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If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

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Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#261

Post by rhino369 »

24gttghh wrote: post #36
blocked_again wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pardon my ignorance but what did big bang theory got wrong?

Pardon the terminology, but I consider that show to be Nerd-Blackface. I'm not sure how else to describe it. I find how the show deals with anything technical to be an affront to intelligence in general.

All comedy exaggerates and stereotypes. You are just butthurt that people like you are the butt of the joke.

And the butthurt is misplaced. The nerds of the show are definitely a source of the comedy but they are protagonists you are supposed to root for. They have foibles but generally, you are supposed to respect their intelligence and commitment to science, etc.

It's a far cry from steve urkle.

It's much much much closer to a George Lopez show making fun of Mexicans than to Minstrel shows.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#262

Post by Apocryphon »

lsd5you wrote: post #254
tootie wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Flynn Effect. People aren't getting more ignorant, we're becoming more aware of our ignorance. Of all the foolishness and idiocy in the world, if you look at human history it's always been worse than now.

Sure but the Flynn effect is just something measured and could well just be a 'low hanging fruit' environmental gains that will/already have run out.

What mythical better times are Idiocracy theory proponents even mourning? When have literacy rates and educational attainment for the masses ever been better than the present? As a species, we still have a long way to go before the low hanging fruit gains are realized.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#263

Post by screye »

suddensleep wrote: post #219
screye wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flo-Rida performed at NIPS. The top academic ML conference. I can't imagine who thought that the community of some of the world's biggest nerds wanted to listen to Flo-Rida !?

I was at NeurIPS last year, and I can actually confirm that the line to see Flo-Rida went around the block. It's unclear to me whether or not there was genuine interest in the performance, but there was certainly interest in the event. Say what you will about the world's biggest nerds, but irony, whether purposeful or inexplicably accidental, is not lost on them. Ninja Edit: New conference name :)

> NeurIPS

That was fast.

I was all for a name change from a juvenile pun, but "NeurIPS" is hilariously bad. It confirms, that everyone but the press, continues calling it NIPS.

> line to see Flo-Rida went around the block

I mean, if it was a free (already paid for) concert, then I would go for it too.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#266

Post by freehunter »

Fricken wrote: post #247
tootie wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mike Judge is just an absolute artistic genius. Even though it's all light-hearted pop culture, the breadth of his work is just so amazing.

All of his work is about middle class suburban white people, and their lives. There's nothing wrong with that, 'write what you know', but 'breadth' isn't really the term to describe it.

Race and class demographics are not the only dimensions to a show. A working class conservative family in the suburbs of Dallas is pretty different from the high tech and high paid world of Silicon Valley is different from uneducated teenage slackers giggling at poop jokes.

What Bevis does/thinks/likes versus what Hank does/thinks/likes versus what Richard does/thinks/likes could not be farther from each other. Just because they're all white doesn't mean they're all interchangeable.

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#267

Post by milquetoastaf »

garmaine wrote: post #146

I find it hits a bit close to home, so much so as to ruin the comedy sometimes... it’d be funny if it weren’t so true, which is depressing. Still watch it, and love it though. And super impressed that a Hollywood production finally understood Northern California. That never happens (see: The Social Network, Hackers, every Steve Jobs movie, etc.)

Hackers takes place in NYC though

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#268

Post by InitialLastName »

rchaud wrote: post #121
felipesoc wrote: post #17

I always like to compare Silicon Valley to The Big Bang Theory. TBBT seems like a parody of the stereotype of the people they are parodying while SV is a true parody. I'm always thinking "haha, that's so true" when watching SV, but never while watching TBBT.

TBBT is not a "parody". It is your standard-issue broadcast network sitcom about 3 males, 3 females and their friendships as they date and break up with each other, marry each other and have kids. This is a successful premise that has stood for decades in American TV. Friends and How I Met Your Mother followed the same principles almost to a tee. That's how you get a show that runs for 10 seasons in this day and age.…

It's funny that you compare TBBT to Will & Grace, since they have very different receptions among their subjects.

I know lots of gay urbanites who feel well-represented by Will & Grace. I know lots of people in the "trad nerd" set, but none of them see The Big Bang Theory and say "yep, that's me".

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#269

Post by deft »

coleifer wrote: post #81
skunkworker wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This Venn diagram always gets me. https://i.chzbgr.com/full/8291744000/h3159FC59/

I use this simple litmus test: if it has a laugh-track, then it's for dumb people.

I use this: "if I don't like it, it's for dumb people" :^)

Re: If you want to understand Silicon Valley, watch Silicon Valley

#270

Post by rhino369 »

toyg wrote: post #200
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who fits almost all of the boxes for people Big Bang Theory has made fun of, I still enjoy the series immensely, as I have since it started. Sometimes I wonder if it just hits too close to the truth for some people, or if on the opposite end, they are too detached from the sort of people it characterizes and hence don't see where it draws from. Silicon Valley is a very different show, but definitely on sol…

BBT laughs AT nerds, reinforcing stereotypes in non-nerds and reassuring the mainstream about its superiority. SV laughs WITH nerds, satirising the excesses of a culture that is presented as filthy rich and dominant beyond belief. It also deals with the actual wet dreams of the culture in a fairly realistic way. Think about the material that a dim bully could get from BBT (tons), versus what he could get from SV (ver…

>BBT laughs AT nerds, reinforcing stereotypes in non-nerds and reassuring the mainstream about its superiority.

BBT definitely laughs at nerds. But I don't think reassures the mainstream about its superiority. The characters on BBT are depicted as god-tier geniuses that are successful at doing important work. The nerds are the protagonists.

SV on the other really sticks it to developers and VC. I don't get a sense the SV writers respect was the valley does at all.

SV is just about 20 times funnier though.

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