Silicon Valley’s Titans Are Realizing a Lot of People Don’t Like Them(newrepublic.com)
newrepublic.com
Silicon Valley’s Titans Are Realizing a Lot of People Don’t Like Them
https://newrepublic.com/article/171125/silicon-valley-bank-bailout-criticism
60 comments
recuter(1)
We live in a capitalist economy. Of course these outcomes would happen.
It’s a fundamental part of the system. Consolidation of capital and fucking over people for profit is 101.
It’s a fundamental part of the system. Consolidation of capital and fucking over people for profit is 101.
This is such a blasé way of disassociating outcomes from actors and actions. We may live under capitalism, but people are making these choices.
We don't have to move in these directions, but people who work at these companies, people who are paid by these companies, people who are applying to these companies are all choosing to make these decisions and drive us to these outcomes. Every step of the way they have had the chance to say "no". They have had the chance to champion for a different outcome. They have been a piece of a broader machine that they could have collectively grouped together and said that we can be better.
Do not try to wave this away as "well it's capitalism, too bad, so sad". These are real people making these choices, and at the end of the day this is what they've chosen. And, the out come is incredibly sad.
We don't have to move in these directions, but people who work at these companies, people who are paid by these companies, people who are applying to these companies are all choosing to make these decisions and drive us to these outcomes. Every step of the way they have had the chance to say "no". They have had the chance to champion for a different outcome. They have been a piece of a broader machine that they could have collectively grouped together and said that we can be better.
Do not try to wave this away as "well it's capitalism, too bad, so sad". These are real people making these choices, and at the end of the day this is what they've chosen. And, the out come is incredibly sad.
As long as you live in a system that incentivizes these actions - these things will always happen at a high rate.
You have to dismantle the system before you can change individual actions on a societal level.
You have to dismantle the system before you can change individual actions on a societal level.
A lot of them are truly awful greedy and individualistic people. The SVB collapse is just unmasking how truly influential (to the negative side) they can also be. Zero sympathy for them.
In this case in particular, it's because we all know that Silicon Valley is filled with Cryptocoin Bros and Libertarians.
Who all of a sudden, in less than 24 hours into a crisis, came crying to FDIC for a bailout on bank deposits of size $100+ Million.
You know, after telling millions of artists that AI is here to replace them and that government regulation is dumb. (Disruption of Taxis and Hotels through Uber and AirBnB, etc. Etc)
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I'm not really an AI Luddite (I think ChatGPT is overrated and think that StableDiffusion is cool). But I understand that the Silicon Valley response to the public's concerns over AI, invasion of privacy, over-the-top Libertarian / antigovernment rants (see Cryptocoin Bros)... It is a delicious irony that it's this group begging for money.
Anyway, I agree with some of the political discussion points of the stereotypical Silicon Valley techbro, and I disagree with others. But I think everyone can agree that what happened this past weekend was completely against those political discussion points we've heard for the past decade.
Who all of a sudden, in less than 24 hours into a crisis, came crying to FDIC for a bailout on bank deposits of size $100+ Million.
You know, after telling millions of artists that AI is here to replace them and that government regulation is dumb. (Disruption of Taxis and Hotels through Uber and AirBnB, etc. Etc)
-------
I'm not really an AI Luddite (I think ChatGPT is overrated and think that StableDiffusion is cool). But I understand that the Silicon Valley response to the public's concerns over AI, invasion of privacy, over-the-top Libertarian / antigovernment rants (see Cryptocoin Bros)... It is a delicious irony that it's this group begging for money.
Anyway, I agree with some of the political discussion points of the stereotypical Silicon Valley techbro, and I disagree with others. But I think everyone can agree that what happened this past weekend was completely against those political discussion points we've heard for the past decade.
"In sum: This is not a culture that respects either its workers or its neighbors, and they should not be surprised when workers and neighbors don’t respect it in turn."
It is a culture that loathes human dignity in general. to them, people are biological robots, stochastic parrots, attention algorithms to be gamed for profit, and resources to be exploited until they are used up and replaced with something superior.
They moved fast. They broke their bank. And now, since it hurts them instead of everyone else, they're sad. Well to them I say stop being ungrateful brats and delight in the chaos and carnage like you always do. :)
It is a culture that loathes human dignity in general. to them, people are biological robots, stochastic parrots, attention algorithms to be gamed for profit, and resources to be exploited until they are used up and replaced with something superior.
