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"Ultimately the root of any conspiracy theory is a strong desire to believe that someone, somewhere, is competent at what they're doing." -Amy Dentata

genericpseudo 10y ago
Point taken :-) But I don't think I'm advancing a conspiracy theory. There's a genuine crisis at Uber, and that's the important issue here; if a hundredth of what's been alleged is true then that's the main event here and all of this is really Valley inside-baseball navel-gazing. Let's not draw moral false equivalences here. Still, as a student of Valley dynamics, one has to acknowledge that realpolitik exists whenever things go really wrong. Given that, it's worth wondering whether any parties can take advantage of those conditions, especially given the non-existent state of board oversight in tightly-held SV companies. Chris Sacca and Mitch Kapor have already gone to the press on this (publically), so it's not even that much of a reach. This is, in some really grim ways, an opportunity which doesn't come around very often.
- intrasight 10y ago
  An opportunity to write a great screenplay and make a blockbuster movie.
- nostrademons 10y ago
  There doesn't have to be a single actor who benefits for there to be realpolitik. It could be that the the company has pissed off a number of people on the way up (this is a virtual certainty), and now that they smell blood in the water, they're all coming out. Think "information cascade", not "nefarious actor".
  - genericpseudo 10y ago
    That's actually what I was aiming to say, but the way I phrased it could unfortunately bear both interpretations.
  - postgeographic 10y ago
    Information cascade does not necessarily mean no nefarious actor or actors. While I'm not saying there IS a vast conspiracy to take down Uber, I too have felt that there is a concerted push for negative PR on Uber, with the timing of the releases of bad news a bit too neat. Uber's troubles have been on top of the news cycle for a few weeks now for various things.
alistproducer2 10y ago
That's a great quote that mirrors my thoughts. Even though conspiracies are very real, people that see conspiracies everywhere are really searching for order in a chaotic world.
- nradov 10y ago
  The human mind is a superb pattern matching machine, to the extent that we perceive patterns even in random noise.
  - JorgeGT 10y ago
    Interesting example: http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/995095 http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/995095
- cookiecaper 10y ago
  While it's true that it's easy to imagine conspiratorial conduct is occurring when events are in fact coincidental, conspirators are quick to exploit that "healthy skepticism" and lead people into scoffing at the suggestion of the actual conspiracies that are underway. Consider that "conspiracy theorist" is basically a pejorative these days. There are indeed some tinfoil hat wearers, but there are also a lot of people whose paranoia has been earned through experience and is more justified than it may appear at first glance. I think the pendulum has definitely swung to the complacent side of things, and that people are more likely to assume coincidence when conspiracy is the correct explanation. I know the impulsive response here is "Hanlon's Razor!" and all that, but I feel that's better applied to keeping interpersonal relations friendly rather than explaining significant closely-timed organizational or social changes. My experience with such changes at the organizational level has been that there are some key people who are very interested in ensuring that the people in the org believe an organic, coincidental, or otherwise autonomous change occurred, but they've actually spent months coordinating efforts to ensure that the desired changes occur. Politics is an inevitability any time you get more than 5 people in the same room. We'd do well to hesitate and think before we laugh at the people who put forth "unofficial" narratives.
skookumchuck 10y ago
"Never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by bungling." - Unknown
TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago
That literally everyone is incompetent is the grandest of anti-conspiracy conspiracies. Of course there are competent people. I know I am, and so are most of the people I know. The folk who conspired to cheat the emissions tests at VW are competent and organised; the folk at Uber who built the system to track cops are competent and organised; the folk at the NSA etc etc are competent and organised.

genericpseudo 10y ago

Point taken :-) But I don't think I'm advancing a conspiracy theory. There's a genuine crisis at Uber, and that's the important issue here; if a hundredth of what's been alleged is true then that's the main event here and all of this is really Valley inside-baseball navel-gazing. Let's not draw moral false equivalences here. Still, as a student of Valley dynamics, one has to acknowledge that realpolitik exists whenever things go really wrong. Given that, it's worth wondering whether any parties can take advantage of those conditions, especially given the non-existent state of board oversight in tightly-held SV companies. Chris Sacca and Mitch Kapor have already gone to the press on this (publically), so it's not even that much of a reach. This is, in some really grim ways, an opportunity which doesn't come around very often.

intrasight 10y ago
An opportunity to write a great screenplay and make a blockbuster movie.
nostrademons 10y ago
There doesn't have to be a single actor who benefits for there to be realpolitik. It could be that the the company has pissed off a number of people on the way up (this is a virtual certainty), and now that they smell blood in the water, they're all coming out. Think "information cascade", not "nefarious actor".
- genericpseudo 10y ago
  That's actually what I was aiming to say, but the way I phrased it could unfortunately bear both interpretations.
- postgeographic 10y ago
  Information cascade does not necessarily mean no nefarious actor or actors. While I'm not saying there IS a vast conspiracy to take down Uber, I too have felt that there is a concerted push for negative PR on Uber, with the timing of the releases of bad news a bit too neat. Uber's troubles have been on top of the news cycle for a few weeks now for various things.

alistproducer2 10y ago

That's a great quote that mirrors my thoughts. Even though conspiracies are very real, people that see conspiracies everywhere are really searching for order in a chaotic world.

nradov 10y ago
The human mind is a superb pattern matching machine, to the extent that we perceive patterns even in random noise.
- JorgeGT 10y ago
  Interesting example: http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/995095 http://community.wolfram.com/groups/-/m/t/995095
cookiecaper 10y ago
While it's true that it's easy to imagine conspiratorial conduct is occurring when events are in fact coincidental, conspirators are quick to exploit that "healthy skepticism" and lead people into scoffing at the suggestion of the actual conspiracies that are underway. Consider that "conspiracy theorist" is basically a pejorative these days. There are indeed some tinfoil hat wearers, but there are also a lot of people whose paranoia has been earned through experience and is more justified than it may appear at first glance. I think the pendulum has definitely swung to the complacent side of things, and that people are more likely to assume coincidence when conspiracy is the correct explanation. I know the impulsive response here is "Hanlon's Razor!" and all that, but I feel that's better applied to keeping interpersonal relations friendly rather than explaining significant closely-timed organizational or social changes. My experience with such changes at the organizational level has been that there are some key people who are very interested in ensuring that the people in the org believe an organic, coincidental, or otherwise autonomous change occurred, but they've actually spent months coordinating efforts to ensure that the desired changes occur. Politics is an inevitability any time you get more than 5 people in the same room. We'd do well to hesitate and think before we laugh at the people who put forth "unofficial" narratives.

skookumchuck 10y ago

"Never attribute to conspiracy what can be explained by bungling." - Unknown

TheSpiceIsLife 10y ago

That literally everyone is incompetent is the grandest of anti-conspiracy conspiracies. Of course there are competent people. I know I am, and so are most of the people I know. The folk who conspired to cheat the emissions tests at VW are competent and organised; the folk at Uber who built the system to track cops are competent and organised; the folk at the NSA etc etc are competent and organised.