I Thought I Knew Silicon Valley. I Was Wrong

wired.com

32 points·manveerc··10 comments

> Why did the Ayn Rand–loving heroes of tech become Donald Trump’s bootlickers?

Is this a trick question?

For me it is not a trick question. I would like to understand the motivation of tech leaders who line at Trump's feet. What is the worst that may happen to them if they would ignore Trump? All of them already have their underground bunkers in islands far away from US....

Is it worth groveling at the White House just for Trump to turn around and take 15% of your sales in tariffs anyway?

As is probably the case with alot things, it may not be that Trump is so great, but that the administration before him were so bad when it came to tech policy.

You don't get to be a billionaire with a feeling of "enough" in your heart.

> Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s descent into Neo-Nazi madness

When you read this in the introduction paragraph, you know the article is going to come with nuance, rationality, and a certain curiosity.

The article delivered all three. It is a good, thought-provoking read.

It did, and that statement is inaccurate only in the fact that it fails to mention that the driver behind the descent was pure self-dealing avarice.

TL;DR: "I'm disappointed that tech leaders prioritize their own interests and success over my political preferences. I'm now homeless because I mistook the map for the territory. Anyway, Portugal seems nice."

The author does not seem disappointed because tech leaders have a different political preference.

The author seems to be disappointed because what he thought was the original ethos of Silicon Valley - competition, innovation, risk, and rebelling against the status-quo - is now replaced by oligopolies, risk-aversion and bended-knees.

...Something he contributed to with a series of hagiographies.

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