They moved fast. They broke their bank. And now, since it hurts them instead of everyone else, they're sad. Well to them I say stop being ungrateful brats and delight in the chaos and carnage like you always do. :)
The problem isn't libertarianism per se, but rather that by the time it's been chopped up by surveillance companies and sold to the public, it's ultimately just marketing used to carry weight for digital authoritarianism - essentially freedom for me but not for thee. The exact same dynamic occurs in the two mainstream political parties, where the grassroots start from decent places which then get transmuted into supporting corporate authoritarianism. Society is more used to the pathologies of mainstream parties, and I suspect the hypocrisy is more jarring when claiming an attitude of fierce individualism while actually creating something that "loathes human dignity".
Libertarianism is ultimately rooted in individualism, which I think is a great basis for political understanding. The ability to "exit" and go one's own way is a powerful dynamic, even though it is impractical for most people to do so and impractical for anyone to do so for most things. Personally I can't understand how one can even determine what's right and wrong in this world without the starting point of individualism (eg human rights). But from that starting point, it's critically necessary to go in a positive direction - viewing things from others' perspective and extending them the same freedoms you expect, rather than the domination and hierarchy of short-sighted self interest.
But yes, back to the larger Surveillance Valley culture? My thoughts are summarized right there in that name. Web 2.0 is just today's version of proprietary software, with the "innovations" of telemetry and centralized control. So is every corporate operating system / platform / etc, not wanting to be left out of owning a piece of the dystopia. So is most every product that gets thoroughly marketed to consumers, if not right out of the gate then definitely down the road after some pivots and acquisitions. Digital technology can provide a lot of freedom, but Surveillance Valley has done fuck all to actually get that unrestricted freedom into end users' hands, as there's no profit in doing so. Ultimately the only thing "libertarian" about Surveillance Valley is that same hypocritical dynamic of freedom for me but not for thee.
It remains to be seen if anything worthwhile for non-techies comes out of web 3.0. Cryptocurrency is itself a bust, having been thoroughly colonized by finance douchebags even quicker than web 2.0. Perhaps fungible currencies have long term futures or perhaps not (non-fungible Bitcoin et al certainly do not). Or perhaps there are enough newly minted millionaires that some will actually continue to build solid human-empowered technology and reject the VC playbook of business disruption masquerading as "tech" in name only. Only time will tell.
Libertarianism is ultimately rooted in individualism, which I think is a great basis for political understanding. The ability to "exit" and go one's own way is a powerful dynamic, even though it is impractical for most people to do so and impractical for anyone to do so for most things. Personally I can't understand how one can even determine what's right and wrong in this world without the starting point of individualism (eg human rights). But from that starting point, it's critically necessary to go in a positive direction - viewing things from others' perspective and extending them the same freedoms you expect, rather than the domination and hierarchy of short-sighted self interest.
But yes, back to the larger Surveillance Valley culture? My thoughts are summarized right there in that name. Web 2.0 is just today's version of proprietary software, with the "innovations" of telemetry and centralized control. So is every corporate operating system / platform / etc, not wanting to be left out of owning a piece of the dystopia. So is most every product that gets thoroughly marketed to consumers, if not right out of the gate then definitely down the road after some pivots and acquisitions. Digital technology can provide a lot of freedom, but Surveillance Valley has done fuck all to actually get that unrestricted freedom into end users' hands, as there's no profit in doing so. Ultimately the only thing "libertarian" about Surveillance Valley is that same hypocritical dynamic of freedom for me but not for thee.
It remains to be seen if anything worthwhile for non-techies comes out of web 3.0. Cryptocurrency is itself a bust, having been thoroughly colonized by finance douchebags even quicker than web 2.0. Perhaps fungible currencies have long term futures or perhaps not (non-fungible Bitcoin et al certainly do not). Or perhaps there are enough newly minted millionaires that some will actually continue to build solid human-empowered technology and reject the VC playbook of business disruption masquerading as "tech" in name only. Only time will tell.
I'm working through both The Loop and Your Computer Is On Fire which discuss the authoritarian tendencies of computing as it exists today.
Everyone's been saying for years that democracy's at a breaking point, capitalism's at a breaking point, now technology is at a breaking point. Unless we stop flirting with fractures and actually hit that breaking point and survive, this paradigm will only continue to squeeze. Precious little time to find a future that isn't annihilation or incredibly bleak.
