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Peter Thiel Thinks There's Not Enough Sex In Silicon Valley (businessinsider.com)
Peter Thiel recently complained parts of Silicon Valley are "hyper-politically correct" about sexual activity, and shared a friend's theory that conservative parts of America tolerate Silicon Valley "because people there just don't have that much sex. They're not having that much fun." Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike quotes Business Insider's investigation into Thiel's claim.
Silicon Valley has the highest ratio of single men to single women... (However, it's worth noting that the San Francisco metropolitan area also has the highest ratio of people who identify as LGBT in the U.S.) In fact, Dr. Sandra Lindholm, a sex therapist and clinical psychologist in the Bay Area, recently told Forbes that she's now seeing an uptick in young, male clients who complain about a variety of sexual challenges and issues. "They're coming to sex therapy because they don't feel they have time or energy for sex," Lindhold said.
Some of the common issues include low sexual desire, difficulty meeting women, and performance issues. Plus, she points out people in tech generally have a reputation for being introverted. Another particular issue that frequently comes up is what she calls "tech overload": people spend so much time on their gadgets that they "forget about being in the moment." Although there's no official data on Silicon Valley's sex frequency, a 2012 survey by condom maker Trojan revealed that Bay Area residents had the least amount of sex and the shortest time in bed, in a sample of 10 major US cities including New York, Chicago, Miami, and so on.
Some of the common issues include low sexual desire, difficulty meeting women, and performance issues. Plus, she points out people in tech generally have a reputation for being introverted. Another particular issue that frequently comes up is what she calls "tech overload": people spend so much time on their gadgets that they "forget about being in the moment." Although there's no official data on Silicon Valley's sex frequency, a 2012 survey by condom maker Trojan revealed that Bay Area residents had the least amount of sex and the shortest time in bed, in a sample of 10 major US cities including New York, Chicago, Miami, and so on.
You can take the nerd out of his mother's basement, but you can't take the basement out of the nerd.
Fecal mining doesn't count as sex.
Some of the common issues include low sexual desire, difficulty meeting women, and performance issues.
I can see why difficulty meeting potential sexual partners would be a problem if you have significant sexual desire, and likewise with performance issues. But why would a lack of sexual desire be a problem? It seems like it should make life easier. Let the rabbits get on with the procreating while you do whatever it is you are interested in.
The lack of women in SF ultimately does not matter. A boyfriend who spends all his time with startup colleagues is no boyfriend and husband who works so much is just a glorified back account anyway. What would those guys do even if women were there? Nothing, they would still close themselves into males only group (except maybe striptease or night bar visit).
However, the ratio might explain why some techies tend to became either completely radical feminists or total sexists. Having no contact with people who are not male techies or moms, they place wild imagination over reality and believe that the one women who talked with them last year is stand in for all women.
Can we start referring to him as the Odious Peter Thiel?
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Most people are too busy getting metaphorically fucked by their workplace/jobs there to bother with a REAL relationship.
conservative parts of America tolerate Silicon Valley "because people there just don't have that much sex. They're not having that much fun" /. since Bennett Haselton was an "editor".
which translates to
Peter Thiel Thinks There's Not Enough Sex In Silicon Valley
Total non-sequitar. That aside, this is the single dumbest article I've not read on
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Not getting any sex because nobody finds you attractive is one thing. But if you can't find time for sex when it is on offer you are doing life wrong!
'conservative parts of America tolerate Silicon Valley "because people there just don't have that much sex'
What? Why would anyone care about how much sex is going in Silicon Valley, and why would 'conservative parts of America' have anything to say about that, and why would Silicon Valley be in any way special in this regard? The mind just boggles trying to conjure up the reasoning that must be behind an expression like that.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
When you make barely enough to keep a roof over your head and food on your table your ability to go out and have a good time is drastically reduced. Add that to the startup tendency to longer-than-40-hour workweeks and people don't even have time to live, much less date.
As if I care what that asshat thinks. Some "opinions" do not need consideration.
Pot, meet kettle.
Can we start referring to him as the Odious Peter Thiel?
Only if you also start referring to the Execrable Currency Manipulator George Soros.
