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Such a good opening line, "The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm. Silicon Valley has an ethos: Build it first and ask for forgiveness later."

by ProAm 9y ago

Spooky23 9y ago
It’s the downside of the VC model where the investors are insulated from the activity and are just throwing money against the wall and seein what sticks. Ethical behavior is a cousin of accountability. Tech is about failing fast. When the management and investors in a firm have little accountability in the future of the individual enterprise, why would you expect them to make correct decisions vs expedient ones?
Alex3917 9y ago
Yeah but both of those are just marketing postures that don’t really have anything to do with the underlying realities of their respective industries.
- ProAm 9y ago
  I think it speaks well to start ups, VC culture and silicon valley as a whole actually. It is a bit posture-y but feel its accurate.
- dsr_ 9y ago
  It's necessary to establish a policy before you can enforce it. You can't argue about exceptions if you don't fundamentally support the legitimacy of the policy, either. "First, do no harm" is a policy statement. Once you accept it, you can make arguments about tradeoffs (pain management, amputation, chemotherapy, abortion), but without having a policy statement, there's no argument being made, just a free-for-all mess.
  - Alex3917 9y ago
    > without having a policy statement, there's no argument being made, just a free-for-all mess. Given that medical treatments are the second or third leading cause of death in the U.S., how much good is the policy statement really doing?
da02 9y ago
Actually, doctors constantly prescribe dangerous drugs all the time: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201404/prescription-drugs-are-more-deadly-street-drugs https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201404/pre... But, they get away with it since most people sue the drug companies instead of the doctors. During primetime in the US, you can see the ads for drugs. Wait a few years and you can see lawyers advertising class-action lawsuits for those same drugs during daytime TV. Then, when you bring it up, someone mentions, "doctors don't harm people. They have a motto to do no harm." Actually, most doctors ignore it and do what other doctors do. Just look at statin drugs: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-teitelbaum-md/statins-cholesterol_b_910841.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-teitelbaum-md/statins-c... Let's see doctors prescribe magnesium citrate + fish oil instead of statin drugs. "Oh, but fish oil contains mercury!" No doctor ever says, "Be careful of drugs. One gives you side-effects and you will end up on a treadmill of drugs to cover the side-effects of the others." Doctors go on strike, deaths decline (in Israel): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127364/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127364/ And in the UK: "When doctors strike, fewer patients die": https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/02/09/hoskins/QhjVuBHqnrjrT0wSeWRJII/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/02/09/hoskins/QhjVuBH... It's all hard to accept, but Silicon Valley is no different. Except people scrutinize Silicon Valley and Wall Street more than they do their own doctors. Go ask your doctor about statin drugs and see the clever rationalizations they make. No different than the people here who say, "I can't program without NULL!"(https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/ideology https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/ideology)
chasd00 9y ago
"The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm.." I always liked that "do no harm" statement. Notice how it seems to imply "do only good" but it doesn't. Clever.

Such a good opening line, "The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm. Silicon Valley has an ethos: Build it first and ask for forgiveness later."

by ProAm 9y ago

Such a good opening line, "The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm. Silicon Valley has an ethos: Build it first and ask for forgiveness later."

Spooky23 9y ago

It’s the downside of the VC model where the investors are insulated from the activity and are just throwing money against the wall and seein what sticks. Ethical behavior is a cousin of accountability. Tech is about failing fast. When the management and investors in a firm have little accountability in the future of the individual enterprise, why would you expect them to make correct decisions vs expedient ones?

Alex3917 9y ago

Yeah but both of those are just marketing postures that don’t really have anything to do with the underlying realities of their respective industries.

ProAm 9y ago
I think it speaks well to start ups, VC culture and silicon valley as a whole actually. It is a bit posture-y but feel its accurate.
dsr_ 9y ago
It's necessary to establish a policy before you can enforce it. You can't argue about exceptions if you don't fundamentally support the legitimacy of the policy, either. "First, do no harm" is a policy statement. Once you accept it, you can make arguments about tradeoffs (pain management, amputation, chemotherapy, abortion), but without having a policy statement, there's no argument being made, just a free-for-all mess.
- Alex3917 9y ago
  > without having a policy statement, there's no argument being made, just a free-for-all mess. Given that medical treatments are the second or third leading cause of death in the U.S., how much good is the policy statement really doing?

da02 9y ago

Actually, doctors constantly prescribe dangerous drugs all the time: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201404/prescription-drugs-are-more-deadly-street-drugs https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wicked-deeds/201404/pre... But, they get away with it since most people sue the drug companies instead of the doctors. During primetime in the US, you can see the ads for drugs. Wait a few years and you can see lawyers advertising class-action lawsuits for those same drugs during daytime TV. Then, when you bring it up, someone mentions, "doctors don't harm people. They have a motto to do no harm." Actually, most doctors ignore it and do what other doctors do. Just look at statin drugs: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-teitelbaum-md/statins-cholesterol_b_910841.html https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-teitelbaum-md/statins-c... Let's see doctors prescribe magnesium citrate + fish oil instead of statin drugs. "Oh, but fish oil contains mercury!" No doctor ever says, "Be careful of drugs. One gives you side-effects and you will end up on a treadmill of drugs to cover the side-effects of the others." Doctors go on strike, deaths decline (in Israel): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127364/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127364/ And in the UK: "When doctors strike, fewer patients die": https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/02/09/hoskins/QhjVuBHqnrjrT0wSeWRJII/story.html https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/02/09/hoskins/QhjVuBH... It's all hard to accept, but Silicon Valley is no different. Except people scrutinize Silicon Valley and Wall Street more than they do their own doctors. Go ask your doctor about statin drugs and see the clever rationalizations they make. No different than the people here who say, "I can't program without NULL!"(https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/ideology https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/ideology)

chasd00 9y ago

"The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm.." I always liked that "do no harm" statement. Notice how it seems to imply "do only good" but it doesn't. Clever.