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Human motivations truly are something strange. We discovered and innovated heavily on amazing pieces of technology (Computers, Web, Phones, Efficient Algorithm

Human motivations truly are something strange. We discovered and innovated heavily on amazing pieces of technology (Computers, Web, Phones, Efficient Algorithms). And seemingly, the two foremost use cases have become to captivate people’s attention to sell them ads, and to threaten the lives of people we disagree with ideologically. (War, mass surveillance) Just look at what China has done to the Uighurs. I often worry about the direction we’re heading. While it is undeniable that fewer people are dying due to war, maybe we’re just moving the agony elsewhere. For every startup that begins with the ambition to make money, there lack in startups that actually aim to address a problem. Yet, somehow we manage to convince ourselves that food delivery, ride sharing, or scooters are somehow going to fix our most primal issues.

dsfyu404ed 7y ago
>And seemingly, the two foremost use cases have become to captivate people’s attention to sell them ads, and to threaten the lives of people we disagree with ideologically. In my highly unscientific observation those use cases are minuscule in comparison to entertainment (Netflix/Hulu/YouTube shows, funny cat videos, arguing with idiots on Reddit, reading the news, reading blogs, pornography, reading HN, etc, etc).
- Aperocky 7y ago
  And in that it serve us well. Upon reflection, it is clear that most of our energy are spent on entertainment and it’s whats making our lives and the economy more fulfilling.
- bransonf 7y ago
  I totally agree. My original comment was a bit narrow, but by captivate attention I meant platforms of consumption. But in many of those platforms, I’m willing to bet that an equal or proportionally larger amount of development is in advertising. YouTube for example: Making a large scale video platform is a challenge, but then using that to generate revenue is probably the bigger challenge.
moltensodium 7y ago
I have never met a startup founder that wanted to address a problem or improve the world. Instead they all want to make sure that the Series A investors are happy. Nothing else really matters besides doing whatever the investors think will make number go up. One time I almost got involved with a person who truly wanted to improve the world, but didn't get the job. Outside of that one person I almost met 15 years ago, literally every founder in tech I've interacted with is just trying to run the ponzi scheme and get to that exit event, consequences be damned, employees be damned, profit be damned. Maybe there are some good people in tech, but I still haven't met them after a whole career in this industry. Just a lot of people who make number go up like they're told to. *edit I think this comment will be very poorly received and downvoted to -100000 karma, but honestly typing it out has made me realize I just fucking hate this industry with every fiber of my being. Every new platform and channel and tool gets completely subverted by ever more intrusive and personalized advertising, and the total data surveillance ecosystem of the big tech giants ensures that they will be able to kill or consume any truly good business idea before it gets off the ground. I think I'm done. Fuck tech. Fuck computers. What a waste of a career.
- AndrewKemendo 7y ago
  An interesting irony here is that almost every founder I know who started a company that failed outright or went bankrupt were primarily ideologically motivated. Whereas the successful founders were the ones who chased the bottom line, improve the world is a benefit. I fall into the first camp, though I got lucky with an acquisition. However it tainted me on startups and business in general actually having the ability to be ideological. At the end of the day people need to get paid, otherwise it's a volunteer organization, and volunteer organizations don't scale.
- dekhn 7y ago
  Plenty of the startup founders I've worked with want to address a problem and improve the world. They were also working to keep investors happy because otherwise they would not have the opportunity.
- balt_s 7y ago
  Hang in there, man.
s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago
Most of this technology was developed because of war. We can thank the Cold War and WWII for most of it. We see the largest strides in innovation when we're pitted against each other and the stakes are high and clear.
caseysoftware 7y ago
It's been a while now but while I (briefly) worked on my Masters, we analyzed technology development and what drove it. Surprisingly (at the time), war and sex tend to drive the vast majority of it. GPS, microwaves, the internet, and many medical treatments had roots in national defense. VHS over Betamax and high speed internet adoption came from porn. We identified hundreds of big and little things in many industries.
- bransonf 7y ago
  Did your lab ever publish anything on the subject? If so, I’d love to read it.
- carapace 7y ago
  I thought it was more or less axiomatic that sex and death are the two main drivers of all human culture. (Because evolution.)
Braggadocious 7y ago
It's society deciding who breeds and who doesn't. It's a belief that's existed since Francis Galton that we can quantify the traits of humans, and that, like Gregor Mendel controlled the color of flowers, we can quantify and control those human traits.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago
> We discovered and innovated heavily on amazing pieces of technology (Computers, Web, Phones, Efficient Algorithms). A lot of the research efforts that discovered these things were funded by governments for the purpose of conducting war more effectively and efficiently. The internet was created to maintain command and control in the advent of a nuclear war. A lot of operations research was about improving factory production of war materiel. The desire to simulate nuclear explosions drove a lot of super computing research (look at all the Department of Energy contracts for supercomputers). Throughout human history, the desire to efficiently kill other humans without being killed yourself has driven a lot of technology development, and this is unlikely to change in the future.
bumblebee4 7y ago
How can you escape survival of the fittest? With 8G people, it's a numbers game. Even if one or the other is driven by interesting motivations, is that a strategic advantage the competition for the fittest business processes?
est 7y ago
> We discovered and innovated heavily on amazing pieces of technology (Computers, Web, Phones, Efficient Algorithms) These technologies are funded by defence industries in the first place. https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/

