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It's kind of a shame, one of the thing I value most about working in tech is the apolitical stance a lot of companies take.
by thescribe 10y ago
It's kind of a shame, one of the thing I value most about working in tech is the apolitical stance a lot of companies take.
- wehere11 10y agohate to break it to you,but https://www.fastcodesign.com/3066631/software-is-politics https://www.fastcodesign.com/3066631/software-is-politics
- ars 10y agoSure there is politics directly related to the software, that's understandable. But on other topics they should stay out of it.
- mmakunas 10y agoThe amorality on this thread is blowing my mind. Please watch something like this before perpetuating the delusion that tech doesn't affect people. http://www.structureevents.com/joyents-bryan-cantrill-on-technology-fear-and-the-rise-of-trump/ http://www.structureevents.com/joyents-bryan-cantrill-on-tec...
- flukus 10y agoNo one said tech doesn't effect people.
- thescribe 10y agoSoftware is no more political that 2 + 2 = 4, it's just computation applied. If we start dragging politics into it we will destroy things like open source that exist only because anyone can anonymously contribute without their race/religion/politics coming up.
- mmakunas 10y agoSo build stuff that completely disrupts entire industries, and eliminates whole categories of jobs, but STFU about it's actual effect on people? Just cash the check, geek out about the tech, and get on with your life?
- thescribe 10y agoEveryone has been doing that forever. The petrol engineer simply competes with the horse feed industry.
- flukus 10y ago> So build stuff that completely disrupts entire industries, and eliminates whole categories of jobs, but STFU about it's actual effect on people? Yes. The jobs weren't their responsibility when the existed and shouldn't be when they're gone. We have other entities to worry about things like that, governments.
- Analemma_ 10y agoThere is no such thing as an apolitical stance. It doesn't exist. Banish the very concept from your mind. That is what I, and a lot of the people who have been complaining about the politics of SV, have been saying for some time now. Typically, tech's stance is something like "socially conscious technolibertarianism". That's not inherently bad-- it's a philosophy with pros and cons like any other-- but it is a definite stance. You might be perceiving it as apolitical for one of two reasons: 1. because it aligns so closely with your view of how the world "should be" that it seems natural and obvious 2. because it doesn't map easily onto the usual Democrat/Republican camps of American politics, thus allowing it to avoid closely identifying with one of those parties and thus seem apolitical So I don't think this is a shame - it's more that tech is now being more honest and open about what they were doing anyway.
- Rylinks 10y agoWhile it's not possible for Uber to have an apolitical stance on collective bargaining rights for independent contractors, it is totally possible for Uber to have an apolitical stance on the composition of the Micronesian parliament. In fact, most SV companies are probably apolitical in this respect. It's impossible to be completely apolitical, but it is possible for a company to be involved in politics to a greater or lesser degree.