Slashdot Mirror
'Increasingly, People in Silicon Valley Are Losing Touch With Reality' (500ish.com)
Longtime commentator MG Siegler writes: You can see it in the tweets. You can hear it at tech conferences. Hell, you can hear it at most cafes in San Francisco on any given day. People -- really smart people -- saying some of the most vacuous things. Words that if they were able to take a step outside of their own heads and hear, they'd be embarrassed by. Or, at least, these are stances, thoughts, and ideas that these people should be embarrassed by. But they're clearly not because they keep saying them. This isn't only about Facebook -- far from it. That's just the most high profile and timely example of a company suffering from some of this. And in that case, it's really more in their responses to the Cambridge Analytica situation, rather than the situation itself (which is another matter, though undoubtedly related). They don't know the right things to say because they don't know what to say, period. Because they've slipped out of touch.
But again, I feel like this is increasingly everywhere I look around tech. It's an industry filled with some of the most brilliant people in the world, which makes it all the more disappointing. I won't name names but also because I don't have to. I'd wager everyone reading this will have clear and obvious examples of what I'm talking about in their own circles -- even if only in their own virtual circles. This is everywhere. I don't know the cause of this. Perhaps we can blame part of it on Trump, even if only indirectly (a man who has gotten ahead in life by saying asinine things). If I had to guess, I'd say the root is an increasing sense of entitlement as the tech industry has grown in stature to become the most important from a fiscal perspective and arguably from a cultural perspective as well.
But again, I feel like this is increasingly everywhere I look around tech. It's an industry filled with some of the most brilliant people in the world, which makes it all the more disappointing. I won't name names but also because I don't have to. I'd wager everyone reading this will have clear and obvious examples of what I'm talking about in their own circles -- even if only in their own virtual circles. This is everywhere. I don't know the cause of this. Perhaps we can blame part of it on Trump, even if only indirectly (a man who has gotten ahead in life by saying asinine things). If I had to guess, I'd say the root is an increasing sense of entitlement as the tech industry has grown in stature to become the most important from a fiscal perspective and arguably from a cultural perspective as well.
Starts off with: People in silicon valley are in a bubble.
True statement.
Ends with: It's basically Trump's fault that people in Silicon Valley are in a bubble.
Yeah... that basically shows the author is basically in the same bubble as the people in Silicon Valley.
Lemme guess: The main conclusion is that the elitists in Silicon Valley aren't Pavlovianly "woke" enough, which is why they are in the bubble?
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
That perhaps the real problem is that YOU are measuring reality differently than they are.
They're measuring reality with the relentless mathematics of financial analysis.
Your metric may simply be different.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Seems that a person in a bubble is aware enough to notice other people's bubbles but not his/her own bubble.
I guess the point here is that people cannot have their own opinions, or opinions that are different from yours?
First world countries that think Internet Outages are a disaster and where priorities are selfies and self-driving cars and toilets with LEDs in them ...
If I typed that much without saying anything or making a point.
Tell us something we didn't know. Didn't even give us anything interesting that they had "heard". Bah. Waste of a couple of seconds to skim that fluff piece.
Listen, not that I disagree with you on silicon valley being out of touch, but WTF is this doing on slashdot?
> I won’t name names or give examples because I’m not an asshole.
ok, so I have no idea what you're referring to then
I'm god, but it's a bit of a drag really...
"really smart people—saying some of the most vacuous things."
What things. Just one example.?
This article is a joke with no punchline.
The entire article is written at this level of generality. As such, you can search/replace Silicon Valley with Wall Street and the same article applies. Hell, you can probably replace it with "That McDonald's, no the one by the Burger King".
His point may be valid, but he hasn't offered a single example to back it up.
And, as a public service, he has links out of his article that imply he links to the "vacuous things", but it's just another shitty page with nothing on it and he's just trying to drive up page views.... like those articles across 12 pages.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
...the article itself was example.
For themselves and everyone around them. From celebrities to soccer moms to, yes, why not SV inhabitants. I have no idea where this urge comes from, but listen to anyone, literally anyone, who doesn't have any real problems to deal with, i.e. those that have the first and pretty much the second level of the pyramid of needs fulfilled and overfulfilled. You'll notice them lament about problems that are none. They actually start inventing problems they can lament about if they really can't find any.
Meanwhile, out here in reality, we shake our heads about them and wonder whether these are really role models and something to aspire to.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
No examples, no specifics, just some vacuous rambling.
Damn, I miss the good old days when Slashdot posted stuff of interest.
This has got to be one of the worst articles I have read in a long time. There isn't a single example of what he's talking about.
