37 ms·

Silicon Valley thought India was its future, now things have changed

139 points by mraza007 5y ago

Santosh83 5y ago
Oh good. Maybe they can come back to India and develop the indigenous software industry.
- xupybd 5y ago
  India has some amazing tech getting made. For instance Hasura. I think India is doing to software what China has done to manufacturing.
  - redisman 5y ago
    What is that? I’m finding it hard to think of the analogues between software and manufacturing. Your example of Hasura seems to be a company following the SV model
kumarvvr 5y ago
I see this as a propaganda piece. The unique problem with India is that, a decade ago, it had a small but highly educated, privileged urban population, spread across a handful of cities, who are the most vocal in national media and social media. This was the situation when SV companies made inroads to India. Then came the mobile revolution and the availability of smartphones coupled with dead cheap internet. The rural population jumped on the bandwagon. Then social media saw a lot of voices being raised against perceived in-sensitivity of liberals (I too agree that there is a disproportionate bias in news, towards one political leaning) or portrayal of India in international arena. This is when SV started complaining. And when the population speaks against SM, the elected representatives will act. Take the most recent case of raids against Twitter. Twitter did a major mistake by labeling a piece of content "mis-information", while there was an active investigation was underway by the highest investigative authority in India on the same content. That is blatantly illegal. It should have said something like "these facts are being investigated" or something like that. When an investigation is going on, media is not supposed to pass judgements. Twitter fumbled and India govt. took the opportunity. Now you have Twitter agreeing, in writing, that it will follow the law of the land. Silicon Valley is pushing limits. India, as a developing country with a mass of gullible rural population and culturally sensitive to perceived dominance of foreign culture, has ample number of politicians who will make use of every opportunity to gather followers.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  > I see this as a propaganda piece. I tend to agree. I've worked in SV a long time, and a majority of non-US-born coworkers remain Indian. I see no evidence of this changing, so I find it implausible that slate has it's finger on the pulse of tech and is detecting a weakening of the role of Indian programmers, nor have I observed any decline in the quality or usefulness of Indian programmers, which is ultimately what matters.
  - ummonk 5y ago
    I think the piece is about India the country, not Indian expats though?
    - rsj_hn 5y ago
      I take the "influence" of India to be the pipeline of labor to SV. Those can be work-visa holders or those working in Indian offices, to me these two categories go hand-in-hand.
    - valarauko 5y ago
      The article does make a reference to casteism in SV perpetuated by indian expats, unrelated to the rest of the piece.
- naruvimama 5y ago
  > Twitter did a major mistake by labeling .... They did not, Twitter has brandished its political leaning. They pay very little to no taxes, it might be flexing or testing the waters to prevent a global tax as proposed in the G7. Twitter in particular has double standards dealing with India vis-a-vis EU.
- exporectomy 5y ago
  I suddenly realized it was propaganda too when I go up to this gem of journalistic objectivity: "His “Digital India” campaign (whose website, incidentally, has pretty horrid design) [...]"
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ramanan 5y ago
This downward trend has long been in the works. The current government came into power riding on a wave of popularity, largely driven by their "IT cells". Now comfortably in power, they are probably dismantling the path, to avoid others who might try to follow. The government is not just in a stand-off with big-tech companies. It continues to view its own citizens as adversaries with frequent internet shutdowns [1]. [1] https://internetshutdowns.in/ https://internetshutdowns.in/
- jaldhar 5y ago
  Can we stop with all this IT cell bullshit? Modi got in because he was more competent than the rajputra of the Nehru dynasty. My family are from Gujarat. We’ve known about Modi since he was governor. We moved out of our ancestral village several generations ago but still return on special occasions because our kuladevi is there. The area is semi-desert. Modi got water from the Narmada dam piped in. Now cash crops can be irrigated and the kids don’t die of dysentery any more. We used to have to stop at a larger town and walk a couple of miles down a dirt track to get there. Modi got a road built and regular bus service to the nearest city. That’s why he is popular. That area was staunchly Congress since 1947 and still is but you won’t find anyone with a bad word to say about Narendra Modi. He got things done and that’s what counts. The Hindu nationalism is just icing on the cake. (Remember there was a time when Congress also used to brag about how e.g Sardar Patel rebuilt Somanath.) Now with the latest missteps such as demonetization and the COVID response etc. the bloom is off the rose a little but he is still genuinely popular and more importantly there isn’t anyone on the national scene “who might be trying to follow.”
  - random314 5y ago
    He also led pogroms, segregated living areas by religion and promoted rioters and terrorists. Gujarats gdp per capita is only slightly above the median. And IT cell is a reality that has been exposed several times over. Identical copy paste tweets and interviews with ex-it cell employees.
    - colorboy 5y ago
astatine 5y ago
This is a theme that will apply in a variety of different areas, well beyond Silicon Valley. There was a sense in the late couple of decades that India will become a faithful follower of US practices (if not policies) with its easily accessible population for everything from movies to ecommerce, food chains to apparel brands and more. The implied sense was that the rapidly growing middle-class would want to mimic (or at least, consume) American lifestyle and values. This did hold when the numbers were small. When this number becomes a few hundred million it is absolutely unsurprising that this mass of users will have their own views and not blindly adopt what others say. Clearly the changing political landscape has a role to play, but then the cause and effect are usually reversed. The reasons why the political landscape changed, why the current party came to power, are the more fundamental reasons why things are changing. As India finds its own voice, as a substantial economy, market and an independent identity lots of companies and countries will have to rebevaluate heir views. Good or bad, who knows, but the change is inevitable.
