I for one welcome all of these tech CEOs making utter fools of themselves for us all to watch. And welcome the paradigm shift as people start seeing the technocrats for what they are. Steve, you could have walked away from it all years ago. And now you get to go down in history as a villain (hint: because you are one).
Its pretty gross that tech people look up to this company and its founder. We should be doing everything we can to bring them down. This company led by a man who regrets that women got the vote and that apartheid ended in south africa and runs a company that helps governments spy on citizens. He also helped trumps insurrection attempt while readying himself to bail out to new zealand in case whatever sick experiment he had in mind didn’t work out to his advantage. nevermind if the rest of us plebs die.
Well, to hell with the tech owners then, eh? If they are committed to being "Dr. Evil" villains then I don't see why the rest of us should take them seriously?
It's indicative of just how broken the times we live in are that the CEO of a financial company feels righteous in abusing their customer's private data in the way that David Barrett has here.
Worse still, he had his official company marketing account go and hype up everyone who replied to him on Twitter applauding his actions here.
It's not surprising to see a tech CEO feeling so empowered to do so, given how widespread similar political behaviour has become in recent years.
One could say that these tech companies have egregiously overplayed their hand in the past few years and personally, even as someone sitting in the middle with little skin in the game, I hope the coming years sees the same entities metaphorically have their fingers, nay the whole hand, shattered. The alarm has been sounded and it is time to reign this industry in.
From a staunch opposer to government regulation in tech 4-5 years back, I have turned into someone who will cheer a break up of these big tech companies.
At this point I expect actions like this from people holding the prevailing viewpoints in Silicon Valley whenever someone with a different viewpoint dare speak.
A lot of people have been jealously watching on as 'fat cat' 'tech bros' eat into their industries. Now there are signs that the market will correct and that technology companies will not continue to get free passes with which to ignore government. In short, they want to see blood and will settle to see it whichever way they can.
Tech on the whole needs to wise up politically. It cannot continue to accept the negative characterisations of its members, nor can it continue to do whatever it wants without any political ramifications. Even if we believe we're doing the right thing, we'll need to redeem ourselves in the public eye and critically evaluate solutions to social problems we've been implicated in (whether or not we are the sole cause of them.)
I for one look forward to the erosion of the unholy axis of massive tech monopolies and hall monitor journalists that we've seen rise in the past few years as the latter begin to overreach and demand the cancellation of Silicon Valley darlings like Scott. With Trump out of the picture tech figures will realize that the burden (both financial and psychological) of complying to ever-ratcheting demands of performative wokeness is not worth bearing.
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Being in the good graces of the left isn't something you can count on. The fact that you got rich by making products people want and need and made peoples' live better is something that will be forgotten as soon as its politically convenient. Given which way the winds are blowing, "Big Tech" isn't making a mistake by trying to make some "right-leaning" friends.
It's incredible that people here are celebrating tech companies censoring the president.
You'd have to be extremely shortsighted or naive to think this is a good thing.
Every day, many here are screaming zuckerburg is evil, twitter is horrible, break up tech companies. And yet the same people are celebrating these tech companies censoring a government official.
I'm not optimistic, but I hope that the Trump era finally puts an end to the illusions people had about tech giants as a vehicle for social progress. We're stepping into an era of extreme inequality, authoritarianism, and intolerance, all borne on the back of their rise. They may not be the origin of these trends, but they certainly rode them to tremendous wealth without anything besides the most superficial concerns for their social consequences.
Remember when Bill Gates became tech’s enemy number one? How about when Google was not going to be evil? How about when Steve Jobs convinced us that “it just works”? Or when Elon Musk was going to save the world?
We want to blame these highly-capitalized cults of personality for our human cultish tendencies — often exacerbated by chatterers who are incentivized by media access to cult leaders (that lead to clicks and views).
But the truth is most people are unwilling to make tradeoffs that favor principle over convenience & security. So it’s very hard to take them seriously when they cry for the Nanny State or the collective shaming mobs to bend the world to their will.
Liberty and innovation become ossified when people defer moral action to some regulatory authority or mob collective.
Sorry if negative, but I like my tech companies pushing their political agendas on me, as much as I like Hollywood stars doing it.
I'm sure they're all good guys, but now that the Prez has proven you can get elected as a billionaire non-politician it took about 45 seconds to start hearing about candidate Zuck.
Would argue, the Hacker way is to be skeptical of all of it.
Pretty clear that these are people who want to fuck you over. Silicon Valley elites have accumulated enough power to come mask off. Entitled dirtbags who profited off government funded science and technology who've never created an ounce of value in their lives.
Tech types are getting a little arrogant, out of touch, self-absorbed and judgmental these days too. Getting people to click on ads or privatizing all their personal info in an insecure social network ain't God's work any more than taking companies public, developing the infrastructure for pension funds etc. to invest. And if you'd rather subvert the Constitution than say, help people allocate their savings, or reform the financial system, then your priorities need re-examining.
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