Silicon Valley Techno-Utopianism

Real question: Is the Valley really worse than other industries, or are they just getting singled out because they claim to value inclusiveness, diversity etc.? I found this paragraph interesting:

"Such bias may be particularly rife in Silicon Valley because of another of its foundational beliefs: that success in tech depends almost entirely on innate genius. Nobody thinks that of lawyers or accountants or even brain surgeons; while some people clearly have more aptitude than others, it’s accepted that law school is where you learn law and that preparing for and passing the CPA exam is how you become a certified accountant. Surgeons are trained, not born. In contrast, a 2015 study published in Science confirmed that computer science and certain other fields, including physics, math, and philosophy, fetishize “brilliance,” cultivating the idea that potential is inborn. The report concluded that these fields tend to be problematic for women, owing to a stubborn assumption that genius is a male trait."

Are we supposed to believe that women don't face the same level of discrimination in law, or medicine? Is that true?

there's discrimination and there's massive under-representation. that sounds like a (plausible) theory for the latter.

Engineering in general seems p heavily male-dominated from my personal experience - otoh I work for a company that's 1/3rd woman owned and over half of our engineering staff is women (but I think that's because of some very deliberate hiring practices on our part).

Y'know, I wouldn't comment on those fields myself (though I imagine we could find some data on how many women get licensed in them, become partners in firms and so on), but I will definitely say that the "genius" thing and attendant gendered is part of why women have struggled for parity in architecture, aren't given as serious of feedback in school, are encouraged into non-leadership tracks in workplaces, etc. etc. But it also relates - and I would imagine this also applies to computer science - by an assumed "mathiness" of the profession, where are the stereotypes/assumptions about who looks like an "engineer" are also involved. I would be doubtful of any single magic bullet theory that explains how gender and discrimination play out in a particular field.

the computer sciencey bits of tech (hardware, backend) are very like my experience of academic physics, where individual brilliance and genius are how things are assumed to get done. they're also numerically waaaaay more male-dominated than medicine or law or probably even real engineering. i'm talking 95%+ male. i guess that's the point of that quote. it does ring true to me, although correlation does not imply causation.

the side effect of under-representation: if your company is 90% straight able-bodied white men, and all of the financial resources to create similar companies at that scale are aligned with that demographic, then you'll end up creating tools and services without an understanding of what other people need. and if your tool becomes essential to get ahead, only people who benefit from the tool will get ahead

We've definitely gotten into gender bias in hiring and how male tech interviewers might interpret the same behavior differently in candidates of different genders... can't seem to find it right now though. Maybe it's in the Gamergate thread somewhere.

I made a bad half-joke in an "edgy" way after interviews years ago that I still feel like a complete shithead about now. It was more of the "I can't believe people would think this way" humor regarding a woman in her 20s having kids, and had no input on our hiring choice (we wanted a developer more at the junior level, she was definitely above that) but if there was a point I was making, it was the complete wrong way to make it.

Oddly enough after a number of years, I changed departments to an area that actually did hire that person within a year after we'd interviewed her and she became one of my favorite coworkers.

so yeah, don't even joke about that shit unless you're in a position that's purely about sending up idiots and not actually doing hiring, because there's the possibility at least one of your coworkers is actually thinking in that way and you're playing to biases

Serious Q: were there (proportionally) more women posting on ILX during the "zing crew" epoch than now?

not really for this thread, but yes

tbf not much of the 'zing crew' is left either

Good riddance to zing crew imo

the great dickhole die-off

Ugh God the view from inside, though if I'm being fair, I'm more in the midst of vanilla corporatism.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SICKOFWOLVES/status/852241977445953540

NOT A WOLF‏ @SICKOFWOLVES
I LOVE STARTUP CULTURE

WE HAVE OFFICE BEER

THEY GAVE ME A JACKET

I CANNOT AFFORD MEDICINE

AND I GET TO WORK LATE TONIGHT

OOH PINBALL
12:28 PM · Apr 12, 2017
7,213 RETWEETS
23,363 LIKES

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-04-19/silicon-valley-s-400-juicer-may-be-feeling-the-squeeze

http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/i-just-love-this-juicero-story-so-much-1794459898

When we signed up to pump money into this juice company, it was because we thought drinking the juice would be a lot harder and more expensive. That was the selling point, because Silicon Valley is a stupid libertarian dystopia where investor-class vampires are the consumers and a regular person’s money is what they go shopping for. Easily opened bags of juice do not give these awful nightmare trash parasites a good bargain on the disposable income of credulous wellness-fad suckers; therefore easily opened bags of juice are a worse investment than bags of juice that are harder to open.

Donald Trump got to be president by holding up the wallet his dad gave him and yelling “I fuck this wallet.”

lol

Silicon Valley Checklist

1. Does it disrupt?
2. Does it scale?
3. ?????????
4. PROFIT

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C94VtndXcAAaxvT.jpg

Forbes suggested that you are more likely to hook people on $8 bags of juice if you remove the $400 barrier to entry, which I can kind of see, but the whole concept is fabulously stupid.

this whole thing

wow

juicero

imo the long game would be to introduce squeezable juice bags, then introduce the machine later once people are into them but they now have arthritis or sore hands from squeezing all your products

I almost want to throw Juicero some money in exchange for the massive lols they have given me

is it pronounced "juice row" or "juice air row"

either way it's stupid

joo-say-ro

i've been pronouncing it joo-see-ro

juicy arrow

i want to start a competitor called juicephus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viejY6UZ5Bk

I now have "Juicero! Juicero! Juic-er-o!" going round in my head Barber Of Seville style.

https://youtu.be/5I6Y79-yXtw

christ

Ultra marathon runner and passionate plant-based athlete Rich Roll finally gets his hands on his long awaited Press.

don't mind if i do

Food $200
Data $150
Rent $800
Juice $4,800
Utility $150
someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

rickroll warning (xposts)

A graduate of Stanford University and Cornell Law School, Rich is a 50-year old, accomplished vegan ultra-endurance athlete and former entertainment attorney turned full-time wellness & plant-based nutrition advocate, popular public speaker, husband, father of 4 and inspiration to people worldwide as a transformative example of courageous and healthy living.

I hate America

you can sift through that to suss out his likely career arc, and how many years he spent doing each of those things, and it paints a picture

i'm not one to judge others taste in art

"i'll just grab a glass... aand... then i just push a button... for fresh juice?"

http://splitsider.awlnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/01/stevebrule.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYn_iuPueKw

juicifer

The bags should explode if mishandled

Then they can sell a special $200 Juice Cleaner.

I can't live without mine, folks.

owner of company my partner works for cut everyone's commission but then ordered a cold-pressed juice subscription for the office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tO6l4Timdg

i cannot get over juicero