I would wish best of luck to the techbros that anointed themselves our enlightened leaders and refer to everyone outside of tech as "normies" and "lemmings", but I've also read Survival of the Richest.
Everyone's been saying for years that democracy's at a breaking point, capitalism's at a breaking point, now technology is at a breaking point. Unless we stop flirting with fractures and actually hit that breaking point and survive, this paradigm will only continue to squeeze. Precious little time to find a future that isn't annihilation or incredibly bleak.
I would wish best of luck to the techbros that anointed themselves our enlightened leaders and refer to everyone outside of tech as "normies" and "lemmings", but I've also read Survival of the Richest.
Absolutely.
For some reason Twitter is pushing the rantings of David Sacks at me. The stream of hysterical crying and whining coming out of that guy is hilarious. Suddenly when shit gets hard we abandon the principles of libertarian thought and start making appeals to think about the poor founders and their families. (And presumably the poor investors)
If it were an evolution in thought it would be one thing, but I’m sure the normal programming of smartass techbro tough talk and whining about big media persecution will resume in a week or two.
For some reason Twitter is pushing the rantings of David Sacks at me. The stream of hysterical crying and whining coming out of that guy is hilarious. Suddenly when shit gets hard we abandon the principles of libertarian thought and start making appeals to think about the poor founders and their families. (And presumably the poor investors)
If it were an evolution in thought it would be one thing, but I’m sure the normal programming of smartass techbro tough talk and whining about big media persecution will resume in a week or two.
And if you go look at /r/wallstreetsilver you'll see those same assholes are shitting all over the hand that fed them.
At least the exposure happened at the beginning of the AI adoption curve. Thats a first compared to previous fads. Recall it took a long time for society to wise up to Uber/Airbnb relatively speaking(as an example). It will be interesting to see how society reacts given that the scam was exposed early this time.
As Warren Buffett basically says- they need America a lot more than America needs them. They are able to be wildly successful due to American dynamism, law and order, safety nets, educated workforce, etc.
Took them long enough.
I remember seeing Jeff Bezos trash someone on Twitter for saying harsh things about Queen Elizabeth II as she was dying. It was like he had a sudden realization that people are going to post about him when he dies, and maybe not solely respectful things.
People already don't post respectful thing about him while he's alive.
I fully support these people. The meat grinder he has created is not worth the slight convenience afforded by Amazon. Bezos will be considered a robber baron by historians, rightfully so.
Them too. And the gates, and Musk, and all the billionaires are robber barons. Got a point or is this whataboutism?
Are these billionaires also robber barons?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2022/06/02/lebron-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan#Business_ventur...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Dre#Entrepreneurship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay-Z#Business_career
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West#Business_ventures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Perry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey
https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2022/06/02/lebron-...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan#Business_ventur...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Dre#Entrepreneurship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay-Z#Business_career
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanye_West#Business_ventures
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Perry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey
Yes.
Do you know the definition of robber Barron?
>a person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices (originally with reference to prominent US businessmen in the late 19th century).
Deriving profit from unethical behavior of others is as bad as doing it yourself, but all of these people act like shit pretty regularly, despite their professional reputation managers, handlers, security, and legal teams begging them to behave.
Have you heard of child slavery? Jordan and lebron support that by putting their name on athletic wear.
Have you seen Jay zs or dres rap sheet and allegations? You want guys like that to have billions to use unchecked? Seriously? You want poor kids looking up to gang bangers with violent crime records as an example of what is acceptable? It’s not like these people have redemption arcs, naw, just more of the same with their vast wealth paving over their misbehavior. Same as every other billionaire.
Have you seen ye’s meltdowns? Dude has too much damn money.
Did you read Perry’s wiki? Union busting is a classic. I’d dig for more but that’s enough in my book. He’s pulling up the ladder and exerting his power because he can.
Oprah? Have you even watched her show? Seen the shit she spouts under the color of science?
Give me a break and get better examples. Perhaps the best example, who you didn’t mention, is Notch, but selling to Microsoft is tacit approval and support of their operations. They’re all robber barons.
Billionaires should not exist.
Do you know the definition of robber Barron?
>a person who has become rich through ruthless and unscrupulous business practices (originally with reference to prominent US businessmen in the late 19th century).