"I won’t name names or give examples because I’m not an asshole. But also because I don’t have to. I’d wager everyone reading this will have clear and obvious examples of what I’m talking about in their own circles—even if only in their own virtual circles. This is everywhere."
Actually, I have no idea what you're talking about. Maybe you could write an article to explain yourself.
Joseph Elwell.
There is far to little "naming of names" these days.
Without it... one cannot gauge the veracity of a conclusion.
Name names- or shutup!
Another consultant who stuck it out.
"We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx..."
Yeah, ideologues are at odds with reality. And ambition is looking past current reality toward a less real (but better) future. So when ambitious ideologues get ahead of themselves, they seem out of touch with reality — because they are.
It's not reality that Silicon Valley needs, it's humanity. Don't "make the world a better place"; make things better for people instead. People need your help, they don't need you to be their overseer, they don't need your ideas for how they should think or how they should live their lives. Don't impose. Don't preach at people. Don't try to engineer or optimize people who didn't ask you. Don't be a bully.
I see people here asking for examples of out of touchness:
https://ijr.com/2018/04/108406...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Tech people are really good at falling victim to the Dunning–Kruger effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.... They equate their highly specialized technical abilities or "smarts" with being at the upper end of the cognitive spectrum overall. Where in fact, they are unable to baseline a "smart" person, so they assume they are one, because of their success in a very limited area. This is reinforced by people telling them how smart they are. Where in reality they understand a somewhat simple topic that the person giving the compliment lacks an understanding of.
The Dunning–Kruger effect is not just in tech, most people who are less than average overall assume they are at the upper end of the spectrum. This is entirely caused by a lack of a real point of comparison, they are ignorant of what they are ignorant of and no one dares tell them differently. They then feel they have authority to speak on topics where they have no more expertise than the average fifth grader. A great example of this is a genetics professor I once had given a lecture (in a high-level genetics class) about computer security. He was repeting a perspective that had recently been published in the media. He spoke with complete authority on the topic, but due to my lifetime in security, I know everything he was saying was sensationally fake. He lacked the perspective to understand that he wasn't smart in this area but claimed his high-level knowledge in biology allowed him to be an expert in every possible field. This is the exact same force at work...
And then came the Assumptions
And the Assumptions were without form
And the Plan was completely without substance
And the darkness was upon the face of the Workers
And the Workers spoke amongst themselves, saying
"It is a crock of shit, and it stinketh."
And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and sayeth,
"It is a pail of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."
And the Supervisors went unto their Managers and sayeth unto them,
"It is a container of excrement and it is very strong,
such that none may abide by it."
And the Managers went unto their Directors and sayeth,
"It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."
And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying one to another,
"It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong."
And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents and sayeth unto them,
"It promotes growth and is very powerful."
And the Vice Presidents went unto the President and sayeth unto him,
"This new Plan will actively promote the growth and efficiency of this
Company, and in these Areas in particular."
And the President looked upon The Plan,
And saw that it was good, and The Plan became Policy.
And this is how Shit Happens.
No content was harmed in the making of the article. 500 words on a complex social, economic, political, labor, gender roles, and political topic. Common now there is no way to do that except to rely on sweeping generalizations, stereotyping, unsupported assumption, and simplistic conclusions. Maybe this actual is intended to be an illustration of the arrogance and lack of intelligence I see in Silly Valley.
And a slashdot post is too short for me to even begin my ranting and raving. Maybe a journal entry.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Due to limited resources for intake, analysis, correlation of information, EVERYONE lives in a bubble. If it was possible for one person to know and understand everything, we would elect that person king of the world.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
From the article:
"Instead, I fear IQ has won at the expense of EQ"
In his own words, rational thinking has won out over emotions. If that's out of touch then I fear his idea of in touch.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
We're nerds.
We say blunt and undiplomatic things, and are comfortable with other people like ourselves because it's easy to know what's on their mind. Of course that's a stereotype; it represents the extreme of the scale, but most of us at least lean a bit toward that end of the spectrum.
The thing is as you get older you realize that sustainable success in life has two sides: exploiting your strengths and compensating for your weaknesses, and a preference for bluntness over social nuance is both a strength and a weakness. The dangers of social nuance are a fact, as objective as any other fact, and that means you can't blythely ignore other peoples' feelings and consider yourself a realist.