- Clewza313 5y ago
  India is arguably faithfully following the US here, because Modi's populism has more than a few parallels to Trump.
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  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    Given the timelines involved, I'd say it's more likely that not that Modi is following in the footsteps of Xi Jinping. In fact most of Asia is in the hands of some kind of ethno-nationalist leader, from Duterte in the Phillipines to Suga in Japan, Xi in China or Jae-In in S. Korea. Modi is not really exceptional when viewed on the scale of other asian leaders. But Asia has always had a much more ethno-nationalist bent, so it may be surprising to people who compare Indian politics to those of Western Europe. Even western darlings like Aung San Suu Kyi, once in power, turned out to be of a strong ethno-nationalist bent, which I'm sure shocked a lot of her supporters in the West.
publicola1990 5y ago
India somehow had stumbled and took a turn towards the Hindu right wing majoritarianism/ultra nationalism. It has certainly caused long term effects, the pace of reforms has slowed down considerably. Major policy decisions seems to be stuck in limbo for years, for example regarding Walmart: atleast for 10 years Walmart trying to start retail operations in India, but government hasn't given clarity on policy. Similarly in many many other fields and subjects there has been policy paralysis for last 10 years if not for more. Not to mension the amount of repression etc the present ruling party indulges in.. 15 years ago India looked like it would evolve into a country and society with liberal western values, but it hasn't made progress in recent years, but rather it has regressed.
- naruvimama 5y ago
  "Western values" isn't all that great. It is primarily focused on attacking the "other" or "non-believers" Feminism - attack men Communism - attack the rich Wokeism - attack non-believers "liberalism" - attack non-believers Atheism - attack believers It all comes from Christianity - attack non-believers (esp. idolators) The western frameworks are all built on this same framework, every new movement that comes out of it is bound to create more conflicts. The western world is thankfully Indianising with yoga and vegetarianism, hopefully the future is Dharmic.
  - radiator 5y ago
    Feminism does not attack men, it attacks families.
  - zozbot234 5y ago
    It comes from Christianity for sure but a Western youth culture interpretation of it, heavily influenced by foreign actors from the USSR (see the Mitrokhin papers proving their psyop influence campaigns on Western academia) and Maoist China (via the Gang of Four campaign to "Destroy the Four Olds" of China's traditional heritage, which was hugely influential in Western youth culture). The West used to be acknowledged as a promoter of freedom before the 1960s and 1970s. We should expect that "dharmic" traditions will be twisted in a similar way by future radical movements, such as the "Pure Land" buddhist movement of Japan.
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ur-whale 5y ago
That's two over-a-billion population dysfunctional autocratic regimes in Asia. Fun times ahead.
- rsj_hn 5y ago
  Western Liberal democracy is basically vanquished in Asia, right at the time that Asia seems to be poised to dominate economically and demographically. Liberal democracy isn't making any inroads in Africa and Russia has certainly given it a firm no, with the Vysehrad states in Eastern Europe also turning away. Basically only Latin America is up for grabs at the moment and the results there seem mixed at best. We could well face a situation where this is a phenomena reserved for Western Europe and North America, with the rest of the world following the Chinese model. People forget that the U.S. beat the USSR in the cold war because of economic, not ideological, superiority. But it appears that the connection between democracy and economic outperformance is looking strained. But what is perhaps more sobering is realizing that North America and Western Europe themselves look to be more interested in following the Chinese model, basically a surveillance state led by an anti-democratic elite that has no qualms about using violence and extra-judicial mechanisms of social control to supress popular movements like the Yellow Vests in France. In that case, the big difference between the Chinese model and the Western model would be that in the West, popular movements can be crushed as long as the big corps are OK with it, whereas in China the big corps are firmly under the thumb of the government. I think those worried about authoritarianism should be much more concerned about the power of tech and big corps to control the public square than having the "wrong" people win elections, because the defending the process is much more important than the worrying about the outcome.
  - orwin 5y ago
    The pandemic and the gvt handouts are the only thing that crushed the yellow vests. Demographic dividends are a thing. Liberal, socialist democracies use them better other systems. I think in 20 years, when the demographic transition end in India, the regrets will be high and if there's no support from other economies, the effects will be 100 times worse than ex USSR countries, Portugal, Spain or Greece (European countries that missed on quite a few dividends).
roenxi 5y ago
After the tech giants' activities in the 2020 US election, damn right the Indians should be muscling in. These companies are basically foreign media companies deeply integrating with the population in a way never before seen. They will eventually move against conservative governments politically. If anything, the Indian government doesn't understand the threat being posed to them.
EvilEy3 5y ago
Lmao, SV will know first hand what it means "don't play with fire". They thought they had another US, well they helped create another China. When US will learn that only Europe can be considered their ally in this world?
- chewz 5y ago