dsfyu404ed 7y ago

>And seemingly, the two foremost use cases have become to captivate people’s attention to sell them ads, and to threaten the lives of people we disagree with ideologically. In my highly unscientific observation those use cases are minuscule in comparison to entertainment (Netflix/Hulu/YouTube shows, funny cat videos, arguing with idiots on Reddit, reading the news, reading blogs, pornography, reading HN, etc, etc).

Aperocky 7y ago
And in that it serve us well. Upon reflection, it is clear that most of our energy are spent on entertainment and it’s whats making our lives and the economy more fulfilling.
bransonf 7y ago
I totally agree. My original comment was a bit narrow, but by captivate attention I meant platforms of consumption. But in many of those platforms, I’m willing to bet that an equal or proportionally larger amount of development is in advertising. YouTube for example: Making a large scale video platform is a challenge, but then using that to generate revenue is probably the bigger challenge.

moltensodium 7y ago

I have never met a startup founder that wanted to address a problem or improve the world. Instead they all want to make sure that the Series A investors are happy. Nothing else really matters besides doing whatever the investors think will make number go up. One time I almost got involved with a person who truly wanted to improve the world, but didn't get the job. Outside of that one person I almost met 15 years ago, literally every founder in tech I've interacted with is just trying to run the ponzi scheme and get to that exit event, consequences be damned, employees be damned, profit be damned. Maybe there are some good people in tech, but I still haven't met them after a whole career in this industry. Just a lot of people who make number go up like they're told to. *edit I think this comment will be very poorly received and downvoted to -100000 karma, but honestly typing it out has made me realize I just fucking hate this industry with every fiber of my being. Every new platform and channel and tool gets completely subverted by ever more intrusive and personalized advertising, and the total data surveillance ecosystem of the big tech giants ensures that they will be able to kill or consume any truly good business idea before it gets off the ground. I think I'm done. Fuck tech. Fuck computers. What a waste of a career.

AndrewKemendo 7y ago
An interesting irony here is that almost every founder I know who started a company that failed outright or went bankrupt were primarily ideologically motivated. Whereas the successful founders were the ones who chased the bottom line, improve the world is a benefit. I fall into the first camp, though I got lucky with an acquisition. However it tainted me on startups and business in general actually having the ability to be ideological. At the end of the day people need to get paid, otherwise it's a volunteer organization, and volunteer organizations don't scale.
dekhn 7y ago
Plenty of the startup founders I've worked with want to address a problem and improve the world. They were also working to keep investors happy because otherwise they would not have the opportunity.
balt_s 7y ago
Hang in there, man.

s_y_n_t_a_x 7y ago

Most of this technology was developed because of war. We can thank the Cold War and WWII for most of it. We see the largest strides in innovation when we're pitted against each other and the stakes are high and clear.

caseysoftware 7y ago

It's been a while now but while I (briefly) worked on my Masters, we analyzed technology development and what drove it. Surprisingly (at the time), war and sex tend to drive the vast majority of it. GPS, microwaves, the internet, and many medical treatments had roots in national defense. VHS over Betamax and high speed internet adoption came from porn. We identified hundreds of big and little things in many industries.

bransonf 7y ago
Did your lab ever publish anything on the subject? If so, I’d love to read it.
carapace 7y ago
I thought it was more or less axiomatic that sex and death are the two main drivers of all human culture. (Because evolution.)

Braggadocious 7y ago

It's society deciding who breeds and who doesn't. It's a belief that's existed since Francis Galton that we can quantify the traits of humans, and that, like Gregor Mendel controlled the color of flowers, we can quantify and control those human traits.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 7y ago

> We discovered and innovated heavily on amazing pieces of technology (Computers, Web, Phones, Efficient Algorithms). A lot of the research efforts that discovered these things were funded by governments for the purpose of conducting war more effectively and efficiently. The internet was created to maintain command and control in the advent of a nuclear war. A lot of operations research was about improving factory production of war materiel. The desire to simulate nuclear explosions drove a lot of super computing research (look at all the Department of Energy contracts for supercomputers). Throughout human history, the desire to efficiently kill other humans without being killed yourself has driven a lot of technology development, and this is unlikely to change in the future.

bumblebee4 7y ago

How can you escape survival of the fittest? With 8G people, it's a numbers game. Even if one or the other is driven by interesting motivations, is that a strategic advantage the competition for the fittest business processes?

est 7y ago

> We discovered and innovated heavily on amazing pieces of technology (Computers, Web, Phones, Efficient Algorithms) These technologies are funded by defence industries in the first place. https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ https://steveblank.com/secret-history/