Mark Zuckerberg is 33, an age which, back in the day, a bright young guy would maybe have just clawed his way onto the bottom rung of the upper management. Now he's one of the masters of the universe, and still making the kind of mistakes that didn't prevent him from getting where he is today. The thing about mistakes though is that they don't always get you right away. Sometimes they catch up with you. But he's a young dog yet; maybe he'll learn new tricks.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The topic is right on. I see it all the time in trading... The Firehouse Effect is a notion attributed to a veteran market trader Marty O’Connell “that firemen with much downtime who talk to each other for too long come to agree on many things that an outside, impartial observer would find ludicrous”. Also Silicon Valley violates the principles of good decision making as outlined in Wisdom of the Crowds by James Surowiecki. Good decision making by groups: Diversity of opinion - Each person should have private information even if it's just an eccentric interpretation of the known facts. Independence - People's opinions aren't determined by the opinions of those around them. Decentralization - People can specialize and draw on local knowledge. Aggregation - Some mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision. SV has become a hotbed of McCarthyism in reverse.
The author makes some vague references, but doesn't provide any examples. I don't know what he's talking about. For all I know the people in Silicon Valley are in touch with reality and the author is so far out of touch that he can't recognize when he sees it.
Horoscope: Someone you thought was pretty smart will say something odd.
Reader: Odd how?
Horoscope: You don't know the first thing about horoscopes, do you?
a man who has gotten ahead in life by saying asinine things
The left, and many on the right, fail to grasp how incredibly shrewd Trump is. I don't much care for him as a person but the facts are undeniable that he is a successful real estate developer in NYC. It doesn't matter if his original seed money came from his father, one does not build ANYTHING in Manhattan without having a lot of clues. A great many things involving a large number of stakeholders have to happen to build a project and he did it multiple times.
In his first full attempt at public office (continued to the actual election), he ran for the highest office in the world and won. The man beat first the GOP, of which he was only peripherally a member that was united against him, and then beat the MSM and the career politician who was supposed to be the pre-determined next POTUS.
People think him to be a clown because he doesn't talk like a lawyer and then underestimate him. Sun Tzu said "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Only one side in this battle knew the truth about the enemy.
Most people forget that what a person wants is very different from what they buy. A person buying a drill didn't want a drill, they need to make a hole. Even the hole was only necessary because the person actually just needed to mount a shelf. The Democrats kept saying "Look at our great drill and all the features it has. You have to get it because it is the best drill." Trump said "I'll hang your shelf."
Wow...just....wow.
You really believe that?
Did it never occur to you that the NRA is made up of and supported BY citizens of the United States, and that the organization is there to lobby on their behalf?
This isn't some mindless entity that is trying to push its evil views on the country, it is a representative of the people that value their 2A rights.
If the left wasn't trying to gun grab again....you'd not see this level of animosity that does seem to be brewing somewhat, but then again, what can you expect when you have sections of the US, trying to infringe upon the LONG held rights of many others in the US. You expect them to give up easily?
I'm actually shocked, to see how many people today, and it is mostly youths, that are so willing it seems to voluntarily give up their own rights.
And once you do give up said rights, you pretty much never can give them back.
But using words like slaughter, etc....that's really going above board. No one is calling for that.
If anything, I see more vitriol of that type actually coming from the left these days....they are the ones having the more violent protests these days.
If, however, there ever came a time with there was an attempt at mass confiscation, then yes....you likely would see violence.
I don't forsee it coming to that, but if constitutional rights get stomped on too much, it could get messy.
But do realize...that's what this country was founded upon, you know? Rights were hard fought for....the British didn't really nicely want to give us up if you recall. The founding fathers felt strongly enough to fight for their independence and to have a country with inherit rights.
One of the reasons for the 2nd Amendment, was to have some insurance that the government didn't become too overbearing and intrusive again. It wasn't passed to just assure people they could still hunt food.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I remember working in a moving company in high school, some of the guys would make ridiculously racist jokes they'd be ashamed to repeat elsewhere.
I've been in a bar with skilled labour types, they made dumbass political statements that have no bearing on reality.
Every little subculture creates their own little reality, of course silicon valley folks are making statements among themselves that make sense in no other context. I don't think silicon valley is worse than any other culture in this regard. And outside of the occasional bad startup idea I don't think their weird quirks are really causing problems.
I stole this Sig
I'll give it a shot.
An SJW is someone who thinks that people who do not support their pet issue should be publicly shamed and extra-judiciously punished for not supporting their pet issue. Typically they identify themselves as victims of straight white males. When not online, they enjoy spending time in mobs while repeating slogans and protesting the world.
Not really that hard.
... because we already knew about it and we've fixed it.
WE VOTED TRUMP INTO THE WHITE (GLASS) HOUSE
Yes, we targeted Trump and his entire orbit including those guilty of systemic sexual harassment, white nationalism, fraud, blackmail, money laundering, electioneering and, yes, even the people who wouldn't do anything sensible to at least try to reduce injuries and deaths by way of personal handguns and rifles.