Me? I don't have a problem with someone exercising their Constitutionally-guaranteed right of freedom of association no matter what their politics are.
Why odious? I think he supported Trump but so did a lot of voters, and at least he sorted out that Gawker thing.
Because nothing can be fun and you aren't really a person unless sex is involved. I can't even...
Overwork, constantly subverting the durinal impulse, stress chemicals cranked to the max, overlaid with caffeine and god knows what other stimulants, PHB's and TPS reports sapping your autonomy, random production death marches, and constant reminders that you have no authority: this will absolutely destroy the testosterone production of any male, much less ones dedicated to a sedentary workstyle.
Humans are built for physical work for 8-10 hours a day and plenty of social interaction. These people are about as far removed from the natural harmonious state of human interaction with people, their world, and their environment as you can find this side of a solitary confinement wing. No surprise they aren't copulating. It's like their genes are saying, "Why bring children into this environment? It sucks ass."
When the only tool you have is a claw hammer every problem starts to look like the back of someone's skull.
*the odorous
I know - they are too plain and simple for all these hipster snowflakes. This is a deadlock indeed.
Are you saying there aren't enough gay men in your community?
Silicon Valley has the highest ratio of single men to single women... (However, it's worth noting that the San Francisco metropolitan area also has the highest ratio of people who identify as LGBT in the U.S.)
The first statement said nothing about the sexual orientation of the single men and the single women in question. If most of the single men are gay but fewer enough of the women are, there may not at all be an issue.
Also, given the pressure on wages in the valley, they're probably better off not having sex, not procreating and ultimately letting the population out there go extinct, so that we are not stuck w/ more freaks than we have already
You know how I know you're lying?
Your allegedly "introverted" "tech" workers are hypersocial self-aggrandizing narcissistic bloggers.
Introverts don't advertise. Introverts don't brag. Introverts don't blog. Introverts don't get jobs in silicon valley. Not anymore. There aren't any introverts left in "tech" because tech has been completely displaced by social media marketing.
Don't bullshit me bro.
people spend so much time on their gadgets that they "forget about being in the moment."
I'm glad this person has an advanced degree to state the obvious. Pick any location and guaranteed you will see someone taking a selfie or quickly pulling up their phone to take a picture then just as quickly moving on, not bothering to enjoy being at that place at that time.
Then again, these people are the ones who brag about working 16 - 18 hour days, seven days a week, always on call because of the money they're making, how they're on the cutting edge of technology, etc. You can't complain you're not meeting people or having sex if that's your life. Nothing is stopping you from taking a breath once in a while to smell the roses except yourself.
At least now we have an explanation of why all of Apple's new graphics designs emphasize 'flat."
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
As a conservative, in a part of America, I just wouldn't be able to tolerate those people in Silicon Valley if it weren't for the fact that they aren't having that much sex.
If you're a straight man in SF, you'll be getting less pussy than a nerdy freshman.
If you're a gay man in SF, you'll be getting more ass than the restroom at Chipotle after a salmonella outbreak.
High male-to-female limits sex-per-capita in a couple different ways:
1. In general, men want to have sex more frequently than women and are more willing to engage in non-committed sex. Ignoring homosexual males, since they're a fairly small piece of the picture even in the Bay Area, the amount of sex is going to be strongly tied to the # of women.
2. More men than women makes it a "woman's market", so to speak, so women can afford to be more choosy and less promiscuous. In situations where women outnumber men, women are generally less choosy and more promiscuous, leading to more sex.
Lest I be accused of being a red-pill patriarchal Trump guy, let me assure you I'm not.
Because Silicon Valley has a well earned reputation for being packed with misogynistic assholes, and smart girls tend to avoid people like that while stupid to average girls can't afford to live there after they move out of their parents' house.
So you are saying there should be less women in Silicone Valley.
Now you got yourself in a quandary with your statement because that means i can argue that we have a common agreement.
Less women and more men in Silicone Valley means less distractions and sex, and more work being done.
Sex dolls. The ones you blow up with air. And porn.
Really! The usual meme is young females are having more sex because they don't have to be a 'good girl' in these modern times. It's probably the same old problem; the women fuck the attractive men and the rest get nothing. So it's time for the usual answer; prostitutes.