Deriving profit from unethical behavior of others is as bad as doing it yourself, but all of these people act like shit pretty regularly, despite their professional reputation managers, handlers, security, and legal teams begging them to behave.
Have you heard of child slavery? Jordan and lebron support that by putting their name on athletic wear.
Have you seen Jay zs or dres rap sheet and allegations? You want guys like that to have billions to use unchecked? Seriously? You want poor kids looking up to gang bangers with violent crime records as an example of what is acceptable? It’s not like these people have redemption arcs, naw, just more of the same with their vast wealth paving over their misbehavior. Same as every other billionaire.
Have you seen ye’s meltdowns? Dude has too much damn money.
Did you read Perry’s wiki? Union busting is a classic. I’d dig for more but that’s enough in my book. He’s pulling up the ladder and exerting his power because he can.
Oprah? Have you even watched her show? Seen the shit she spouts under the color of science?
Give me a break and get better examples. Perhaps the best example, who you didn’t mention, is Notch, but selling to Microsoft is tacit approval and support of their operations. They’re all robber barons.
Billionaires should not exist.
> Do you know the definition of robber Barron?
I was asking you for yours and I got it.
How old are you by the way?
I was asking you for yours and I got it.
How old are you by the way?
>I was asking you for yours and I got it.
You didn’t though.
Stay on topic.
You didn’t though.
Stay on topic.
Oh but I did. People you don't like and can find fault with.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mega-millions-lottery-j...
They’re all robber barons. Billionaires should not exist.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mega-millions-lottery-j...
You’re epitomizing whataboutism and lying with a written record. Jesus. Read the site guidelines. They’re here:
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Key point: argue in good faith. It’s nearly incontrovertibly clear that you’re not participating with respect to the site guidelines but instead are trolling.
That’s your best example yet. Amusingly, it misses the mark of actually naming a billionaire in even a loose sense. the person isn’t identified, the actual amount paid is unstated, and they’re not actually a billionaire. What a waste of time.
Care to share an original thought buddy? I’m growing weary of your shallow, bad faith, and off topic comments.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
Key point: argue in good faith. It’s nearly incontrovertibly clear that you’re not participating with respect to the site guidelines but instead are trolling.
That’s your best example yet. Amusingly, it misses the mark of actually naming a billionaire in even a loose sense. the person isn’t identified, the actual amount paid is unstated, and they’re not actually a billionaire. What a waste of time.
Care to share an original thought buddy? I’m growing weary of your shallow, bad faith, and off topic comments.
Some of those people are even here. Who knows why.
?
I think it's perfectly valid to be interested in the discussion or posted links on a technical site like HN while concurrently not be interested in or dislike the "big tech culture" of geographic places.
I think it's perfectly valid to be interested in the discussion or posted links on a technical site like HN while concurrently not be interested in or dislike the "big tech culture" of geographic places.
First they built the social media echo chambers. Then they lamented that people stayed inside their social media echo chambers. Then they expressed befuddlement that people refused to stay in their social media echo chambers.
As someone who's not in tech, I read this site so I can see what you insiders are going to enshitten next. :)
As someone who's not in tech, I read this site so I can see what you insiders are going to enshitten next. :)
Well? Don't keep us hanging. What do you see is the next thing to enshitten? I'm always behind the curve so thats why I ask. I'd be nice to get ahead of something for once in my life.
It's not like I strung you along like an ad-infested youtube video about how to get rich quick that ends with buying my book... "I read this site." It shows up on the front page, I make note and see how long it takes to go cockeyed.
(You really should buy my book though. It doesn't exist and never will but I promise it's the most riveting thing you'll ever read.)
(You really should buy my book though. It doesn't exist and never will but I promise it's the most riveting thing you'll ever read.)
There is too much crud that goes nowhere on the front page of HN. How many articles do you specifically remember from a year ago? Im not clever enough to pick out the ones that are destined to become that next big enshitten.
I will stand by with my credit card for that book though.
I will stand by with my credit card for that book though.
Keep your credit card in an RFID wallet and don't let scammers run amok with your banking info. And personally, I never allow browsers/websites to save my CC info..
Well, what rises to your level of "specifically"? Because it's a lot of bookmarks with a couple keywords that I find meaningful enough to jog my memory, not conscious memory where I'm in the middle of lunch and wonder where That One Article went. And I've only been regularly reading HN for maybe a year.
Some of the stuff I marked might interest you though.