We knew that Trump, as a president, would be under the microscope.
The Access Hollywood tape had been around awhile and we wanted that out there.
During the campaign, sure enough, the KKK people took off their hoods! Bonus. Notice that fire is tamped down now, but it's too late. Our LEOs have a year of video and photographic evidence that we have scanned through facial recognition and all your base are belong to us.
Our work has been fruitful.
Think of the many politicians that have met their political demise via exposure of their sexual indiscretions.
Look at Trump's lawyer, Cohen, who is in deep shit.
Look at Hannity. We wanted him and Bill O'Reilly and. we calculated to bring down Fox News and flat-line its bias and influence as fake news. That's a work in progress.
Appreciate that all the work done by lawyers and acquaintances of Trump, intended to shield him from negative press during the campaign, have a dollar value and are categorized as campaign contributions.
In some cases where individuals said they did shit for Trump on their own, the value of the work exceeds the limit of private campaign donation limits.
Cohen created companies in Delaware as a dodge in order to hide the transactions, but the companies did not claim the payout as campaign contribution. That's money laundering and other stuff.
==
Intelligent, reasonable, people have long asked for implementation of rational firearm regulation.
We were not out to get the guns.
Because more traditional approaches failed to move the needle, (and for other obvious reasons) we decided to pass on Hillary Clinton in favour of Trump.
Our strategy has worked in that gun sales are at record lows and some gun manufacturers are having fire sales because the batshit crazy #2A assholes were gearing up for a Hillary win and the manufacturers over-produced, and have a shit-load of inventory.
Gun maker stocks are down and some are even filing for bankruptcy.
SO, WE DIDN'T TAKE THE GUNS --WE FIXED IT WHERE FEW PEOPLE ARE BUYING THEM
OK, You may applaud now, and thank you for not cheering and yelling during this presentation.
Tip jar's on the piano, try the fish.
.
.
© 2018 CaptainDork
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Anyone blaming Trump still is stuck in the Silicon Valley bubble. Nothing that they said would happen has happened. Stocks did not drop, unemployment did not increase, economy did not tank, no one's civil rights have been taken away.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Whatever your take on this story is, read Chris Hayes' "Twilight of the Elites". A lot of the stupid shit you seen in politics, academia, and well, SV, it's all about elites and supposed meritocracies that, acting as optimization systems without proper health-checks, then end up moving into a degenerated state.
Silicon Valley was out of touch way before Trump was elected. They've been out of touch since pretty much the beginning.
Trump didn't take away dreamers rights. They were already illegal aliens, whether they came here illegally at 10 or 50. Laws are just being enforced like they always have been. Even liberal media ABC admitted Obama deported more than any other president and Trump is continuing what Obama started http://abcnews.go.com/Politics...
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Insert Morpheus meme picture.....
What if I were to tell you that it's possible to be anti-Trump, but even more anti-Hillary?
I didn't like Trump, and didn't vote for him. But President Hillary would have been immeasurably worse.
I have a political button with a cartoon of Cthulhu, tentacles raised in a "V"; "Vote for Cthulhu! Why Support the LESSER Evil?"
What stupid stuff, nothing was mentioned in the article, no examples, no context, this kind of article is normally called waffling on, no meat, nothing. As for IQ vs EQ, intelligence quotient is a measure of the ability to learn by what you have learnt, where as EQ was a simply a buzz term, which really means the ability to read and manipulate emotions, very popular with narcissists (they were skilled at it, not that they felt the slightest twinge at the emotions they were purposefully generating in other people as they manipulated them).
Perversely enough, that things they call up are all EQ based and nothing what so ever to do with IQ. The coders were controlling bugger all, carrying out the instructions of management who are largely EQ types, master manipulators. Just because you run a tech company, does not mean you are a tech expert, you hire them, they do the work and you claim the credit and the majority of the profits, EQ not IQ.
How about decades of arrogance taking the piss out of nerds and geeks across the board. People to be routinely ridiculed in media, this ridicule not only not challenged but celebrated. They call us the arrogant ones, the EQ jock straps and cheer leaders. Contrary to the lie, high IQ tech types do no run most of the social media companies, it is manipulative bean counters who run them.
Most say stupid shit because they are sick of the disingenuous bullshit of the manipulators and the shit ain't stupid just a little mean and a whole lot sarcastic. The waffling in US main stream media is just beyond the pale, the SJW nonsense as taken over by corporate douche bags to make the left look bad is just awful and social media should never ever be real name based, it invites problems.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen