Maria Divina O’Brien takes us inside the Caribbean tech scene | Hacker News Reader

Maria Divina O’Brien takes us inside the Caribbean tech scene

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43 pointstodsacerdoti22 comments

It's a shame that the article does not match its title, I am curious about the Caribbean tech scene. I'd love an article that actually discuss some startups/projects that they are doing.

The piece as-is seems to be pretty much all about Maria, and her work around women-in-tech, which is an important topic for sure but not really an overview of the tech scene.

As it's Women's History Month, and Google being Google, I'm betting there's a plan for a piece like this to be published every day this month. Boring and empty.

My first impression reading your comment is that it is simply coded resentment that there is dedicated attention given to women.

Assuming that I am mistaken, what makes these stories boring, and why does a predictable topical focus invite scorn? Further, what exactly do you mean by “Google being Google” here?

Not OP but "google being google" - typically they will play out a theme for days or sometimes an entire month with various front-page images and related info. That's how I took it, anyway.

Maybe it's just resentment for BigCos pretending to give a crap.

I mean, did you read the content of the piece? I know the Caribbean isn't exactly a tech hot spot but this can't possibly be in even the top 50% most interesting work happening in the Caribbean tech scene.

> My first impression reading your comment is that it is simply coded resentment that there is dedicated attention given to women.

Why is this automatically the reaction you have? Did you read the article titled "Maria Divina O’Brien takes us inside the Caribbean tech scene"? There is not a single thing about the Caribbean tech scene. The only information is a few paragraphs where Maria briefly talks about her involvement with some programs she has in the "scene". This feels like a fluff piece written to ensure the inclusivity check boxes for women's month are checked. It's lazy and dishonest.

> Why is this automatically the reaction you have? Did you read the article titled "Maria Divina O’Brien takes us inside the Caribbean tech scene"? There is not a single thing about the Caribbean tech scene.

The misleading title was already addressed in the parent to their post.

The comment I responded to had no commentary on the content of the submitted article, but instead described an anticipated onslaught of ‘boring and predictable’ articles because of it being women’s history month.

The reason the reaction happened is that it echoes a familiar whinging about diversity initiatives around representation.

Alot of what I've experienced is the importance of quality of hosting+networking in the region. Columbus networks and C&W are hugely integral to this as they run the submarine cables.

Greater connectivity in the region is a part of a lot of countries trying to import tech talent and money with digital nomad visas, which I think is going to impact the landscape of things in the region for sure as well as foreign investment, a lot of which currently comes from countries like Spain or Mexico rather than the USA. Telefonica and Claro again are huge. The geography of the region really makes telecommunications such a dominant force.

I really like that I can be up at a beach in many places and get some work done on a 3g connection if all I need is an SSH connection and web browsing. Something about the limited bandwidth and sound of waves crashing on the beach lends itself to focus.

One aspect of the Caribbean tech scene is Caribbean tax avoidance schemes:

Russian expatriate Katie Ananina has spent the last three years helping people dodge taxes on their bitcoin gains. It is all part of her mission to stick it to the man, one case of tax avoidance at a time. ... Every year, Plan B Passport helps hundreds of people from countries like the U.S., the UK, Australia, and Canada obtain a second passport in one of seven countries: Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Vanuatu, Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Portugal. The company works in tandem with each government’s residence- or citizenship-by-investment programs.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/11/plan-b-passport-tax-break-bi...

> It is all part of her mission to stick it to the man, one case of tax avoidance at a time.

What state of mind do you have to be in to write something like this about a tax avoidance loophole for the 1%. She's not sticking anything to "the man", she's just helping rich people abstain from contributing to society.

Actually I would point out that most of the time HN would be tremendously supportive of such a narrative - although they would not call themselves the 1%

What proof do you have for this claim?

Not a 1%er but I support that the individual should be free to domicile themselves in a favorable tax jurisdiction if it is to their advantage. A think a lot of people would agree.

I can't blame people for reacting to the tax codes to minimize what they owe. But I'm conflicted by situations like when Elon Musk makes a lot of money from stock appreciation in a largely-California business, then moves to a lower-tax state to cash out. It's obviously not illegal and probably not immoral, but I'd say it's selfish.

@kwertyoowiyop ^^

> What state of mind do you have to be in to write something like this about a tax avoidance loophole for the 1%

A (right-)libertarian state of mind.

Or preventing authoritarian types from pushing their will on to others.

What if you don’t like society, and wish to exclude yourself from it… on a Caribbean island, contributing to the local economy, making jobs, etc (actually improving the local peoples lives). Is this not your right as an individual?

Get the libertarian-ish point of view here, but if a person is unwilling to contribute to the infrastructure of the country in which they actually reside in while also using said infrastructure, to me that just makes them a hypocrite.

FAANG pay is $300k/year because it's a multinational corporation that benefits from the hegemony of the US abroad. That hegemony was built on top of tax dollars from previous generation.

Now if you actually move to the Caribbean and live there full-time then sure that's fine, but the service described in the article isn't that at all.

It’s your right to do so but don’t pretend you’re doing Caribbean communities any favors.

If the country doesn’t charge taxes and all you’re doing is trading cryptocurrency on the beach you’re not really helping the locals in a meaningful way.

I'm not sure exactly how to put this...but has anyone noticed that in recent years, the exposes like this during Special People Days/Months almost always about the given Special People who are trying to help other Special People, but rarely about Special People just doing generally cool things?

E.g. During black history month, the subject of the expose will be working towards racial justice, and during IW day the subject of the expose will be working towards gender justice.

The subject of this article seems to have her entire life wrapped up in gendered justice, at least what is presented in the article(her design firm is "focused on social impact projects to improve Caribbean women’s lives", or her collaborative art for increasing awareness of women's health issues, or acting as a Women Techmakers ambassador). I don't think there is anything wrong with what Maria is doing, and clearly seems to be following her passions and helping the communities she cares about...but there is also a much wider world out there than these exposes would lead us to believe.

By the same people who write exposes like this, I've been told that kids are inspired to be like adults who look like them - which I don't buy - but if that is the case, it would be a shame if all these young girls were inspired to be women's rights advocates when they grew up, but found the field of glory harvested, and the crop already appropriated.

It’s a larger problem IMO that most corporation HR and PR doesn’t actually understand social justice and equity and the issues minorities face. It’s like how lots of companies put out shallow “we support BLM” or “we support gay rights”, and adopt terms like African American or Latinx where the people being referred to don’t even care.

There are plenty of women who have done great things benefitting everyone. But PR focuses on a certain type of “Women’s Rights” woman, who tends to also belong to other minorities and promote more social justice and equity themselves. Ironically this makes the people being promoted less diverse.

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