About 16 years ago, during the dot-com boom, the press in my country went ballistic when they discovered that IT businesses had corporate accounts at local brothels. They never articulated why a corporate perk was wrong (and failed to mention the onerous tax paid on corporate perks) when an employee could legally visit a brothel using his own money.
As an Australian sex-ed documentary, Love and sex in the age of pornography explains, the unrestricted availability of pornography means young viewers are getting some twisted ideas about what constitutes good fucking.
I work a fairly normal job doing systems architecture stuff for an IT service provider. I have a spouse and 2 kids, and some semblance of a life outside of IT/dev. I seriously doubt I'd have the family and normal life part working for some of the crazy SV employers. I think the key reasons are crazy work environment and cost of living:
I've never worked for a startup or a tech company notorious for crazy culture, but I have plenty of acquaintances who do. I say "acquaintances" because they're never around to talk to -- they're always working. I love my job; it's great getting paid to solve complex problems. But I don't love it so much that I work 90 or 100 hour weeks constantly. Even established companies like Google, Microsoft and Amazon are famously "all inclusive" -- 3 meals a day at work, bus service to and from work and an implicit expectation that you belong to them. Startups are even stranger with the founder-driven work or die culture. Having a relationship is incompatible with this. In a startup, I've heard you barely see anybody outside the company...that limits the pool to other workaholics trying to win the buyout lottery...and they don't have time for each other either.
The second thing is cost of living. I live in New York, and I think the cost of living here is crazy. California and SV take it to a whole new level. Either you perpetually rent a tiny apartment with roommates, or you go into permanent indentured servitude to buy a $1.5M house that costs $300K elsewhere. Who has the money available to go out and play the field in a situation like that?
Another poster mentioned something about basement-dwelling nerds, but don't forget that that's mostly not SV anymore. Most of SV is these hyper-social startup companies where the stereotype "brogrammer" was born. I'm sure there are still plenty of nerds, but most of them are migrating to places like cloud providers or established software vendors.
I think the real problem is that so many millennials (male and female) have become socially inept due to over-use of phones and social media.
They have no idea how to have a conversation except with their bro-buddies or hen-pals. They can barely look you in the eye. They run from a difference of opinion as if it was poison gas. They model their lives on trendy sitcoms and would rather get "likes" on Instagram than have sex. The guys are too busy grooming their hipster beards and the women won't spit on you if you don't make $250K a year and drive a Mercedes.
Add to that the relative scarcity of non-uptight women in the Bay area and it's no wonder there's so little fucking going on. It's the same in New York and lots of other big cities.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
That does not mean that other denizens of the valley are in the same situation.
Perhaps he's holding it wrong.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Propecia, which our president gulps down to grow his proud mane, also makes you paranoid, impotent, and best of all it permanently removes the satisfaction in an orgasm even if you quit taking it. Silicon valley needs this now. The hipsters can go around like grey bearded unix programmers and not worry about their sex lives. Of course it turns you into a paranoid conservative. So there's that.
Have anyone else noticed that SJW are tend to be extra prudish. Unless you are having gay sex, then it must be rape-y and should be avoided.
Just after I moved here sixteen years ago, a local paper published a story about a study that said Seattle was the most asexual large city in the world. The gray skies, rain, and early sunset most of the year just get to you. It sucks leaving work after dark for about a third of the year. I don't know anyone here that I know for sure has had sex since I moved here. I know I haven't. I don't have that many friends and have always worked for smaller companies, so I haven't met that many people, but I don't think my experience (or lack thereof) is that out of the ordinary. After going out to bars and spending a lot of money and never seeing any single girls, you just stop going.
Like why all the people out there are fucking bughouse nuts.
Too cerebral. You need to think like Trump's nicknames to get it to stick - "Nasty Peter Thiel."
fucks!
A s/w developer was walking along a path when a frog said, "Ribbit. Kiss me and I'll turn into a beautiful princess." The devel picks up the frog and puts it in his pocket. A few minutes later, the frog say, "Ribbit. I'll turn into a beautiful princess and do anything you want" The devel just walks along. After a while, the frog says, "Ribbit. What's wrong with you? Don't you want a girlfriend?" The devel takes the frog out and tells it, "I'm a software developer. I don't have time for a relationship. But a talking frog .... that's cool!"
