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

How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

blogs.hbr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 54 posts

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#21

Post by sigil »

The road trips are always about the heroic actions of people like Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady and their amazing automobiles, right? Never, never did it get told that those road trips were only made possible by Eisenhower’s completion of the highway system.

That's interesting. Because Cassady and Kerouac's road trips in "On the Road" happened in 1947, 1949, and 1950 [0]. Construction of the Interstate Highway System didn't begin until 1956, and didn't finish until 1992 [1].

However, if we conspicuously omit the name "Kerouac" and that most famous of American counterculture roadtrips, then like Fred Turner, we too can conclude that no fun ("heroic!") roadtrips happened prior to intervention by the Federal Government.

[0] http://www.dennismansker.com/ontheroad.htm

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System#Const...

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#22

Post by jljljl »

refurb wrote: post #7
rayiner wrote: post #2

The answer to the third question is great: "A legacy from the communalist movement that I think is pernicious is a turning away from politics, a turning toward the self as the basis of political change, of social action. I think that’s something you see all through the Valley. The information technology industry feeds off it because information technologies can so easily be aimed at satisfying individual needs. You s…

That's an odd argument to make against libertarians when libertarians support defense spending as a key role of government. The Highway Interstate system was driven mainly by defense needs. It's also known as the "Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways"[1] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System

Where does a libertarian draw a clear line between defense and non-defense spending? Couldn't food stamps be considered a defense policy if it ensures an able bodied population of potential conscripts? Where is the philosophical line?

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#23

Post by kaonashi »

sigil wrote: post #21

The road trips are always about the heroic actions of people like Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady and their amazing automobiles, right? Never, never did it get told that those road trips were only made possible by Eisenhower’s completion of the highway system. That's interesting. Because Cassady and Kerouac's road trips in "On the Road" happened in 1947, 1949, and 1950 [0]. Construction of the Interstate Highway System di…

Why is government activity labeled 'intervention' and private sector activity not labeled as such?

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#24

Post by msabalau »

sigil wrote: post #21

The road trips are always about the heroic actions of people like Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady and their amazing automobiles, right? Never, never did it get told that those road trips were only made possible by Eisenhower’s completion of the highway system. That's interesting. Because Cassady and Kerouac's road trips in "On the Road" happened in 1947, 1949, and 1950 [0]. Construction of the Interstate Highway System di…

Of course, even if the interstate highway had been completed, it's a rather odd to feel that the meaning of the work is derived from the literal experience of a particular road.

It's like saying that so much is made of Leonardo's artistry, but no one talks about how that Mona Lisa only exists because of the great genes of the Gherardini family.

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#25

Post by [deleted] »

krisdol wrote: post #16
dkuntz2 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The traditional libertarian viewpoint isn't that the government shouldn't use the money it has to foster innovation, or that the government shouldn't have any money to use for anything, or even that the government should be tiny. It's that the government should be more decentralized. And while the libertarians in the US today have a large number of differences with the more historic libertarians, some of the historic…

When a few individuals own all the land other individuals have to choose between selling themselves short for others' gain, or starving. The whole anti-authoritarian thing goes out the window when property laws need enforcement.

[deleted]

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#26

Post by privong »

kaonashi wrote: post #23
sigil wrote: post #21

The road trips are always about the heroic actions of people like Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady and their amazing automobiles, right? Never, never did it get told that those road trips were only made possible by Eisenhower’s completion of the highway system. That's interesting. Because Cassady and Kerouac's road trips in "On the Road" happened in 1947, 1949, and 1950 [0]. Construction of the Interstate Highway System di…

Why is government activity labeled 'intervention' and private sector activity not labeled as such?

Because government activity is generally mandated (both in the sense that they can compel people to change their behavior or that people can't refuse to contribute money towards government endeavours), while private sector activity is generally optional.

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#28

Post by kaonashi »

privong wrote: post #26
kaonashi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is government activity labeled 'intervention' and private sector activity not labeled as such?

Because government activity is generally mandated (both in the sense that they can compel people to change their behavior or that people can't refuse to contribute money towards government endeavours), while private sector activity is generally optional.

You are by no means forced to participate in any government activity (at least since the draft ended).

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#29

Post by username223 »

sigil wrote: post #21

The road trips are always about the heroic actions of people like Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady and their amazing automobiles, right? Never, never did it get told that those road trips were only made possible by Eisenhower’s completion of the highway system. That's interesting. Because Cassady and Kerouac's road trips in "On the Road" happened in 1947, 1949, and 1950 [0]. Construction of the Interstate Highway System di…

You probably don't realize it, but the interstates were built over an earlier system of federal highways (heard of Route 66? That's I-40.). Before federal highways, you could buy "maps" along the lines of "when you see an intersection that looks like this picture, turn right." That thuggish federal jackboot stomping on your face forever can be kind of helpful, eh?

Re: How Silicon Valley became "The Man"

#30

Post by _delirium »

nickpinkston wrote: post #17
_delirium wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of libertarian rhetoric, but are actual libertarians really widespread in the Valley? To me it comes across as a loud but very small minority— albeit perhaps also one that's disproportionately represented among those at the very top (perhaps part of why it's so loud). Someone like Peter Thiel might be a libertarian-conservative politically, but the average middle-class techie seems more like a middle-of…

There's a lot of liberal-tarian people, like myself, they are skeptical of many East Coast Liberal ideas, while still wanting the government (perhaps city, not fed/state gov't) help the poor, provide free education / healthcare, etc.

That's sort of (if I understand correctly) the direction parts of Scandinavia have been moving. Denmark's '90s Social Democratic PM coined the term "flexicurity" to refer to a free-market economy that is as flexible as possible (no onerous regulations on hiring/firing and doing business), but combined with a strong state-provided social-welfare system (the "security" part). Basically the idea is that it should be easy to fire someone, but they shouldn't end up homeless and poor if you do, plus they should have plenty of retraining/education resources available.
Post reply on HN