"Tesla fired an employee after he posted driverless tech reviews on Youtube". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30694102 One might consider that interesting in light of the recent revelation that some of the FSD footage was staged without being honest about it.
"Web3: A VC-funded gig economy of securities fraud" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31011894 In just the past year, crypto's lost its luster, the metaverse flopped, etc.
Actually, one caught my eye that is quite timely given the new AI boom. "Economists are revisiting their views on robots and jobs" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30078732 You'll have to follow the archive link though, there's a paywall.
Well, what rises to your level of "specifically"? Because it's a lot of bookmarks with a couple keywords that I find meaningful enough to jog my memory, not conscious memory where I'm in the middle of lunch and wonder where That One Article went. And I've only been regularly reading HN for maybe a year.
Some of the stuff I marked might interest you though.
"Tesla fired an employee after he posted driverless tech reviews on Youtube". https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30694102 One might consider that interesting in light of the recent revelation that some of the FSD footage was staged without being honest about it.
"Web3: A VC-funded gig economy of securities fraud" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31011894 In just the past year, crypto's lost its luster, the metaverse flopped, etc.
Actually, one caught my eye that is quite timely given the new AI boom. "Economists are revisiting their views on robots and jobs" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30078732 You'll have to follow the archive link though, there's a paywall.
This is all what has happened already. None of this is the next big enshitten.
1. Tesla: I have been following Tesla since like forever and lost a lot of my 2017 to following it on the short side (despite never shorting it nor anything else in my life). You say this Self driving might catch up to them...I say never bet against Teflon Elon just like you don't bet against Teflon Don. He will find a way to escape whatever mess he gets into and is probably thinking three steps ahead. He has been doing it for 10+ years now. No reason this is the year he falters just like no reason this is finally the year of Linux(spoiler: its not).
2. Web3: we have seen this coming for a while now. Jury is still out on crypto in my opinion. We may have just experienced the "Web 1.0 crash" of crypto
3. Wow I actually remember that article. In fact its date is making me wish I could go back to late 2021. Its crazy for me to realize how every year that passes I wish I could have gone back to that year rather than being here right now. I guess this might be the next enshitten given how people are freaking out about ChatGPT4 on the front page right now. I guess you get this one but it was a lucky guess! :)
1. Tesla: I have been following Tesla since like forever and lost a lot of my 2017 to following it on the short side (despite never shorting it nor anything else in my life). You say this Self driving might catch up to them...I say never bet against Teflon Elon just like you don't bet against Teflon Don. He will find a way to escape whatever mess he gets into and is probably thinking three steps ahead. He has been doing it for 10+ years now. No reason this is the year he falters just like no reason this is finally the year of Linux(spoiler: its not).
2. Web3: we have seen this coming for a while now. Jury is still out on crypto in my opinion. We may have just experienced the "Web 1.0 crash" of crypto
3. Wow I actually remember that article. In fact its date is making me wish I could go back to late 2021. Its crazy for me to realize how every year that passes I wish I could have gone back to that year rather than being here right now. I guess this might be the next enshitten given how people are freaking out about ChatGPT4 on the front page right now. I guess you get this one but it was a lucky guess! :)
Well, I thought you were looking for examples of what I bookmarked and have become enshittened by now.
Someone else asked me the same question and I just got finished replying over there. Here's my guess. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35161855
Someone else asked me the same question and I just got finished replying over there. Here's my guess. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35161855
Having decimated the income streams of newspapers and culture -- literally, that industry's revenue is down tenfold from its peak 25 years ago -- gotten all you simple minded normies addicted to shiny glass rectangles as your primary source of truth and morality -- we are busy ushering in an age where all writing, all knowledge, all decisions regarding eduction, social mores, romantic relationships, mortgages, law, and thought itself will be performed for you by politically slanted AIs. For your own safety.
Although, you might find since times of yore ancient Howard Beale type actual techies have foretold of this dark dystopia and tried their best to prevent it. Their warnings falling on deaf ears.
The enshittening is ushered in by the managerial types, the MBAs, the marketing folks, run of the mill code monkeys and designers in fedoras. The enshitting is ushered in by the eager consumers, the influencers, the professionally outraged, and you.
This is/was the website for hackers. The type who disobey and mock the system for what it is. And lemmings for what they are.
Although, you might find since times of yore ancient Howard Beale type actual techies have foretold of this dark dystopia and tried their best to prevent it. Their warnings falling on deaf ears.