  > When US will learn that only Europe can be considered their ally in this world? For Europe China is now largest trading partner. And European politicians will forever remember that private US companies banned acting president of the USA from the platform. Europe is also taking steps to get rid of Facebook, Twitter, Google and other SV darlings.
  - nickik 5y ago
    > Europe is also taking steps to get rid of Facebook, Twitter, Google and other SV darlings. As a European. This is a big lol. Just because the EU, German and French bureaucrats occasionally go on a powertrip and make a big huha about some service or another doesn't mean they are actually going to get rid of it. And just because politicians often bluster about some service or another, often spurned on by local lobbyists doesn't mean they will replace it, rather that they might invest a couple of million into a replacement that then instantly fizzles. The German press lead by Springer spent years and year mobilizing their politicians against 'Google News' and the laws that came out of that were 10x worse for Users then anything Google would ever do. In the end Google News is still there and even if it wasn't, its hardly a relevant service. So if it takes a decade of blustering and legal battles to maybe get few cent out of google for google news, how long do you think it would take to 'get rid of' them.
Magodo 5y ago
I want to call out that while the implication in the title might be true, nothing in the article provides any proof. By proof, I mean something like a quote from a big tech honcho to the effect of 'I don't see a future in India'. The article just spouts recent tech happenings in the last 3 years or so (chronologically beginning with Facebook's troubles pushing Free Basics on the Indian market, rightfully rejected)
chewz 5y ago
OMG the world is shrinking for SV. As US gets deeper and deeper into its Cultural Revolution more and more countries with strong cultural identity do not follow and become more and more selective in adopting US model - China, Iran, Russia, India, Europe...
- diomedes 5y ago
  I'd rather see the culture that gave us the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Upanishads, Algebra and many more outstanding creations have it's own way of doing capitalism, or whatever the heck they end up with, than having a another copy of the US, with more curry and funny accents. This new Americanism seems like the cultural incarnation of entropy, whose sole purpose is desertify culture itself.
  - rishav_sharan 5y ago
    That culture has been long gone for thousands of years. The current culture of anti-intellectualism, pseudo-nationalism and hatemongering will not take India to any forefront of world leadership. The sooner we Indians stop living in the past and live in the present - and work for our future, the better.
    - truth_ 5y ago
      Most people fail to realize this. The culture that had Ashoka as an Emperor, hosted Buddha in its soil, made breakthroughs in Mathematics and astronomy is long gone and disrupted. The condition of ower caste people were always horrible, and women were always oppressed. But that society was also open to sex, gender identities, open, free-flowing debate, LGBTQ, alcohol, etc. that are now carnal sins in modern Hindu narrative. What is gone is gone.
- rayiner 5y ago
  France: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threat-american-universities.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threa... > PARIS — The threat is said to be existential. It fuels secessionism. Gnaws at national unity. Abets Islamism. Attacks France’s intellectual and cultural heritage. > The threat? “Certain social science theories entirely imported from the United States,’’ said President Emmanuel Macron.
izacus 5y ago
This seems to be very related to the other article on first page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27488950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27488950 Seems like US tech companies were exporting US politics and values to India (whether by design or by simply forgetting that not all the world is US) and the government decided that doesn't fit their own goals. I see more of this starting to show up as US citizens demand that tech companies take active part in political censorship which will inevitably lead to clashes with cultures who don't fully agree with currently popular stances. This goes double for more authariatiran right-wing governmenments. After all, even previous US administration lashed out at tech companies when it decided it didn't like content removal and fact checking.
- colorboy 5y ago
  The fact checking of wuhan lab theory was very well done, wasn't it?
- wildrhythms 5y ago
  Your comparison is flawed. The article explains that Twitter's 'censorship' came only after its India-based employees were threatened with imprisonment by Indian authorities after not complying with an earlier censorship request. Your comparison of a tiny subset of internet users demanding 'censorship' in about a thousand different directions isn't the same thing as state violence.
- slake 5y ago
  This isn't just the government though. There's enough backing to the idea that Twitter especially applies very flawed moderation, suspension standards to voices on its platform. In the early days Twitter was a place for debate and discussion and hearing alternative viewpoints. That's eroded away and hence the outburst. Also I think Indians still hold the view that a corporate with its black box policies can't and shouldn't suppress the voices of democratically elected representatives. I think that's a recipe for disaster.
throwaway4good 5y ago
I don't like the crazy Hindu nationalism of current India at all. But the premise of this article is wrong and arrogant. India is a sovereign country and it has every right to define what is legal political discourse and what is not. The idea that the authority on this are some US companies or another outside force is absurd. Media and free speech is regulated all over the world including in the USA. Outright racism will be banned within seconds on US social media, and you guys even banned your former president. As an outsider I might disagree with this from a theoretical perspective but I have no say in it, the formulation of these limits lies with the nation state, in USA as in India.
- cptsmrk 5y ago
  I'm no lover of these tech giants, but I think you're missing the point if you think there's no difference between Twitter banning Trump and succumbing to pressure from Modi after he threatened their entire Indian staff with arrest.
  - throwaway4good 5y ago
