what to do. What is wrong with people solving their own problems rather than lobbying gover…

It's particularly hilarious because the west coast wouldn't exist without massive federal investment over decades. From getting people out there to irrigating what is mostly a desolate wasteland, places like Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Southern California are creatures of federal investment.

Now why did you have to go and ruin a perfectly good libertarian fantasy world with facts ?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#35

Post by orionblastar »

akkartik wrote: post #20
fatbird wrote: post #8

Love this: Their goal is to make themselves as appealing—or threatening—to a big player as possible so they can get bought out for a few hundred million dollars and then devote the rest of their lives to a) building Burning Man installations, b) investing in other people’s widgets, or c) both. They really don’t care that much about making the world a better place, mostly because they feel like they don’t have to live…

Also: "Why donate money when people can just download my app and instantly have a better life?" She's talking almost directly to Steve Jobs. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/08/29/the-mystery-of-steve-... The quote is a caricature of a more nuanced position, but articles like this are equally nuts: http://blogs.hbr.org/pallotta/2011/09/steve-jobs-worlds-grea...

She's talking about others as well. Instead of helping people get better education to find better jobs, or even creating jobs, they'd much rather take the unemployed and say "why don't they just buy my app, smart phone, tablet, PC, etc and have a better life?" Well because most of the unemployed and poor cannot afford them and go without them.

Then you have a lot of unemployed and poor who do buy that app, smart phone, tablet, PC, etc and suffer because they cannot afford food and shelter, but they got nifty things to improve their life. Just walk around homeless with a backpack and sleep near a dumpster, but use that shiny tech at the nearest library or Starbucks.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#36

Post by Synthetase »

cbracy wrote: post #32
javajosh wrote: post #29

This post sucks. There are a lot of reasons for sucking, such as describing a non-problem. That's not this posts problem. This posts problem is that it describes a very real problem, and then basically throws up it's hands in defeat. That's actually worse than not saying anything at all, as it leaves the reader upset, but with no balm for the wound. Thanks for wounding me and not giving me a bandage. Or, as I've hear…

Sorry. You're right. But I don't think I'm throwing up my hands. I think there are many solutions and certainly not ones that are easily laid out as a final paragraph in a post like this. I'll definitely follow up when I think I have ideas (or share other good ones when I see them) but for me this post was an important first step to clarify my thinking about what the problem is.

If it's such a huge problem why don't you go fix it?

Or are you volunteering other peoples time?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#37

Post by smacktoward »

javajosh wrote: post #29

This post sucks. There are a lot of reasons for sucking, such as describing a non-problem. That's not this posts problem. This posts problem is that it describes a very real problem, and then basically throws up it's hands in defeat. That's actually worse than not saying anything at all, as it leaves the reader upset, but with no balm for the wound. Thanks for wounding me and not giving me a bandage. Or, as I've hear…

Only share actionable anxieties.

Just because an anxiety is not actionable by you does not mean that it is not actionable by someone else. And one way you, who lack the means to solve the problem, can motivate people who can to do so is by raising the profile of the problem. Writing about it is a way to do that.

When Thomas Paine wrote of "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot" in The American Crisis, he didn't have any direct way to stop soldiers from deserting from George Washington's army because the weather was cold and the fighting was rough. All he could do was highlight the problem of desertion and point out the consequences of their actions. Does that mean he shouldn't have written it?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#38

Post by fatbird »

RyanZAG wrote: post #13

Meh. The Silicon Valley rich are famously stingy philanthropists and a defense I’ve heard more than once is that the tools they spend their time building are inherently good. “Why donate money when people can just download my app and instantly have a better life?” Maybe I have a different view on the this from most on HA as I live in Africa, but products like cheaper cellphones have had a far more massive effect for…

Philanthropy and charity aren't the same thing. The Gates Foundation does much, much more than just walk around handing out cheques. I'm not even sure they do charity in any significant way, but the money they're putting towards, for example, vaccinating large numbers against the rotavirus, is hugely effective in actually improving things. You can't partake of the global economy when you're shitting yourself to death.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#39

Post by joelrunyon »

RyanZAG wrote: post #13

Meh. The Silicon Valley rich are famously stingy philanthropists and a defense I’ve heard more than once is that the tools they spend their time building are inherently good. “Why donate money when people can just download my app and instantly have a better life?” Maybe I have a different view on the this from most on HA as I live in Africa, but products like cheaper cellphones have had a far more massive effect for…

Charity isn't just about direct ROI, it's about the attitude of the people giving. I think that speaks to the idea of SV being in a bubble when a simple idea like charity is so easily dismissed.

>Charities in general have almost no effect on the ground.

I would point you to organizations like Charity Water (http://www.charitywater.org/) & Pencils of Promise (http://www.pencilsofpromise.org//) who are doing quite well at disproving that statement.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#40

Post by javajosh »

smacktoward wrote: post #37
javajosh wrote: post #29

This post sucks. There are a lot of reasons for sucking, such as describing a non-problem. That's not this posts problem. This posts problem is that it describes a very real problem, and then basically throws up it's hands in defeat. That's actually worse than not saying anything at all, as it leaves the reader upset, but with no balm for the wound. Thanks for wounding me and not giving me a bandage. Or, as I've hear…

Only share actionable anxieties. Just because an anxiety is not actionable by you does not mean that it is not actionable by someone else. And one way you, who lack the means to solve the problem, can motivate people who can to do so is by raising the profile of the problem. Writing about it is a way to do that. When Thomas Paine wrote of "the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot" in The American Crisis , he didn'…

You will note that Thomas Paine did not write "The deserting soldier and the sad but inevitable mindset of cowardice".
Post reply on HN