The enshittening is ushered in by the managerial types, the MBAs, the marketing folks, run of the mill code monkeys and designers in fedoras. The enshitting is ushered in by the eager consumers, the influencers, the professionally outraged, and you.
This is/was the website for hackers. The type who disobey and mock the system for what it is. And lemmings for what they are.
This deserves top comment. :)
>This is/was the website for hackers.
No, this is and was a website for VC’s and their employees. A small subset of hacker culture at best.
Cleverly named though.
No, this is and was a website for VC’s and their employees. A small subset of hacker culture at best.
Cleverly named though.
Nah HN is very full of mainstream opinions. I don't see people talking about stuff that bucks that. Sure you see left and right takes but it's mainstream stuff.
Imagine AI grading.. you can't pass till you meet its filter. Want to write something WOKE.. nope.
[deleted]
What's the next thing you think?
I didn't really want to have the same conversation in two places but whatever, if you want to bookmark this comment and see how it pans out on a longer timescale, I can make a couple guesses.
Easy potshot is all the generative AI. We get to write code and emails and homework and books faster. We also get more malware; and, when the realms of text, video, and voice are all convincing enough, we get that deepfake flood we're promised is coming, and so the breaking of a "shared reality" that snowballed with social media echo chambers becomes fully realized. So far the only "solution" I've seen is AI detection software. To me that sounds like a continuation of the same old cold war except it exhausts even more mental resources.
If you want a more novel guess, anything of the brain-computer interface ilk. It gets accurate and portable enough and it will get put into as many hard surfaces as Big Tech can stuff it, from trackpads to phone screens to more "public" terminals like ticket counters or automated fast-food restaurant booths. It starts with the novelty of generating Stable Diffusion images with just your brain, or streamlining navigation menus with thought. And then, just like big data fueled AI and proved very economically lucrative, every single thought anyone ever has will be stored just because we have the capability. FAANGs and the NSA have many redundant data centers. Every thought you have can be monetized. Or used to convict you of thoughtcrime. I can't really see the fabric of society withstanding that kind of floodgate.
Easy potshot is all the generative AI. We get to write code and emails and homework and books faster. We also get more malware; and, when the realms of text, video, and voice are all convincing enough, we get that deepfake flood we're promised is coming, and so the breaking of a "shared reality" that snowballed with social media echo chambers becomes fully realized. So far the only "solution" I've seen is AI detection software. To me that sounds like a continuation of the same old cold war except it exhausts even more mental resources.
If you want a more novel guess, anything of the brain-computer interface ilk. It gets accurate and portable enough and it will get put into as many hard surfaces as Big Tech can stuff it, from trackpads to phone screens to more "public" terminals like ticket counters or automated fast-food restaurant booths. It starts with the novelty of generating Stable Diffusion images with just your brain, or streamlining navigation menus with thought. And then, just like big data fueled AI and proved very economically lucrative, every single thought anyone ever has will be stored just because we have the capability. FAANGs and the NSA have many redundant data centers. Every thought you have can be monetized. Or used to convict you of thoughtcrime. I can't really see the fabric of society withstanding that kind of floodgate.
Hmm, seems like you are on the mark with the generative AI. I've read others writing similar things. Some people propose that this will be the breaking point where people have had enough of internet content and a trend of disconnecting might start to become a thing or the return to more curated walled gardens (remember AOL?)
As for your second point, seems like you are referring to neuralink? Are you also considering things like the upcoming Apple Glasses/Goggles? That seems like it will lead us to [1] (a video I totally despise because I dread it coming)
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs
As for your second point, seems like you are referring to neuralink? Are you also considering things like the upcoming Apple Glasses/Goggles? That seems like it will lead us to [1] (a video I totally despise because I dread it coming)
[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs
I'm referring to all BCIs although right now I wouldn't be surprised if Neuralink is the most visible example. But I'm using BCI as an umbrella term for any technology whose input is the brain's electrical signals and whose output purports to be your thoughts, regardless of whether or not that interface is surgically invasive. Given that all surgeries carry risk and that all implants have challenges regarding host compatibility, getting that kind of tech to the point where the graze of a finger on an innocuous surface is enough to ballpark "thoughts" (the back of your phone, a public terminal, the door handle to a store you're walking into in order to complain to the manager...) would be the wet dream of any company and government that hoards data like money.
