Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
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Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
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Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#2At the end of the day I don't think Silicon Valley represents anything fundamentally different from the world at large. The world is unfair, and it may become even less fair.
What is disturbing is how the hype-machine around "startups" and the unicorn myth encourages people to believe they can be the next big thing. But basic arithmetic makes that impossible: you can't have an abundance of unicorns when the attention economy, capital, and market share are structurally limited.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#3At the end of the day I don't think Silicon Valley represents anything fundamentally different from the world at large. The world is unfair, and it may become even less fair. What is disturbing is how the hype-machine around "startups" and the unicorn myth encourages people to believe they can be the next big thing. But basic arithmetic makes that impossible: you can't have an abundance of unicorns when the attention…
People have a tendency to think they're special, that they won't (or will) be the outlier. Gambling, unprotected sex, etc. We're not great at risk evaluation/comparison.
But hey, without this, our public schools wouldn't get funding from lottery tickets! So I'm forced to conclude it's a good thing.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#4At the end of the day I don't think Silicon Valley represents anything fundamentally different from the world at large. The world is unfair, and it may become even less fair. What is disturbing is how the hype-machine around "startups" and the unicorn myth encourages people to believe they can be the next big thing. But basic arithmetic makes that impossible: you can't have an abundance of unicorns when the attention…
People have a tendency to think they're special, that they won't (or will) be the outlier. Gambling, unprotected sex, etc. We're not great at risk evaluation/comparison. But hey, without this, our public schools wouldn't get funding from lottery tickets! So I'm forced to conclude it's a good thing.
It is not your main point, I know - but for everyone I know who buys lottery tickets, they're more thought of as an entertainment purchase than a financial purchase.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#5At the end of the day I don't think Silicon Valley represents anything fundamentally different from the world at large. The world is unfair, and it may become even less fair. What is disturbing is how the hype-machine around "startups" and the unicorn myth encourages people to believe they can be the next big thing. But basic arithmetic makes that impossible: you can't have an abundance of unicorns when the attention…
People have a tendency to think they're special, that they won't (or will) be the outlier. Gambling, unprotected sex, etc. We're not great at risk evaluation/comparison. But hey, without this, our public schools wouldn't get funding from lottery tickets! So I'm forced to conclude it's a good thing.
The lottery paying for schooling is a clever self-defeating policy because it moves the tax-burden to the same people who would most benefit from a good public school system.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#6At the end of the day I don't think Silicon Valley represents anything fundamentally different from the world at large. The world is unfair, and it may become even less fair. What is disturbing is how the hype-machine around "startups" and the unicorn myth encourages people to believe they can be the next big thing. But basic arithmetic makes that impossible: you can't have an abundance of unicorns when the attention…
People have a tendency to think they're special, that they won't (or will) be the outlier. Gambling, unprotected sex, etc. We're not great at risk evaluation/comparison. But hey, without this, our public schools wouldn't get funding from lottery tickets! So I'm forced to conclude it's a good thing.
True, people consistently overestimate their chances of being the exception. But in parallel, I think we also lack hype around the opposite direction: learning to live with less, intentionally and intelligently.
I'm not talking about UBI or forced austerity, but about developing smarter ways to live frugally without feeling deprived. That mindset would relieve a lot of the pressure that the "you must win the startup lottery" narrative creates.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#7I don’t think any silicon valley leaders believe themselves to be progressive at this point.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#8[flagged]
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#9Just like their predecessors: Big Tobacco, Big Fossil, Big Tech.
The Playbook is always the same: Run global Propaganda (ads/PR), while behind the public's back extract the capital from the general public into the private hands of a select few and "socialise" the costs (health, mental-health, polarisation, extremism, populism, ...) to the state (taxpayer).
Basically: screwing the public and letting them pay the bill, but hidden by X-layers of obfuscation.
Re: Silicon Valley startups: being evil, again and again
#10Just like their predecessors: Big Tobacco, Big Fossil, Big Tech. The Playbook is always the same: Run global Propaganda (ads/PR), while behind the public's back extract the capital from the general public into the private hands of a select few and "socialise" the costs (health, mental-health, polarisation, extremism, populism, ...) to the state (taxpayer). Basically: screwing the public and letting them pay the bill,…
PS: Of course all the SV hipster boys and wanna-be billionaires (do you still believe you will make it?) downvote this. Well, let "that sink in" as your poster boy would say.
From the article:
> And I’m talking to you now, fellow workers of the Valley! If you really want to do no evil, to be good, disrupt the status quo and make the world a better place, then don’t create a capitalist firm: it’s a top-down dictatorship, where the dictators steal the money. There’s nothing progressive about this kind of social institution. Founding such a startup is deeply unethical, represents institutionalised theft, and is a prime cause of diverse social ills.