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Silicon Valley's Problem

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Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#41

Post by fatbird »

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…

stop writing posts describing problems that you have no ability, no ideas, and no real capability to solve.

This is a moronic thing to say. First, diagnosis is valuable in and of itself. Second, awareness of a problem shouldn't wait on a solution. Third, you're basically saying that, for any problem beyond a certain individually-addressable size, just don't talk about it because the author can't do anything about it. I don't think that's exactly what you meant, but that's what you said.

She didn't wound you. She pointed out that you're bleeding. If she doesn't have a bandage to give you, should she just ignore the spreading pool at your feet?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#42

Post by crucialfelix »

radicalbyte wrote: post #25
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…

"Give a guy a fish, and he'll have food for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he'll have food for a lifetime." This is why I really love the Kiva model: instead of giving money away, you instead become a 2nd/3rd world Angel Investor. It also makes me think about Hans Rosling's excellent TED talk about population growth and globalization: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_on_global_population_g...

I keep a bunch of money in rotation on Kiva myself. But it's not angel investing, it's just small loans for very small businesses. If a decent sized business showed up on there then they wouldn't get sponsors I think because they would seem too well off.

and actually angel investors or crowd funding for african tech entrpreneurs is a much needed thing right now.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#43

Post by fatbird »

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.

No, he's not right. As I said above, accurate diagnosis is worthwhile in and of itself. Ideas to address it are great, but don't let the lack of ideas prevent you from clearly identifying something worth addressing.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#44

Post by fatbird »

elwin wrote: post #28

It's easy to talk about using political power for good purposes when you don't have it yet. If Silicon Valley actually tried to become a political force, it might discover that the tech community doesn't agree on what the nation's most important problems are. Or that there is little correlation between the ability to make a lot of money putting advertisements on people's screens and the ability to find practical solu…

I suspect that she's less interested in the big players getting together to lobby effectively, than for the energy of all the small players to be directed at problems outside of the Valley and the Stanford crowd.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#45

Post by ffk »

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…

I didn't read this as the author giving up. She isn't offering solutions at this point but is asking for increased dialog in hopes of seeding action.

Quote from author:

"I also realize I’m not offering any solutions. But I really can’t think of a better place than right here to start working on some. More to come soon on what shape that actually takes."

For those of us who live in the SF bay region/SV, we do have a say in what goes on here. We start by discussing the problems we see. We brainstorm ideas about how we can change the status quo. We self-organize and begin to enact the changes we want to see. Isn't this what innovation is about and what SV is famous for?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#46

Post by thematt »

cbracy wrote: post #21
dreamdu5t wrote: post #17

There is no Silicon Valley problem. She assumes that everyone shares her progressive/leftist view of government. Why is it Silicon Valley's responsibility to "fix government" and not hers?

It's my responsibility too. I'm working on it. Just coming off the Obama campaign and rolling into a new gig in the coming weeks. Not ready to announce it yet, but I'm proud of it and think it's part of the solution.

When you were on the Obama campaign trail were you voicing opposition to his policies? Specifically FISA?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#47

Post by prostoalex »

joelrunyon wrote: post #39
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…

Founded in 2006 and 2008, so it actually clarifies his point - too often an established and older charity would focus on micro-optimization instead of disruption. Which would have more effect on quality of education in a third-world country:

- A charity that figured out how to ship thousands of textbooks in a single container, thus optimizing their shipping cost

- Kindle reaching $79 pricepoint.

- Coursera

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#48

Post by 5vforest »

I really enjoyed this post, and I have a few reactions to it.

The author is lobbying for online advocacy, which I hate to say, will not be fruitful without some kind of major political shift in our country's political processes and institutions. Our two-party system doesn't allow for a member of congress to suddenly say "I'm going to let my constituents decide how I vote on each bill." I'm sure it angers some when I say this, (I only mean to state a fact,) but the real way to make an impact is through lobbying. SOPA and PIPA were amazing, yes, but time has proven that their impact cannot be replicated. When it comes to internet regulations, the bigger players in Silicon Valley have already started to realize this and opened a lobby shop in DC. http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/250205-i...

My second point is that because our government is so broken already, it makes it even harder for citizens to have an active say in how it operates and the decisions it makes. Even the White House realizes this, but they don't have the power to change this overnight. However, their steps forward have been in the right direction; Obama created the "Chief Technology Officer" position and appointed Todd Park, an extremely accomplished entrepreneur, to the role. http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/09/todd-park-named-ne... (Disclosure: I'm a Presidential Innovation Fellow in a program that Todd heads up.) Bringing government technology into the 21st century is something that will benefit every American citizen by allowing government to beter serve him or her.

Finally, I want to stress that the onus to create change is not entirely on Silicon Valley. Tim O'Reilly, in one of his essays, has a great chapter entitled "Government as a Platform". http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596804350/defining_govern... Until our government moves beyond Open Data and to full read/write APIs, there is a significant limit to how we can interface with it. Most government information systems are only accessible via web portals built in the 90s. Think about it... if your internal business tools were restricted to software built in 1995, how productive would your organization be? And we're not talking about the best software of the era, we're talking about custom-off-the-shelf pieces of crap, built by huge government contractors who make most of their money by launching satellites and building tanks.

So if there's an overarching point to my post, it's that the problem is much more nuanced than just "Silicon Valley doesn't care." Changing that apathy, though, is still a good first step.

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#49

Post by jacoblyles »

It surely is embarrassing that California's two senators were strong supporters of PIPA and that they are still in office. Silicon Valley is sending a strong message - "Mess with us, and we'll be very angry for about 4 days. Then we'll go back to trying to get rich."

If the Tea Party could throw out dozens of fiscal moderate Republicans from the Congressional caucus, surely we - the technically savvy citizens of Silicon Valley - can play the political game and win?

Re: Silicon Valley's Problem

#50

Post by ffk »

thematt wrote: post #46
cbracy wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's my responsibility too. I'm working on it. Just coming off the Obama campaign and rolling into a new gig in the coming weeks. Not ready to announce it yet, but I'm proud of it and think it's part of the solution.

When you were on the Obama campaign trail were you voicing opposition to his policies? Specifically FISA?

At the least, she is vocal about FISA.

https://twitter.com/cbracy/status/285064199699300352

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