Have gnu, will travel.
1) Castration. No sex drive no problem. It even increases the number of hours they can work,
2) Mail order brides.
3) Cloud based AI machine learning BYOD 24/7 data science driven converged distributed teledildonics. Our motto, "More human than human".
Must be the honeytraps. No, I'm not an expert at identifying & avoiding honeytraps.
Even if two people met in SF and were down for sex, where would they go? With so many people living 20 to a bedroom it doesn't seem like there are many physical places to have sex... I guess that's where having sex in Uber's started? It'll be a real boon when when you can just order a self driving car up and tell it to circle the city for an hour or two.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If a billionaire philanthropist wanted people in Silicon Valley to have a place where they could get together and enjoy fucking.
maybe they dont have time for it :P
i propose a new idea, masturbation green, its like regular jerking, but disgusting
How does one go about "supporting" an asshole in a basement?
You might have a right to your "opinion", but you do NOT have a right to a fact. This is why some don't need consideration.
It's this inflatable ring thingy that you sit on.
... is probably the reason for him to say this. http://sanjose.backpage.com/Fe...
Are you coming on to me?
... increasingly seems to be going off the deep end.
If I was involved with companies he was backing, I would be worried, quite frankly.
n/t
I lived in Si Valley a while ago. I found that it was difficult to even *see* anyone come out of their homes. It's get up, hit the garage door opener, go to work, go home and hit the garage door opener again and repeat.
There is not much "community" there. No one sitting outdoors, having BBQs, going for walks.
It's fuggin' intense and not much fun.
My solution was to get the hell out of the valley. I transferred to a new location with my same company and had a blast. Back were the pool parties, the BBQs, going skiing, biking, boating.
I'll never be back.
Who would want friggin morons like Thiel to procreate?
Recent reports have shown that many families are having to stay together or let their kids "sleep over" at a friend's house just so they know that they are being fed. People want you to think that this is some kind of awkward nerd thing, but not everyone one in Silicon Valley is this genius tech guru; most are Americans with average intelligence. Unfortunately, things are expensive there. You'd think having high tech would make life easier. People buy things they can't afford. "Fun With Dick And Jane" mixed with people trying to prevent "Idiocracy."
It's guaranteed as a protection against government censure, not private organizations, much as free speech is. This is important. Please don't be obtuse.
Am I the only one who feels the need to find justifications for all of my actions?
because he should go fuck himself!
Nah... I try to justify all of my actions too. Even rejecting someone.
Of course... It seems like any time you bring up the idea that people should TRY to be logical in their decision making process, the next thing that happens is every d--n idiot jumps down your throat. Even if in the background half the known the world is burning down because of someone's stupid decision that they didn't think through.
I think some people just don't realize illogical behavior is unhealthy for everyone, not just the person on the receiving end who is supposed to just "suck it up".
Could anything in the world possibly be less relevant to /. readers than some jaded hag's opinions on Thiel, and the silicon valley?
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Most women leave Silicon Valley to live some place they saw on TV like Miami, Los Angeles, New York. I doubt the "Silicon Valley" TV series has done anything to improve matters. Also, most residents are scared of crime which results in the city council doing everything they can to shut down bars and clubs that might attract gangs to the area.
It is hard to meet women when one's favorite past-times are all forms of self-actualization that are best done alone (studying, practicing a skill, gaming, etc.). Further, introverts have an upper limit on how much socialization they can tolerate, and the workday typically caps it out...so they don't even want to go to a gym to exercise; they would rather spring for the in-home equipment.
Having jobs that frequently require long hours doesn't help either.
Next, combine that with the fact (however unpopular it may be) that there just aren't many women in tech. When techies go out to meet women, hardly anyone they meet has anything in common with them. Each is bored by the other's favorite topics, activities, etc.
It is easy to tell geeks to just get over themselves, normal-up, force themselves to be more extroverted, force themselves to like the things that women want them to like, etc. But it obviously doesn't work that way. Trying this just makes them miserable, so they don't.