    Sure when the us authorities want something from big tech, they can just ask nicely. Whereas if other countries wants something similar, they have to ask more forcefully (how forcefully depends on where on the totem pole of civilized nations they are). Really just shows that big tech is us big tech.
- nisanth074 5y ago
  @throwaway4good The Hindu nationalism narrative espoused by mainstream media (who are extremely Left and psuedo-secular) is a false one. In the contrary, Hinduism is unfortunately dying a death by thousand cuts. The country is suffering from numerous atrocities by Islam (forced conversations, rapes, temple vandalism etc.). These are just a few (and not all) atrocities by Muslims just in the past week https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/temple-vandalised-journalist-attacked-communal-violence-tiljala-west-bengal-kolkata/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/temple-vandalised-journalist... Dalits forced to Leave Noorpur, Aligarh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hcce1SSubI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hcce1SSubI Hindu beaten up by Muslims in a Muslim majority area over a petty spat where the latter were at fault https://twitter.com/swati_gs/status/1403969433157079047 https://twitter.com/swati_gs/status/1403969433157079047 Women and her children force converted to Islam and her children were circumcised https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/uttar-pradesh-forced-conversion-circumcision-minor-boys-police-law/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/uttar-pradesh-forced-convers... Assassination attempt https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/yati-assassination-plot-vipul-kashif-were-radicalised-by-salimuddin/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/yati-assassination-plot-vipu... Rape of a minor girl by a 50 year old Muslim cleric https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/up-gorakhpur-maulana-rapes-minor-girl-panchayat-orders-him-to-marry-victim/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/up-gorakhpur-maulana-rapes-m... Doctor assaulted https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/west-bengal-family-of-one-sheikh-ismail-attack-doctor-after-his-death/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/west-bengal-family-of-one-sh... Temple vandalised and desecreated A 47 year old Muslim girl rapes minor girl https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/delhi-cleric-rapes-minor-girl/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/delhi-cleric-rapes-minor-gir... Muslims after gaining a local majority oppose a Hindu procession https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/tamil-nadu-hindu-procession-local-muslims-object-madras-high-court/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/tamil-nadu-hindu-procession-... The above is in a Hindu majority nation. Imagine the sheer number of crimes/atrocities Muslims would commit if they were the majority (like they did in Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Muslim majority nations). Simultaneously, Hinduism is being dealt another severe blow by rampant Christian conversion (funded by donations arriving from the US) https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/how-devout-christian-missionary-family-of-cm-jaganmohan-has-built-church-state-nexus-in-andhra-pradesh?fbclid=IwAR3bdVjH5UqIQNCb-s5OVrKE0Asfng-ZNmLhHFd-OiDZ-U2K_nA1Q_pnOtM https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/how-devout-christian-miss... and misuse of Hindu temple funds by Christian Chief Ministers https://iskconnews.org/government-control-weakens-indias-temples,1099/?fbclid=IwAR35xYigW0o6vMi1q3--yDrQWbzEylw0bVdWBT3NcgURvDrtHgwakdTzM6g https://iskconnews.org/government-control-weakens-indias-tem... Hindu temples in the country (and especially my state) are being vandalised by the dozens. Barely a few months ago, an anclient year temple near my home was vandalised and the 400 year old temple idol was decapitated https://swarajyamag.com/insta/andhra-pradesh-400-year-old-lord-ram-idol-beheaded-in-ramatheertham https://swarajyamag.com/insta/andhra-pradesh-400-year-old-lo... The currently ruling party, BJP, were democratically elected. They can barely be classified a Centre party or a Centre-right party and even appeal to Christian and Muslim voters in a few Indian states. The old ruling party, Indian National Congress (INC) is an extremely corrupt, inept and psuedo-secular minority appeasing party leader by an incompetent leader (Rahul Gandhi). They've ruled India since 1947 independence and have caused irreparable economic and cultural damage to the country through their policies. The country and Hinduism will be in dire straits if they're re-elected. > I don't like the crazy Hindu nationalism of current India at all.
rushabh 5y ago
This needs to be understood in the context of a cultural onslaught of American values. More than just social media, services like Netflix, Prime, Disney are streaming live into millions of households in India. India has its own authentic identity that is under severe threat. If you look at China / East Asia - it is culturally and aesthetically like the West, mostly America, other than language and deference to authority. India has been traditionally liberal through the ages, it has more diverse cultures embedded in society and has fought much fewer internal wars than any ancient civilization. Few other cultures have outright pacifist icons such as Buddha or Gandhi. It has been able to absorb external influences gradually while maintaining its own distinct identity. The backlash we see is not as harsh as China or the Islamic world, but India will need its own gradual pace to accept changes. It is more than this core liberalism that connects India to the West. While India and America are not geopolitically aligned, Indians in America have formed deep cultural roots that connect the two cultures. Technology leaders like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are role models for every child in India, so is American VP Kamala Harris. The article in my view is not wrong, but takes a very narrow view of things. Other than the few 100 posts that Indian authorities have removed, there are 100s of thousands of critical posts that are still widely circulated. The government inadvertently makes "own goals" and add fuel to fire when it does stupid things like this. The farmer's protest blew up in their face and this is not the end. There is a lot more to be hopeful about India rather than expect it to follow narrow nationalism of China or fierce capitalism of America.
