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Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

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51–60 of 140 posts

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#51
post #4

People had voted for Trump not because of lack of empathy, but because they were fed up with being patronized, negged, treated like children, observed, modeled and disempowered, belittled and generally discounted. And this article is not helping it.

And why were they patronized and treated like children again? Oh, perhaps it was because they claimed Obama wasn't born in the US. Or because they denied global warming. Or because they hate Mexicans and Muslims. In short, because they bought in to the steaming pile of bullshit that is the right wing media echo chamber. When they think like children, talk like children, and act like children, they shouldn't be surpri…

> When they think like children, talk like children, and act like children, they shouldn't be surprised that they're treated like children.

and does punishing children cause them to behave better?

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#52
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, and this: http://www.unz.com/freed/uniquely-talented/

>"Everybody worked for Trump. He couldn’t lose." Hillary comfortably won the popular vote, and something like 100,000 voters in strategic states were what swung the election to Trump. "He couldn't lose" is a lot different from "he could win", and is a ridiculously strong claim that nobody who believes in evidence and logic-based reasoning would have made previous to Nov. 9th.

And voters in two or three counties gave Clinton the popular vote.

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#53

This Neo-Luddism feels really misplaced. Do you know why some people are getting the short end of the stick? It's because the educational system has failed them by wasting their youth and giving nothing in return. But I can't blame a guy who founded a SV-centric blog to see all problems through a SV-centric lens.

> It's because the educational system has failed them by wasting their youth and giving nothing in return

Ah, the deserving poor!

Some never consider getting an education because it was not something to aspire to, let alone spending enough time in the system to fail them.

Maybe these people are getting the short end of the stick not because they were idle, but because their family were too busy working three jobs trying to make ends meet, maybe because their mother wanted to read to her children but was working some late to pay off medical bills, etc.

A strong welfare state and job security can break the cycle, but who is willing to pay - in taxes - for that?

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still remains to be seen if the Luddites were wrong or merely early -- that's the very thing under discussion! Great PR to use their name as an insult before resolving whether they're right or not.

I didn't know this was still debated.

There's at least a very popular opinion that the accelerated rate of technological progress will make humans the horses of the 21st century, that is, we'll be replaced at jobs by technology faster than (most of us) can be retrained, and that most of us will be rendered useless and left in the cold.

The article itself was about that debate still going on, so it seems disingenuous to say you werent aware it was still being discussed.

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#55

This Neo-Luddism feels really misplaced. Do you know why some people are getting the short end of the stick? It's because the educational system has failed them by wasting their youth and giving nothing in return. But I can't blame a guy who founded a SV-centric blog to see all problems through a SV-centric lens.

> It's because the educational system has failed them by wasting their youth and giving nothing in return Ah, the deserving poor! Some never consider getting an education because it was not something to aspire to, let alone spending enough time in the system to fail them. Maybe these people are getting the short end of the stick not because they were idle, but because their family were too busy working three jobs try…

> A strong welfare state and job security can break the cycle, but who is willing to pay - in taxes - for that?

Don't get me wrong, I fully agree. But I think that if I were to pick a single element of a welfare state that can bootstrap the whole thing, I'd pick education. It seems like a lot of the largest country growths were bootstrapped by betting on the educational system (Finland, Singapore and South Korea come to mind).

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#56
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was the first in my (working class) family to go to university, followed by my younger siblings. We may not now move in the same circles as the other children of the neighbours on our street, but we sure don't patronize them, think them any less, or dismiss their and so many other people's genuine concerns be it immigration, or crime, or job security. Unlike certain media and others who claim to be left-wing in the…

> we sure don't patronize them, think them any less, or dismiss their and so many other people's genuine concerns be it immigration, or crime, or job security great! perhaps you have been raised well and have managed to recover from emotional trauma you may have experienced in life so far. some people unfortunately have not been so lucky.

Yes, we were lucky and raised well.

> have managed to recover from emotional trauma

????

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It still remains to be seen if the Luddites were wrong or merely early -- that's the very thing under discussion! Great PR to use their name as an insult before resolving whether they're right or not.

I didn't know this was still debated.

I am a software engineer, and also a luddite. technology destroys jobs. the question is whether that destruction liberates or oppresses. do we fire some workers and overwork others, or find ways to reduce and share the burden and benefits of labour?

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#58

“Productivity is at record levels, innovation has never been faster, and yet at the same time, we have a falling median income and we have fewer jobs. People are falling behind because technology is advancing so fast and our skills and organizations aren’t keeping up.” It is, he said, “the great paradox of our era.” While I believe this is true, and understand why it is a problem, I do not think there is anything tha…

Although I agree with you on the education part, pushing STEM is not necessarily the answer. Everyone having the same skillset is certainly not the answer to diminishing returns on employment.

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#59
post #4

People had voted for Trump not because of lack of empathy, but because they were fed up with being patronized, negged, treated like children, observed, modeled and disempowered, belittled and generally discounted. And this article is not helping it.

And why were they patronized and treated like children again? Oh, perhaps it was because they claimed Obama wasn't born in the US. Or because they denied global warming. Or because they hate Mexicans and Muslims. In short, because they bought in to the steaming pile of bullshit that is the right wing media echo chamber. When they think like children, talk like children, and act like children, they shouldn't be surpri…

Dude was a media darling for 30 years, was never called a racist until he ran against a Clinton.

Re: Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum

#60
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And why were they patronized and treated like children again? Oh, perhaps it was because they claimed Obama wasn't born in the US. Or because they denied global warming. Or because they hate Mexicans and Muslims. In short, because they bought in to the steaming pile of bullshit that is the right wing media echo chamber. When they think like children, talk like children, and act like children, they shouldn't be surpri…

> When they think like children, talk like children, and act like children, they shouldn't be surprised that they're treated like children. and does punishing children cause them to behave better?

Sometimes you need a carrot, and sometimes you need a stick. I tend to think the stick worked better at shaping my behavior as a child, but you can't do that anymore.
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