Silicon Valley Techno-Utopianism

Everything is fine https://t.co/VB6uoq0Csu pic.twitter.com/21Ae4hMtUs

— Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) March 13, 2018

this is without a doubt the greatest silicon valley quote of all time https://t.co/6trw1Lx8a4

— Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) March 13, 2018

the kind of guys that will sign up for this will be exactly the kinda guys who should sign up for this

living in the future fucking sucks tbh

100% fatal is a very high bar to set

see you in 500 years bitch

lmao

Twitter. You’ve invented Twitter. pic.twitter.com/h8qaAHjXqf

— Neeraj K. Agrawal (@NeerajKA) March 13, 2018

lol

vg

Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes charged with "massive fraud" by SEC https://t.co/RmzyJ5ycH6 pic.twitter.com/w7BcdNsxwQ

— maya kosoff (@mekosoff) March 14, 2018

lol pic.twitter.com/OBHS9y2V5B

— maya kosoff (@mekosoff) March 14, 2018

holmes def guilty of the most heinous crime of all: making the rich and the powerful look dumb af

see also fyre festival

Dave Morin on Theranos…. pic.twitter.com/iv3sfXBw8V

— Will Alden (@williamalden) October 26, 2015

https://twitter.com/daveMorin

apart from everything else dumb and clueless about that: it must be amazing to have nothing you dislike more than thinking about passing out during your annual physical

lmao D@ve M0r1n "Entrepreneur. Investor. Photographer." "sponsor of Britt+Co. creator of super-disruptive world-changing Path. courageous giver of blood. better to be lucky than good."

tbf that's from 2015 but still lmao

when youre a real human being pic.twitter.com/iCL9aY5gQA

— shane (@shanevader) September 8, 2016

get a brain Morin

is there a reason why we should have cared what the director of a ticketing website thought about a medical startup or is it just that silicon valley assholes are experts in everything

also if you're gonna invoke the holy of name of millennials at least spell it right you fucking tool

The fundamental underlying problem is the system of economic exchange we’re dealing with, which is sometimes called surveillance capitalism. It’s surveillance capitalism that, by tracking and monetizing the basic informational content of our lives, has fueled the spectacular growth of social media and other networked services in the last fifteen years. Personal privacy has been annihilated, and power and money have concentrated in the hands of whoever owns the most sophisticated machine to collect and parse consumer data. Because of the logic of network effects—according to which services increase in value and utility as more people use them—a few strong players have consolidated their control over the digital economy and show little sign of surrendering it.

https://thebaffler.com/latest/techies-who-said-sorry-silverman

so back on that "moving to New Zealand" thing, I figured it out, it's because NZ isn't on the map in Risk.

nor is it part of a WORLD WAR THREE scenario

in case anyone is feeling too cheerful about humanity and needs a hate read to bring them down: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/16/powder-mountain-ski-resort-summit-elite-club-rich-millennials

He tells me he’s open to the suggestion that his community is elitist – “these criticisms, there’s a truth to them” – and insists that he strives to make authentic connections with people from all walks of life. For example, he says, earlier in the day he met a worker at the ski resort who was taking guests on a tour. “I literally could have said, ‘All right, have an awesome tour,’ and instead I was like, ‘So, you’re here all year?’ And he goes, ‘No, I’m actually from New Orleans.’ And I’m like, ‘Really?’” Bisnow says he behaves the same way with servers in restaurants. “When you start to engage with these people you realise the humanity in everyone and how unbelievable they are.” Then he explains how he always sits in the front seat of Uber taxis, talking to dozens of drivers a week, hearing “the most remarkable stories”. He ends up hanging out “with a significant number” of his drivers. I ask how many Uber drivers he’s invited to Summit. He doesn’t say, but instead tells me an anecdote about a chef he invited to Summit after meeting him “at this dilapidated castle in England”.

to cook him some food

there's been so much worse news this week than a rich kid trying to listen to people who work for him

heh

YouTube shooting highlights danger of open work spaces, expert says. https://t.co/5n3bFhjuYM pic.twitter.com/5gVt73titH