That's the reality. I don't think a touch of social engineering here and there will solve it.
We are witnessing a significant cultural shift away from sex as a dominating fascination. The value and potential of the intellect has been made manifest before us.
Muscle-bound hulks work low-paying and dangerous jobs that just maintain the status quo. Brilliant intellectuals rake it in, and change the world by doing so. It is no wonder they are focused more on their inner lives than their outer lives...there is simply more there to focus on and it yields greater rewards.
You pass judgment. You obsess over chasing tail and act like that is somehow the correct way to live. You are being left behind.
Brilliant intellectuals rake it in, and change the world by doing so.
Braindead morons copy-paste from stackoverflow and make obscene amounts of money to advertise shitty apps that do fucking nothing. Brilliant intellectuals grow weary of begging for funding instead of doing research, quit their jobs to go home and play with their train sets, and the world stops changing.
I have house and 500k in the bank (well in my money market account) because I stayed in the bay area as an software engineer for 15 years. Work hard and don't piss away hard earned money trying to buy a house at the peak of the bubble and in the "good" school district. Private school for K-12 here is $15k-$25k, and folks in the bay area are rarely having more than 2 children. I've already got it covered for 2-3 kids, and 18 years to save up for reasonable college tuition for 2-3 kids. Sure I don't have a 4000 square foot home, but I have a patio that is comfortable enough for 10 months out of the year.
You're in the wrong valley. Try the San Fernando one instead.
Da. I is in agreement to use the expressions of democracy to firmly state... we real Americanskaya do not want democratic freedom !
Peter Thiel is not getting laid because he's a right winger who is close to numerous ultra-homophobic neo-Nazis, ew. Talking about others' sex lives is him just avoiding having to accept that reality.
My solution was to get the hell out of the valley. I transferred to a new location with my same company and had a blast
From my consulting days, I remember a lot of companies being delighted to pay 80% of a Bay Area salary to me when my cost of living was around 10% of the Bay Area. They paid less, I put vastly more into savings than if I'd been living in SF. I still don't really understand the attraction of living out there (it's fun to visit - I'm actually in the Bay Area this week - but a week or two a year is enough).
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
There is ample silicone in sex valley.
First of all, I would tend to agree with Thiels general premise that there isn't enough sex/eros/sensuality in the tech-camp, even with so-called "high-functioning" nerds and successful techies. But I wouldn't see this as a tech problem rather than a problem of modern society in general, creeping up on all of us, not just the nerds. It's only us getting there quicker.
I see a lot of factors playing into this. The modern day phenomenon that Houellebecq describes as the "Extension of the Combat Zone" would be one key element. Long story short, the art of formalised courting in modern society has been lost. Especially in the US where men are generally always with one foot in jail for sexual harasment and general prudishness puts anything remotely erotic directly into a negative spotlight. But in other parts of the world too. Through a cultural degeneration of sorts and the sexual revolution of the 60ies we have lost a natural connection to our sexuality. Areas in which a formalised and thus safe encounter between men and women can happen have just about vanished. ... I personally dance argentine Tango and in it have found one of those rare spaces where this formalised encounter still exists - something that changed my (sex)life as a nerd/geek and the perception and valuation of myself and women in most profound ways (I'm a straight male if you haven't guessed yet ...).
Sex and intimacy is - in modern society more than at any other time - a form of art that needs to be practiced and refined. At the same time chances and times to do exactly this have just about disappeared in society. Nobody feels this more intensely than the superficially 'insecure' nerd (male and female).
What I find fascinating is that the problems that were wide and far between and limited to some awkward types (us outsiders) back in the 80ies have become personality traits observable in wide swaths of younger generations today. Herbivore (wo)men, Hikikomori, Escapism and Facebook/Instagram Depression/Disorder have become widespread phenomenon throughout society, making the problem more and more palpable for the general population today.
