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I think this is a great criticism of Silicon Valley, in general. It used to be filled with nerds who wanted to change the world. Now it's filled with hackers

I think this is a great criticism of Silicon Valley, in general. It used to be filled with nerds who wanted to change the world. Now it's filled with hackers who want to get rich. Let me quote the author again: They’re creating "bread and circuses" ... apps that are wildly popular, infinitely entertaining, and exactly what people want. The only problem is that they don’t really do anybody any good. They’re not doing what technology is intended to do: Solve problems. I'm ringing the bell on Silicon Valley. It's days are not up, but they're numbered. Because it doesn't understand this, it will begin its slow descent to become part of Hollywood. And real innovation will happen elsewhere.

MarkSweep 16y ago
Was silicon valley really originally about changing the world? It is my understanding that the customers for integrated circuits during the 70s and earlier were primarily the military and large corporations. While delvoping technology for those sort of companies may be more "real", it hardly seems like that sort of work would be any less profit-driven. Also I would guess that the prominence of silly start-ups that are based on "game mechanics, addiction, self-reference, and narcissism" is made to appear larger because these sorts of companies need large numbers of people to be aware of them. Start-ups that create products that are not used by the general public probably will not seek publicity and thus you are less likely to read about them on tech crunch. I have interned at three start-ups over the last 4 years and none of them have ever been mentioned on Techcrunch, despite one of them being involved in some serious M&A action. But why would they be, since readers probably are not hugely interesting in moving silicon wafers around a fab and companies are unlikely to find customers for their protein analysis hardware. So before you lament that lack of "real" start-ups, consider the possibility that you just are not hearing about them.
enko 16y ago
> It used to be filled with nerds who wanted to change the world. Now it's filled with hackers who want to get rich. What about nerds who want to change the world, but know they'll have to get rich to do so?

MarkSweep 16y ago

Was silicon valley really originally about changing the world? It is my understanding that the customers for integrated circuits during the 70s and earlier were primarily the military and large corporations. While delvoping technology for those sort of companies may be more "real", it hardly seems like that sort of work would be any less profit-driven. Also I would guess that the prominence of silly start-ups that are based on "game mechanics, addiction, self-reference, and narcissism" is made to appear larger because these sorts of companies need large numbers of people to be aware of them. Start-ups that create products that are not used by the general public probably will not seek publicity and thus you are less likely to read about them on tech crunch. I have interned at three start-ups over the last 4 years and none of them have ever been mentioned on Techcrunch, despite one of them being involved in some serious M&A action. But why would they be, since readers probably are not hugely interesting in moving silicon wafers around a fab and companies are unlikely to find customers for their protein analysis hardware. So before you lament that lack of "real" start-ups, consider the possibility that you just are not hearing about them.

enko 16y ago

> It used to be filled with nerds who wanted to change the world. Now it's filled with hackers who want to get rich. What about nerds who want to change the world, but know they'll have to get rich to do so?