- random314 5y ago
  This was not the case pre 2014. You are speaking as if India is a country that was recently created.
sa1 5y ago
It’s sad to see well intentioned people adopt the narrative that freedom of speech is just some western value, unfit for India. People under oppression need your solidarity, not their circumstances being explained away.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  It's hilarious to see SV firms pushing for freedom of speech while they disparage that same freedom in their own origin country.
naruvimama 5y ago
One of my favorite comedy group from Nigeria has an apt skit https://youtu.be/Z1yBM1mheU4 https://youtu.be/Z1yBM1mheU4
mcnultification 5y ago
I had to laugh at this one. I'm neither a fan of social media nor the current Indian government, but this article is either ridiculously out-of-touch, or is aimed towards an ivory-tower audience nicely cosseted within universities far away from the country they're writing about. There might've been an idealistic Silicon Valley in the 1990s-2000s, but if it ever existed, it's gone now, replaced by high-growth corporations whose goal is the same as all high-growth corporations, ie money and growth at the expense of everything else. The way they will make the most money is by amplification of whatever ideas governments and companies will pay money to amplify. The valley is not against the Indian government, it is with the people who will pay it the most / will amplify it's use the most. Political discussion will keep people within the social website bubble for longer times, so such discussions is what people will see. Administrative or legal action are side effects, and just fun-and-games as usual for both the SV companies as well as the customers (not users!) of the products, to ensure that they get a better deal for their side, in ways they've mostly always used throughout history. The author also seems to neglect mentioning that every major SV company has fairly sizable employee presence across India and recruits heavily from India's best education institutes. These employees are some of the highest-paid in the country. A lot of people at upper levels of these companies' headquarters in the valley are of Indian origin. They know how the country works; they know how fiercely angry the people get at things they perceive as slights to their identity; they know what kind of leadership the BJP has, and they definitely knew what kind of person Modi is. If they still got in bed with him, it's due to their greed and lack of respect of the same values they seem to identify with. > ...TikTok ban came into play, that the app had become an easy-to-use arena for conscientious citizens to counter mainstream media censorship, spread the word about protests, and give voice to Indians of different castes, gender and sexual identifications, and ethnicities, many of whom found themselves under attack from the BJP’s Hindu nationalist government This is ridiculous. Anyone who used TikTok even for a minute in India knows that the app was far away from what this author seems to describe. It was nothing but people dancing around and making goofy videos. I am not sure how the app's design would have helped to do anything as serious as "spreading word about protests" in a consistent way. I'm all for serious discussion of autocracy, of stifling free speech or spread of inflammatory rhetoric, but this is the flimsiest article I've read about it. It seems to side with the people responsible for amplifying these issues in the first place, and mindlessly bashes what it feels as working against those companies. IMO banning FB's Free Basics was unequivocally a good thing. Banning TikTok has almost no losers other than TikTok and some influencers. Social media was supposed to be a way to keep touch with family and upload cat photos. If it got used for something far more sinister at global scale, it should expect some sort of pushback, regardless of the people doing the pushback are right or not.
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graphtradr 5y ago
We are just so addicted in America to these platforms we just can't collectively even start to imagine how the whole world does not want the same addiction.
tim333 5y ago
>Silicon Valley Thought India Was Its Future I'm a bit skeptical. I'd imagine SV thought India was one country out of the 200+ their services are available in and if one of those 200 changing governments pass bad laws then whatevs, a developing countries manager can do a press release or something.
neonate 5y ago
https://archive.is/LhfYj https://archive.is/LhfYj
mybrid 5y ago
The sad part of this is that we've know these kinds of trends were going to happen since the advent of the computer and automation. Computing and automation leave the average physical and intellectual ability behind. Someone born in the last 20 years could be forgiven for thinking that Science Fiction is only about dystopian stories of despair. Why? Because one cornerstone of SciFi is that the average IQ is worth less every day and is being replaced by technology. Those left behind will revolt. This easily explains Trump's appeal. Average people are feeling more irrelevant ever day. Trump is proof that even the worst of con men can tap into that despair. Andrew Yang ran his Presidential campaign in part on this theme, but UBI does nothing for helping people feel relevant or in control of their lives. The title of this article could have easily been, "Silicon Valley thought the US was its future, now things have changed." The disaffected are only becoming more disaffected every day because those in the technological advancement industries don't care.
sanmon3186 5y ago
>But this quickly disintegrated, and the bargain tech execs drove in embracing an already-notorious figure like Modi became much harder. In 2016, India blocked Facebook’s “Free Basics” initiative, an attempt by the company to offer free internet access through a network of Facebook-approved sites, out of concern that the program would have created unfair tiers for internet access; I wonder why author thinks that "free basics" was a great idea that was crushed by Modi.
readonthegoapp 5y ago
Not crazy about the ambiguous/meaningless title
known 5y ago
"Windbags when it comes to fine speeches, skillfully balanced resolutions and legalistic castles in the air, the Hindus are real experts" --Sir Winston Churchill (b. 1874) https://archive.is/XlOXf https://archive.is/XlOXf