Curiously, this is the *only* place where I see some strange sort of an actual advantage in strange and bizar abrahamian revelation cults (i.e. Christianity, Islam and Judaism) today. While these cults are basically nothing than twisted remniscents of wacky ancient beliefs and traditions, their moderate 'modern' variants do actually still see to it that each and everyone has a real chance of finding a mate. Not a bad operating system for a society and one that give these cults somewhat of an unsettling evolutionary edge - they produce more children.
Generally I suspect this lack of sex, intimacy and sensuality thing will continue to spread throughout large areas of modern society until we come up with some revitalised form of courting and finally replace ugly sexual repurcussions, eccess escapism and ancient cults with something more modern and sophisticated and get around to real social interaction more. Todays "Cuddle-parties" and celebration of sexuality itself as something of religious quality in New Age "Tantra" and such hint in this direction. But I do also fear there will be a huge setback through VR and stuff like that before anything sustainably positive happens in this field though.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Why not just import a bunch of cheap prostitutes from India under the H-1B program? It's just as valid a use of the program as anything else.
I'd better add that I wasn't being critical of your perspective merely that I have seen that toxic environment you speak of being spread in Universities by HR folk and similar who haven't been kept busy enough. They do this stupid shit of demonising people because it's easier than finding the very small number of real criminals. Management accept it because it's seen as spending some effort on campus safety etc and looks good as PR.
It's not so bad elsewhere IMHO.
Weird - a law against that? How fucking uptight are some people?
I doubt very much that the average man or woman or the street would give a shit either way, I suspect it's just an idiot like the magazine writer you quoted getting more attention than they deserve from legislators who are looking for an issue that will get them positive press. Of course that's just an opinion.
I want to know where the opposite of Silicon Valley is. Where is the Silicon Mountain, where everybody is having too much sex?
> So you are saying there should be less women in Silicone Valley.
You must be thinking of San Fernando.
Didn't John Calhoun predict this? Are we seeing the first uber rich Beautiful Ones - the ones left with skills and jobs that are the last to be replaced by the powers of automation / globalisation? http://www.bigthoughtslittleth...
sex therapy.
therapy. for sex.
Seriously? good god, put the friggen cheetos down and get out of the basement! If I can do it, so can you.
I'd better add that I wasn't being critical of your perspective merely that I have seen that toxic environment you speak of being spread in Universities by HR folk and similar who haven't been kept busy enough. They do this stupid shit of demonising people because it's easier than finding the very small number of real criminals. Management accept it because it's seen as spending some effort on campus safety etc and looks good as PR. It's not so bad elsewhere IMHO.
The insane thing is that the women there knew who was harassing them. The men knew who the men were who were harassing the women, HR knew who the men were who were harassing women, because the women told them specifically who was doing it. And with one exception over the more than 30 years, it was legit. We'd even tell a couple of offenders to knock it off before we were hamstrung by the misandrists.
But the way it was handled was similar to how in high school, and someone gets caught smoking in the restrooms, everyone is punished. All that does is make most everyone angry at the administration, and the guilty do not give a damn. most inefficient and counterproductive.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Treat this as an ad hominem if you want, but anyone who espouses this view is not someone whose opinions will ever matter to me.
Three Step Plan:
1. Take over the world.
2. Get a lot of cookies.
3. Eat the cookies.
Does anyone else worry about this? Why does Peter Thiel spend time thinking about this? I don't care about Thiel's politics but seriously, what does he think he can do about levels of sexual activity in the nation's bedrooms?
If there's one thing guaranteed to get a negative or neutral response, it is to broadcast to a group of strangers, "You people don't have enough sex!!" I mean, even if it's true, it's not like Thiel is going to bring useful information or techniques to the table, to those affected.
It's just like randomly broadcasting your opinion about anything personal to any group of strangers. What's next, "You people should be vegetarian!", or "You people shouldn't talk to your babies that way!!" I can see it now, "You people have stinky feet!"
Very good points but I'm not entirely sure they apply to this San Francisco situation. While some of that may apply it's probably more like what others suggested in that it's difficult to get some privacy.
It's kind of funny that in comparison in terms of "sexual politics" the university I was an undergrad at bought a condom vending machine, and the Police smashed through a window and had to wade through a urinal to get it and rip it off the wall. None of that jumping at shadows. Real shit to get pissed off about instead.