4 ms·

Pretty ironic take given that the site you're writing the comment on was founded by pg writing a bunch of essays breaking the world down into "nerds" vs "jocks"

Pretty ironic take given that the site you're writing the comment on was founded by pg writing a bunch of essays breaking the world down into "nerds" vs "jocks" with VCs being "high school girls". pg decided to write those down rather than share them over a third beer and it seems to have spawned a bunch of billion dollar companies. The author refers to michael o church who had much clearer takes on the subject, not-withstanding a lot of other craziness that undermined some of his interesting opinions. He certainly was one of the first people to publicly call out that companies like Google and VC-backed startups spend a LOT of effort on PR that they are "social good" despite being as ruthlessly money-making oriented as any conventional companies they claimed not to be. He coined one of my favorite sayings that "Silicon Valley is just Wall St for people who can't wake up early." Those takes are a little less novel in 2021 now that everyone realizes how morally bankrupt companies like Google are but credit's due where it's due so I'd recommend checking out his old blog posts.

moolcool 6y ago
Just because PG/YC has success doesn't mean that a lot of those posts aren't "third beer" observations. PG's essays didn't start the companies, and they're fair-game for criticism IMO.
- f430 6y ago
  exactly. PG isnt a god nor a role model; You should seek within for your own sense of inspiration.
hyperpallium2 6y ago
I think Google really was more idealistic. With their 20% time, thinking new businesses would grow from it. There was also Sun's business model, of free software (eg java) to sell hardware. It's not that they were selfless... but their interests were aligned with others. Of course, looking back, MS's open platform seems positively benign today, yet te were habitually vilified at the time... maybe today's corporations will seem similarly benign in hindsight? After all, you can't make money without some alignment with customers. Or, maybe it's just "power corrupts".
asiachick 6y ago
Dang tells me that calling a company "morally bankrupt" is not allowed on HN. I got flagged for doing so.

moolcool 6y ago

Just because PG/YC has success doesn't mean that a lot of those posts aren't "third beer" observations. PG's essays didn't start the companies, and they're fair-game for criticism IMO.

f430 6y ago
exactly. PG isnt a god nor a role model; You should seek within for your own sense of inspiration.

hyperpallium2 6y ago

I think Google really was more idealistic. With their 20% time, thinking new businesses would grow from it. There was also Sun's business model, of free software (eg java) to sell hardware. It's not that they were selfless... but their interests were aligned with others. Of course, looking back, MS's open platform seems positively benign today, yet te were habitually vilified at the time... maybe today's corporations will seem similarly benign in hindsight? After all, you can't make money without some alignment with customers. Or, maybe it's just "power corrupts".

asiachick 6y ago

Dang tells me that calling a company "morally bankrupt" is not allowed on HN. I got flagged for doing so.