Interesting that an article that deals this directly with class is running in the Weekly Standard. Outside a couple swipes at green building codes and a pass at hypocracy vis a vis apartments, this is almost something I could see running in Mother Jones.
Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
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Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
A solution to this dystopian future would be the basic income I'm fascinated to see how philanthropic society will choose to be. Here's why. With the advent of robots I believe that something fundamental has changed. Elites, if they so choose, will not need to accommodate lower classes. Previously, there had to be some sharing because elites still had to rely on other humans for policing and military. However, it see…
Think of the other side ... all the hacker movies that we watched - they could become a reality. When you launch your startup why not just try to use zero day exploit to mess with the brakes of Zuckeberg's tesla (that is PS4 on wheels) while he is near a cliff. Home made drones - with the advance of 3d printing why not? If 10 people could create a billion dollar company today just think what a rogue genius could do i…
That's all within the realm of possibility, sure. But keep in mind that the affluent could simply buy a drone(or what-have-you) with all sorts of bells, whistles, and 10 years of improvements to security. The amount of work necessary to DIY something that even begins to approach the capabilities of something built by a company that knows what they're doing would be extreme - I'd argue insurmountable in many cases - even with 10 years of improvements to manufacturing and the availability of components.
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#33I didn't know this... that the new "Knowledge Economy" is making the imcome gap worse.
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#34> Yes! Let them eat beans! Preferably in their apartments. No, seriously now. I've got a friend who 5 years ago decided that he needs "to straighten his life out", and now he has a huge house in SV and is lead engineer at Apple. That's really fine, and obviously not everyone can have such a life. And people will really have to look inside themselves, and ask themselves what it REALLY is they want. If they want status…
A solution to this dystopian future would be the basic income I'm fascinated to see how philanthropic society will choose to be. Here's why. With the advent of robots I believe that something fundamental has changed. Elites, if they so choose, will not need to accommodate lower classes. Previously, there had to be some sharing because elites still had to rely on other humans for policing and military. However, it see…
"Previously, there had to be some sharing because elites still had to rely on other humans for policing and military. However, it seems like robots might cut that connection."
You're right. Out of sight, out of mind. Or probably it would be a sentiment similar with how the African subsistence is thought about. There is some sympathy involved, maybe some occasional donation even, but how much and how often the problem actually falls on one's agenda?
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article seems to be saying that the upper class are the capitalists that have founded successful companies, and the middle class are all the engineers, and the lower class are the rest of society. This view of class division in an industrialized society is not particularly new. Kurt Vonnegut's novel Player Piano presents this exact scenario (upper class of managers, middle class of engineers, unemployed masses),…
I agree that the class division is fairly standard (though the middle class also includes the lawyers, doctors, and other professionals that earn as much or more than engineers), but I guess I don't understand the connection to real estate prices. Who owns all these homes, and buys all these homes? It seems as though it's a bubble that's almost ready to burst, the way that it's been laid out in the article. Or that t…
It's a mix. I know a lot of families in SV that have lived there for a long time and have somehow managed to hold on to their houses, working two jobs and just making it. Also, there seem to be quite a few immigrant families from Asia that cram extended families into relatively small homes and get a foothold. There are also plenty of young tech workers that can afford a small house or condo as long as they are willing to take on a lot of debt.
Whenever I visit my in-laws in Palo Alto I enjoy it but I'm always glad to leave it behind again. Every year they add a lane to 101 but they never make it any wider.
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#36This is rather surprising fare for the Weekly Standard, which is (to my understanding) a conservative magazine. Perhaps the American political climate is realigning in an interesting way.
I had the same thought. I used to read the Weekly Standard to see what the other side has to say but gave up on it. This piece was outside their usual sphere.
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the real news here is stuff like this: According to figures collected by Joel Kotkin, the dotcom crash wiped out 70,000 jobs in the valley in a little over a single year, and since then the tech industry has added only 30,000 new ones, leaving the bay region with a net 40,000 fewer jobs than existed in 2001.
If it's true that anyone who could say "HTML" in 2001 was called a "programmer", then that year is not a good baseline for tech job statistics.
If it's true that anyone who can say "Ruby on Rails" in 2013 is called a "programmer"...
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
A solution to this dystopian future would be the basic income I'm fascinated to see how philanthropic society will choose to be. Here's why. With the advent of robots I believe that something fundamental has changed. Elites, if they so choose, will not need to accommodate lower classes. Previously, there had to be some sharing because elites still had to rely on other humans for policing and military. However, it see…
"Previously, there had to be some sharing because elites still had to rely on other humans for policing and military. However, it seems like robots might cut that connection." You're right. Out of sight, out of mind. Or probably it would be a sentiment similar with how the African subsistence is thought about. There is some sympathy involved, maybe some occasional donation even, but how much and how often the problem…
Africa and Brazil is part of what I'm thinking about. We don't have to imagine elites walling themselves off and being indifferent ... there are places on earth where that already exists.
In fact, to be fair to Africa and Brazil, I think that exists to a large extent in America. Lots of people couldn't care less what happens in poor parts of the country.
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#39Cowen bluntly predicted what he called “wage polarization.” The increasing ability of computers to perform ordinary tasks will inexorably transform America into an income oligarchy in which the top 15 percent of people—with skills “that are a complement to the computer”—will enjoy “cheery” labor-market prospects and soaring incomes, while the bottom 85 percent, that is to say, 267 million out of America’s 315 million…
and compared to central London and the UK a 5 mill dollar house isn't that expensive. In my little commuter town in the UK on the same street as my doctors surgery there is a house going for just under 1.6 Million dollars
London is always going to be a worst-case scenario. You guys don't just have the journalist-making-a-hyperbolic-statement sort of royalty, you still have the for-real kind.
Re: Silicon Chasm: The class divide on America’s cutting edge
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
A solution to this dystopian future would be the basic income I'm fascinated to see how philanthropic society will choose to be. Here's why. With the advent of robots I believe that something fundamental has changed. Elites, if they so choose, will not need to accommodate lower classes. Previously, there had to be some sharing because elites still had to rely on other humans for policing and military. However, it see…
Think of the other side ... all the hacker movies that we watched - they could become a reality. When you launch your startup why not just try to use zero day exploit to mess with the brakes of Zuckeberg's tesla (that is PS4 on wheels) while he is near a cliff. Home made drones - with the advance of 3d printing why not? If 10 people could create a billion dollar company today just think what a rogue genius could do i…
"Technology is an enabler. It also enables the nasty stuff. And the elites while more powerful than ever will also be more fragile and vulnerable."
I'm trying to imagine the risk exposure with and without technology regarding the benefit for one's safety. In the past the rich people have always been exposed to robbery and other kind of crimes, and the only real solutions have been keeping a low profile or employing protecting forces. The technology worked well in reducing the risks of exposure. There doesn't make much sense now to be attacked for robbery as wealth isn't carried much around with you. I admit though that being attacked out of personal reasons wasn't brushed off by technology, but I didn't quite understood why would anyone be "hell bent on eating the rich"?