Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you • Hacker News Board

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#261

Post by Klockan » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:52 PM UTC

aaron-lebo wrote: post #248

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing projects and government cheese aren't terrible because they're inexpensive . The government spends a ridiculous amount of money on them. They're terrible because the buyer is the bureaucracy instead of the consumer. Which is a thing the UBI fixes. If you have a UBI then you don't have to buy cheese. You can buy beans, pasta, carrots, potatoes, rice, bananas, it's your choice.

You're presenting everything as ideal case. $12k a year means $1k a month to live. You'll be buying lots of cheap carrots and potatoes and rice because that's all you'll have money for. You won't have a choice. Go break down the budget at $1k a month. You'll find that people on government welfare often already live better than that. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2014/12/... ...earning $10,000 a…

> You'll be buying lots of cheap carrots and potatoes and rice because that's all you'll have money for.

You are kinda ignorant, your food expenses will be less than $1 a day if you only buy cheap food like that. I've lived on less than $1k a month most of my life, totally doable, you can buy good healthy food for around $4 a day if you cook yourself.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#262

Post by richardknop » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:52 PM UTC

floatrock wrote: post #245

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And anyways, dire imprecations of fire and brimstone if we don't do things your way is so 1700s. You think if the majority of people in this country continue to experience a declining quality of life, there won't be riots in the streets? This method of shifting blame from economic issues to social issues won't work forever. edit: To those downvoting me, can you please explain why? Am I wrong in some way?

A major people's rebellion (started for all practical purposes mostly with pitchforks and torches) against the tyranny and oppression of the wealthy noble-class in far-off lands happened in 1776 or somewhere around then... couldn't help but notice the irony of using the 1700's in the above example.

Yes, and revolutions we had in US and Europe in 18th/19th century could happen again if the income inequality continues to grow and quality of life of middle class / working class continues to decrease. This is sort of extreme reaction a really stressed society would be capable of.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#263

Post by thriftwy » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:52 PM UTC

ng12 wrote: post #253

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Housing projects and government cheese aren't terrible because they're inexpensive . The government spends a ridiculous amount of money on them. They're terrible because the buyer is the bureaucracy instead of the consumer. Which is a thing the UBI fixes. If you have a UBI then you don't have to buy cheese. You can buy beans, pasta, carrots, potatoes, rice, bananas, it's your choice.

I don't think I ascribe to the reality where the bureaucracy is the worst part of being poor.

In countries where you have e.g. gangs they can be worse than that, but if you're in a peaceful country, as a [working] poor, bureaucracy is easy your problem #1.

They can make all your savings disappear for a clerical error, for starters, and you are stretched on time to stay in lines to make things right.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#264

Post by gyardley » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:53 PM UTC

jrs95 wrote: post #44

gotthemwmds wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" there is no a priori reason for women and ethnic minorities to be less prevalent in our high-paying fields." Sure there is: racist and sexist white males making decisions and developing a workplace culture that prevents them from attaining those positions. And the sooner people accept this, the better for everyone.

>developing a workplace culture that prevents them from attaining those positions Some who make this argument (and I'm not necessarily saying you're in this camp) are essentially saying that "nerd culture" is some oppressive sexist force. That's sort of ironic given that it's basically a subculture formed by social rejects. There are of course aspects of workplace culture which do this, but an appreciation of science…

Human behavior being what it is, I don't know why we'd be surprised when people who know the pain of rejection are happy to inflict that pain on others.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#265

Post by crush-n-spread » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

deadmetheny wrote: post #242

lostboys67 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So they do want handouts /subsidies then

This is remarkably tone-deaf. I also originally hailed from a small Midwestern town. The lack of available work is not a pretty sight, and suggesting that people should just uproot themselves and move somewhere else is not a solution for a number of reasons (family/friends, lack of money to move in the first place, etc). It's no small wonder that people voted for Trump - even though his promises were pretty obviously…

Tone-deaf or not, you have to go where the work is. You might have to pick up a laptop and learn to code. Maybe that means uprooting your family and finding new friends. You have to make it work. To not find work is to not survive.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#266