— ABC News (@ABC) April 5, 2018

finally the best argument for offices with walls: they're necessary to keep you safe when people come to shoot at you

blurgh

#notallcourtyards

YouTube shooting highlights danger of open work spaces, expert says.

oh ffs. has this fucking expert ever noticed the danger of hundreds of millions of easily available guns?

just think of what a huge security risk the outdoors is

that's why I stay inside

Tbh I have no objection to office workers using shootings as a reason to protest open plan offices

Or an excuse, rather.

i'd had this in instapaper since it was published and finally got around to reading it

whoooo boy it has not aged well

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/sam-altmans-manifest-destiny

I jumped in on a twitter thread criticizing his trite tweets

for me, throwing out ideas is dumb postulating, but there's the aura of ~ideas~ every time one of these VC/incubator dudes says something. what's their game here, just ruminating about an idea and then crowdsourcing to see if anyone's on it and throwing money at them?

I’m interested in genetically engineering plants to be much more efficient at photosynthesis and grow faster as a potential way to fight climate change. Anyone working on this?

— Sam Altman (@sama) April 1, 2018

if I wanted to know about something like this, I'd.. google it? and maybe go to a few sites that publish academic papers, read up a little (or have my assistants do it, if I am running a business and have them) and then maybe reach out to scientists who are already experts in that realm?

I guess this is why I'm not a VC wonderboy

i don't see how anything could go wrong with this

I realized again last week that I'd love to see more government and academic labs doing things. A national lab that was connected to my college had a segment on public radio for their anniversary and they mentioned this project:
https://www.energy.gov/articles/after-15-years-new-top-earning-patent-ames-lab

The patent's expired now, but it's work that resulted in something that's definitely good for both industry and the environment, and not subject to some VC clown figuring out how to skim the profits.

mh he's not doing research he's soliciting pitches

yeah, fuck that approach

or at least figure out who you should solicit pitches from, other than "random twitter people"

the people who actually know their shit are probably busy doing research, but I guess there's the chance a couple might be hunting around for monetization strategies or funding

That Sam Altman tweet just seems like he's plowing the ground for someone to pull off The Big Con on him.

good afternoon NYC, what fresh hell is this pic.twitter.com/y6gv32emdy

— Tim Maughan (@timmaughan) April 5, 2018

lol @ genetically engineered plansourcing. i suppose he never opened a 3rd grade science textbook

I'm going to "schedule time" and rent jabbbbbrrrrboxes and tell homeless people they can spend the night.

Nice ep of On the Media on the ideology of FB and SV as a whole:

http://www.wnycstudios.org/story/on-the-media-2018-03-23/

(Even mentions Comte)

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/apr/17/get-rich-quick-silicon-valley-startup-billionaire-techie

oh boy

“I worked until 9pm because dinner is free if you work that late ... And they’ll pay for your cab home,” he went on. That became his routine, and he never questioned it. Come to think of it, like a lot of his contemporaries, he never questioned anything.

Corey Pein has been hitting the lefty podcast circuit on his book tour, and this was a fun appearance on the Michael Brooks Show:

http://michaelbrooksshow.libsyn.com/website/37-stomping-fascist-nerds-w-h-bomberguy-corey-pein

Lots of dumping of Elon Musk and the bizarre cult around him online

The chief executive and co-founder of WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging app, is leaving the company over disagreements about privacy and encryption.

Jan Koum will also step down from Facebook’s board of directors, a role he negotiated when WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for $19bn in 2014, according to the Washington Post.

“It’s been almost a decade since Brian [Acton] and I started WhatsApp, and it’s been an amazing journey with some of the best people. But it is time for me to move on,” wrote Koum on his Facebook profile.

“I’m taking some time off to do things I enjoy outside of technology, such as collecting rare air-cooled Porsches, working on my cars and playing ultimate frisbee. And I’ll still be cheering WhatsApp on – just from the outside.”

i am leaving the company i founded because its current direction conflicts with my high-minded principles

don't worry tho i'm still an asshole