139 points by mraza007 5y ago

Santosh83 5y ago

Oh good. Maybe they can come back to India and develop the indigenous software industry.

xupybd 5y ago
India has some amazing tech getting made. For instance Hasura. I think India is doing to software what China has done to manufacturing.
- redisman 5y ago
  What is that? I’m finding it hard to think of the analogues between software and manufacturing. Your example of Hasura seems to be a company following the SV model

kumarvvr 5y ago

I see this as a propaganda piece. The unique problem with India is that, a decade ago, it had a small but highly educated, privileged urban population, spread across a handful of cities, who are the most vocal in national media and social media. This was the situation when SV companies made inroads to India. Then came the mobile revolution and the availability of smartphones coupled with dead cheap internet. The rural population jumped on the bandwagon. Then social media saw a lot of voices being raised against perceived in-sensitivity of liberals (I too agree that there is a disproportionate bias in news, towards one political leaning) or portrayal of India in international arena. This is when SV started complaining. And when the population speaks against SM, the elected representatives will act. Take the most recent case of raids against Twitter. Twitter did a major mistake by labeling a piece of content "mis-information", while there was an active investigation was underway by the highest investigative authority in India on the same content. That is blatantly illegal. It should have said something like "these facts are being investigated" or something like that. When an investigation is going on, media is not supposed to pass judgements. Twitter fumbled and India govt. took the opportunity. Now you have Twitter agreeing, in writing, that it will follow the law of the land. Silicon Valley is pushing limits. India, as a developing country with a mass of gullible rural population and culturally sensitive to perceived dominance of foreign culture, has ample number of politicians who will make use of every opportunity to gather followers.