Post by existencebox » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

kevmo wrote: post #82

The overlords of Silicon Valley need to do a bit more to turn America's best minds towards solving serious social problems. Personal anecdote: Right now, I am building software that automates the process of filing super-simple Chapter 7 bankruptcies. We give the product away for free.[1] Technologically, this is a really straightforward problem and solution: You just collect some documents and fill out a long questio…

A tangential curiosity, perhaps you can give some insight on a very naive question I've had regarding nonprofits:

You mention re: avalanch of regulatory activity if you try to make money; where does the line get drawn between providing competitive salaries and "making money"? I've always been somewhat curious of the band Non Profits have to operate in to maintain that status vs. what pragmatic benefits it gives. (I realize this is a very broad question, so any "sparknotes" breadcrumb you have would also be welcome)

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#267

Post by Clubber » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

jnbiche wrote: post #214

austenallred wrote: post #24

People generally do love Silicon Valley and what it creates. It’s the media that doesn’t. Ask the average person what brands and products they like and use the most (or just look at the data on where and how they spend their time and money) and you’ll see that Silicon Valley is doing just fine in the eyes of the populace. In fact, Silicon Valley has never been more influential. Ask people to go to a world without iPh…

I think you underestimate how much this whole Russian fake news during and after the election has angered many Americans (at least outside of the ~30% of hard-core Trump supporters). Facebook was already on a lot of people's shit list because they know they're the product, they know their privacy isn't respected, and yet they can't keep in touch with their friends without it. This direct attack on our democracy mount…

I dare say the Russian fake news didn't do anything that Fox and Limbaugh and Brietbart haven't been doing for decades.

I'd really like to see some samples of Russian planted news and comments. I wonder if they would even be detectable compared to "normal" stuff the aforementioned organizations produce.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#268

Post by tome » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:55 PM UTC

ng12 wrote: post #212

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Middle America is not too keen on your "basic income" solution to all the problems you are creating. It brings to mind a future of living in a 300 square foot government apartment in some hideous Brutalist concrete block of a building, eating our daily Amazon rations, knowing that's just how life is going to be, forever, no need to have dreams anymore. Except that all of those things are the exact opposite of what…

And what happens when we inevitably converge on a price point where BI only buys you a concrete block and government cheese?

If that happens you increase it, I guess.

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#269

Post by megaman22 » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:55 PM UTC

floatrock wrote: post #245

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And anyways, dire imprecations of fire and brimstone if we don't do things your way is so 1700s. You think if the majority of people in this country continue to experience a declining quality of life, there won't be riots in the streets? This method of shifting blame from economic issues to social issues won't work forever. edit: To those downvoting me, can you please explain why? Am I wrong in some way?

A major people's rebellion (started for all practical purposes mostly with pitchforks and torches) against the tyranny and oppression of the wealthy noble-class in far-off lands happened in 1776 or somewhere around then... couldn't help but notice the irony of using the 1700's in the above example.

I think you mean 1789, if you're really meaning revolt against the ruling class.

1776 was a rebellion of bankers, wealthy landowners, merchants, and industrialists, against relatively minor tax hikes and slight imposition of oversight on long-neglected possessions...

Re: Dear Silicon Valley: America’s fallen out of love with you

#270

Post by Can_Not » Mon, Oct 09, 2017, 4:57 PM UTC

debt wrote: post #172

d_burfoot wrote: post #141

Here's another view of the problem: the "average Joe" American is starting to hate all the centralized and monolithic institutions in the country, because he sees them as being corrupt, privileged, and primarily concerned with cementing their own power. It used to be that SV was a rebel and outsider going against Washington and Wall Street, but increasingly SV is just another pillar of the power structure.

I think it'd be an interesting startup idea to decentralized all the monolithic services. Create an Uber for City X(ie Uber for London, Uber for Chicago, etc.). Allow the municipalities to run those services. And do the same for Airbnb, Yelp, Google, Facebook etc.

I love this idea. I use to work for a "The WordPress of $INDUSTRY" startup and letting people rum their own thing and self brand was very fulfilling work. I think it's important to protect specific categories of small businesses (or simply markets that shouldn't need to be overly centralized) from the growth of underhanded heavy hitting centralized monopolies. I call it AmaZoning when a large player comes in and says "I'm the new middle man".