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Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#61

Post by Fomite »

acchow wrote: post #31

twentysomethings are interested in the problems of twentysomethings.

One thing that seems to be lost between the article and the comments - it's not just twentysomethings. It's twentysomethings "with cash on hand".

That adds a degree of self-indulgence to the description. It's not just twentysomethings solving the problems of people their age, tackling the questions of their generation, but solving the problems of (at least culturally) affluent, employed tech workers with disposable income.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#62

Post by thwarted »

mhurron wrote: post #28
destraynor wrote: post #14

That's not true, every time a founder becomes a parent they build shitty solutions to all those problems too :) But seriously this whole angle frustrates me. Who decided that Silicon Valley had to be held over hot coals for building software companies that solve problems and make money. Why does it always read like "they alone inherited the problems of the universe, and are choosing to build dickpic apps instead". Ev…

> Who decided that Silicon Valley had to be held over hot coals for building software companies that solve problems and make money. It would appear that Silicon Valley did. Every mundane piece of software is going to 'change the world.' People are just waiting for that to happen.

Nothing in "change the world" says that the change needs to be positive or needs to solve one of the Big Problems (poverty, hunger, energy, etc).

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#63

Post by thwarted »

larrys wrote: post #41
mhurron wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who decided that Silicon Valley had to be held over hot coals for building software companies that solve problems and make money. It would appear that Silicon Valley did. Every mundane piece of software is going to 'change the world.' People are just waiting for that to happen.

Correct. Dates back to at least the interaction between Jobs and Sculley to wit: "Do you want to sell sugared water for the rest of your life? Or do you want to come with me and change the world?". It's much easier to get young people to buy into a dream of changing the world and making money than it is to buy into a dream of making money w/o changing the world. Reminds me a bit of the Capone quote something like "Yo…

It's funny that Jobs implied that selling sugar water is somehow less world changing than what Jobs/Apple was doing at the time. I happened across this video [0] the other day, "Coca-Cola Small World Machines - Bringing India & Pakistan Together". Coca-cola has the means to do just as much "world changing" as any other company, and seems to. (albeit, Jobs was talking about Pepsi, not Coke, but it's still the "sugar water" industry).

I wonder if Jobs thought in 2001 that selling MP3 players was the kind of thing he was thinking about when he said "change the world".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts_4vOUDImE

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#64

Post by wittysense »

The hypercompetitive culture makes SV a series of silos. We may be working workstation-to-workstation, but just as you drive along the interstate, it's a series of anonymous silos of farmers loosely affiliated, if that.

And any shoplifting guide worth its weight will tell you that those farmers are screwing you over in at least 3 different ways via strict affiliations with government and taxation, price gouging the market, and transportation costs, along with manipulative garned relationships with the GroceryStoreCartel(tm), all while you fancy the philosophical scenario of whether they're interested in your problems.

You as a driver should move along, or learn the road.

The only response to "Does some large group X care about me?" is Hanlon's Razor.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#65

Post by ChuckMcM »

logn wrote: post #52
seanlinehan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a strategy that I have heard repeated a few times: When you see a rhetorical question in the title of a news article, the answer is no. The answer is always no. The article may say maybe. But the answer is no. Just like that you've saved yourself a few minutes.

I've come to count on another thing too: someone on HN comments will always point out the answer is 'no' and then point out this generality, and then you'll often have a comment like mine point this out. :)

ibid

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#66

Post by ChuckMcM »

Its useful for the non-tech press to point out that no, we're not only solving problems for young people with more disposable income than they know what to do with. It does suggest that there is a very good business to be had 10 - 15 years from now as these people mature and now do need to do something with that income but that is a different article :-)

One wave of things I'm looking for (and it's seems to be foreshadowed with things like the maker movement) is spontaneous manufacturing. Places where you need something built and a bunch of people, using tools in their garage or workshop, contribute parts where a co-ordinator assembles into widgets.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#67

Post by wging »

jimmaswell wrote: post #57
jelled wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you familiar with the word "salary"?

After researching the issue deeper, apparently there are exceptions to the time-and-a-half regulation, and programmers are an exception. I'm not sure why you're specifically mentioning the word salary though.

Many people are not paid for their time (wages). Instead they're paid a fixed rate (a salary).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salary#United_States

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#68

Post by moron4hire »

logn wrote: post #52
seanlinehan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a strategy that I have heard repeated a few times: When you see a rhetorical question in the title of a news article, the answer is no. The answer is always no. The article may say maybe. But the answer is no. Just like that you've saved yourself a few minutes.

I've come to count on another thing too: someone on HN comments will always point out the answer is 'no' and then point out this generality, and then you'll often have a comment like mine point this out. :)

omg, I can create noisy posts, too.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#69

Post by wittysense »

quantumpotato_ wrote: post #59
seanlinehan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here is a strategy that I have heard repeated a few times: When you see a rhetorical question in the title of a news article, the answer is no. The answer is always no. The article may say maybe. But the answer is no. Just like that you've saved yourself a few minutes.

Why are people posting articles like this to HN? Please stop :(

Seriously? That's utterly irresponsible. I hope you aren't a CEO.

Re: Is Silicon Valley only interested in the problems of twentysomethings?

#70

Post by wittysense »

jimmaswell wrote: post #45
gamble wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the technology industry depends on a lot of idealistic young workers putting in plenty of unpaid overtime, and no one ever motivated that commitment with a call to increase shareholder returns by 17%.

Unpaid overtime isn't legal in the United States where SF is, as far as I know.

While we claim people are addicted to FB etc because of their devices, it's somehow okay to let developers drive themselves mad so that we can ask 10 years later: So what IDE do you think axed your brain?

Startups will categorically enfeeble more people than any war. And we'll do it in the name of GTD and competition with our own machines.

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