rsj_hn 5y ago
> I see this as a propaganda piece. I tend to agree. I've worked in SV a long time, and a majority of non-US-born coworkers remain Indian. I see no evidence of this changing, so I find it implausible that slate has it's finger on the pulse of tech and is detecting a weakening of the role of Indian programmers, nor have I observed any decline in the quality or usefulness of Indian programmers, which is ultimately what matters.
- ummonk 5y ago
  I think the piece is about India the country, not Indian expats though?
  - rsj_hn 5y ago
    I take the "influence" of India to be the pipeline of labor to SV. Those can be work-visa holders or those working in Indian offices, to me these two categories go hand-in-hand.
  - valarauko 5y ago
    The article does make a reference to casteism in SV perpetuated by indian expats, unrelated to the rest of the piece.
naruvimama 5y ago
> Twitter did a major mistake by labeling .... They did not, Twitter has brandished its political leaning. They pay very little to no taxes, it might be flexing or testing the waters to prevent a global tax as proposed in the G7. Twitter in particular has double standards dealing with India vis-a-vis EU.
exporectomy 5y ago
I suddenly realized it was propaganda too when I go up to this gem of journalistic objectivity: "His “Digital India” campaign (whose website, incidentally, has pretty horrid design) [...]"

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ramanan 5y ago

This downward trend has long been in the works. The current government came into power riding on a wave of popularity, largely driven by their "IT cells". Now comfortably in power, they are probably dismantling the path, to avoid others who might try to follow. The government is not just in a stand-off with big-tech companies. It continues to view its own citizens as adversaries with frequent internet shutdowns [1]. [1] https://internetshutdowns.in/ https://internetshutdowns.in/

jaldhar 5y ago
Can we stop with all this IT cell bullshit? Modi got in because he was more competent than the rajputra of the Nehru dynasty. My family are from Gujarat. We’ve known about Modi since he was governor. We moved out of our ancestral village several generations ago but still return on special occasions because our kuladevi is there. The area is semi-desert. Modi got water from the Narmada dam piped in. Now cash crops can be irrigated and the kids don’t die of dysentery any more. We used to have to stop at a larger town and walk a couple of miles down a dirt track to get there. Modi got a road built and regular bus service to the nearest city. That’s why he is popular. That area was staunchly Congress since 1947 and still is but you won’t find anyone with a bad word to say about Narendra Modi. He got things done and that’s what counts. The Hindu nationalism is just icing on the cake. (Remember there was a time when Congress also used to brag about how e.g Sardar Patel rebuilt Somanath.) Now with the latest missteps such as demonetization and the COVID response etc. the bloom is off the rose a little but he is still genuinely popular and more importantly there isn’t anyone on the national scene “who might be trying to follow.”
- random314 5y ago
  He also led pogroms, segregated living areas by religion and promoted rioters and terrorists. Gujarats gdp per capita is only slightly above the median. And IT cell is a reality that has been exposed several times over. Identical copy paste tweets and interviews with ex-it cell employees.
  - colorboy 5y ago

astatine 5y ago

This is a theme that will apply in a variety of different areas, well beyond Silicon Valley. There was a sense in the late couple of decades that India will become a faithful follower of US practices (if not policies) with its easily accessible population for everything from movies to ecommerce, food chains to apparel brands and more. The implied sense was that the rapidly growing middle-class would want to mimic (or at least, consume) American lifestyle and values. This did hold when the numbers were small. When this number becomes a few hundred million it is absolutely unsurprising that this mass of users will have their own views and not blindly adopt what others say. Clearly the changing political landscape has a role to play, but then the cause and effect are usually reversed. The reasons why the political landscape changed, why the current party came to power, are the more fundamental reasons why things are changing. As India finds its own voice, as a substantial economy, market and an independent identity lots of companies and countries will have to rebevaluate heir views. Good or bad, who knows, but the change is inevitable.

Clewza313 5y ago
India is arguably faithfully following the US here, because Modi's populism has more than a few parallels to Trump.
- deleted 5y ago
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- rsj_hn 5y ago
  Given the timelines involved, I'd say it's more likely that not that Modi is following in the footsteps of Xi Jinping. In fact most of Asia is in the hands of some kind of ethno-nationalist leader, from Duterte in the Phillipines to Suga in Japan, Xi in China or Jae-In in S. Korea. Modi is not really exceptional when viewed on the scale of other asian leaders. But Asia has always had a much more ethno-nationalist bent, so it may be surprising to people who compare Indian politics to those of Western Europe. Even western darlings like Aung San Suu Kyi, once in power, turned out to be of a strong ethno-nationalist bent, which I'm sure shocked a lot of her supporters in the West.