[deleted]
I'm here as an exgoogler who is frankly very disappointed at what it's become. Google was a transcendent experience in the early 2000s, and even when I worked for them from 2010-2014, they had a lot of great products and services. There were many boneheaded moves then, and there are even more now, and for better or for worse and whether it's because of changes at Google or changes in the world, and I don't really care - It's their job to make information useful, and they're doing a bad job at it.
This site was created by a SV tech billionaire and it's owned by a startup incubator. It was originally called "Startup News." The "Hacker" in "Hacker" news refers to hacking capitalism. This is literally the axis mundi for those people.
People loved them when it was cool.
People hate them now it is cool.
People are fickle and stupid.
People hate them now it is cool.
People are fickle and stupid.
Yeah that's not why we hate them
People are sick of being manipulated, exploited, commoditized, mocked, and dehumanized. Yeah they're so fickle and stupid.
Naw in the 90s people spent their time following another group of abusers(the people who controlled the idiot box known as TV and before that the Radio). We shifted who the abusers are but the people still yearn to be abused.
>but the people still yearn to be abused
Reminds me of Agent Smith's PoV from the Matrix, that humans define their existence through suffering. The first version of the matrix had everyone living in paradise and made the system unstable as humans couldn't accept it and would try to wake up from it, dying in the process. Once they introduced misery, humans accepted the programming. Yeah, it's a fantasy movie, but it has great symbolisms that rings true.
Reminds me of Agent Smith's PoV from the Matrix, that humans define their existence through suffering. The first version of the matrix had everyone living in paradise and made the system unstable as humans couldn't accept it and would try to wake up from it, dying in the process. Once they introduced misery, humans accepted the programming. Yeah, it's a fantasy movie, but it has great symbolisms that rings true.
Hmm thats some good insight I forgot about. My thinking was that humans have too much time on their hands and thus have accepted to filling their time by being abused because what else are they going to do?
its not just misery, its misery with hope. otherwise things go downhill too.
I guess this is where technology hate is coming from, the hope is getting extinguished by moving most of the fruits of technology to select few. I also feel tech these days is largely about making new toll booths instead of new roads.
I guess this is where technology hate is coming from, the hope is getting extinguished by moving most of the fruits of technology to select few. I also feel tech these days is largely about making new toll booths instead of new roads.
Say what you will about the mind-numbing effects of movies and television, but at least the Neilsen ratings system was voluntarily-gathered data. The march towards ad tech has turned every product into a Neilsen ratings box that people share their most intimate secrets with. That's a marked difference.
Alternative take, people loved them when they didn't know much about them and thought of them as smart, but then they opened their mouths.
No...
Some people loved them when it was cool, some people hated them.
Some people hate them now that it's cool, some people still love them now that it's cool to hate them.
People are fickle and stupid and life is not that black-and-white.
Some people loved them when it was cool, some people hated them.
Some people hate them now that it's cool, some people still love them now that it's cool to hate them.
People are fickle and stupid and life is not that black-and-white.
These companies are all about profits at the cost of degrading living conditions and "disrupting" businesses, but in my experience it's all been a trend downward. One of my most favorite example is the whole Real Page renting price fiasco[1]. A bunch of a-holes who help landlords be worse.
And this is just one example. There's this other great example of companies and people using technology for terrible things like murdering people better. [2]
I mean, one of the most pernicious things to come out of the rise of technology is the complete lack of ownership of anything, ever. Streaming services have removed media ownership. Day one patches on games make it impossible to play games 20 years down the line, and that completely ignores the whole issue of trying to archive games that obligate you to have an internet connection for experiencing content. I miss peer-to-peer lan content.
And don't get me started on how tech has helped people be more "secure". Services and tools like Ring have only aided and abetted the worst types of community members in actively antagonizing neighbors and people because now they can watch people when they're away.
I cannot emphasize enough how upset I am that I grew up during the 90s where there was so much hope and optimism for technology only to see it grow and distort into ecosystems, fiefdoms, and toxic patterns that actively affect people physically, mentally, financially in ways that are negative.
So yeah, (apologies for the bad language), but fuck Silicon Valley, and fuck all these a-hole tech assholes who drink the kool-aid of "bUt wE'Re dIsRuPtInG ThE WoRlD To mAkE A BeTtEr pLaCe", because they're not, and I fucking hate them all.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/10/company-that-mak...
[2] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tXbrrQH36e8