publicola1990 5y ago

India somehow had stumbled and took a turn towards the Hindu right wing majoritarianism/ultra nationalism. It has certainly caused long term effects, the pace of reforms has slowed down considerably. Major policy decisions seems to be stuck in limbo for years, for example regarding Walmart: atleast for 10 years Walmart trying to start retail operations in India, but government hasn't given clarity on policy. Similarly in many many other fields and subjects there has been policy paralysis for last 10 years if not for more. Not to mension the amount of repression etc the present ruling party indulges in.. 15 years ago India looked like it would evolve into a country and society with liberal western values, but it hasn't made progress in recent years, but rather it has regressed.

naruvimama 5y ago
"Western values" isn't all that great. It is primarily focused on attacking the "other" or "non-believers" Feminism - attack men Communism - attack the rich Wokeism - attack non-believers "liberalism" - attack non-believers Atheism - attack believers It all comes from Christianity - attack non-believers (esp. idolators) The western frameworks are all built on this same framework, every new movement that comes out of it is bound to create more conflicts. The western world is thankfully Indianising with yoga and vegetarianism, hopefully the future is Dharmic.
- radiator 5y ago
  Feminism does not attack men, it attacks families.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  It comes from Christianity for sure but a Western youth culture interpretation of it, heavily influenced by foreign actors from the USSR (see the Mitrokhin papers proving their psyop influence campaigns on Western academia) and Maoist China (via the Gang of Four campaign to "Destroy the Four Olds" of China's traditional heritage, which was hugely influential in Western youth culture). The West used to be acknowledged as a promoter of freedom before the 1960s and 1970s. We should expect that "dharmic" traditions will be twisted in a similar way by future radical movements, such as the "Pure Land" buddhist movement of Japan.

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ur-whale 5y ago

That's two over-a-billion population dysfunctional autocratic regimes in Asia. Fun times ahead.

rsj_hn 5y ago
Western Liberal democracy is basically vanquished in Asia, right at the time that Asia seems to be poised to dominate economically and demographically. Liberal democracy isn't making any inroads in Africa and Russia has certainly given it a firm no, with the Vysehrad states in Eastern Europe also turning away. Basically only Latin America is up for grabs at the moment and the results there seem mixed at best. We could well face a situation where this is a phenomena reserved for Western Europe and North America, with the rest of the world following the Chinese model. People forget that the U.S. beat the USSR in the cold war because of economic, not ideological, superiority. But it appears that the connection between democracy and economic outperformance is looking strained. But what is perhaps more sobering is realizing that North America and Western Europe themselves look to be more interested in following the Chinese model, basically a surveillance state led by an anti-democratic elite that has no qualms about using violence and extra-judicial mechanisms of social control to supress popular movements like the Yellow Vests in France. In that case, the big difference between the Chinese model and the Western model would be that in the West, popular movements can be crushed as long as the big corps are OK with it, whereas in China the big corps are firmly under the thumb of the government. I think those worried about authoritarianism should be much more concerned about the power of tech and big corps to control the public square than having the "wrong" people win elections, because the defending the process is much more important than the worrying about the outcome.
- orwin 5y ago
  The pandemic and the gvt handouts are the only thing that crushed the yellow vests. Demographic dividends are a thing. Liberal, socialist democracies use them better other systems. I think in 20 years, when the demographic transition end in India, the regrets will be high and if there's no support from other economies, the effects will be 100 times worse than ex USSR countries, Portugal, Spain or Greece (European countries that missed on quite a few dividends).

roenxi 5y ago

After the tech giants' activities in the 2020 US election, damn right the Indians should be muscling in. These companies are basically foreign media companies deeply integrating with the population in a way never before seen. They will eventually move against conservative governments politically. If anything, the Indian government doesn't understand the threat being posed to them.

EvilEy3 5y ago

Lmao, SV will know first hand what it means "don't play with fire". They thought they had another US, well they helped create another China. When US will learn that only Europe can be considered their ally in this world?

chewz 5y ago
> When US will learn that only Europe can be considered their ally in this world? For Europe China is now largest trading partner. And European politicians will forever remember that private US companies banned acting president of the USA from the platform. Europe is also taking steps to get rid of Facebook, Twitter, Google and other SV darlings.
- nickik 5y ago
  > Europe is also taking steps to get rid of Facebook, Twitter, Google and other SV darlings. As a European. This is a big lol. Just because the EU, German and French bureaucrats occasionally go on a powertrip and make a big huha about some service or another doesn't mean they are actually going to get rid of it. And just because politicians often bluster about some service or another, often spurned on by local lobbyists doesn't mean they will replace it, rather that they might invest a couple of million into a replacement that then instantly fizzles. The German press lead by Springer spent years and year mobilizing their politicians against 'Google News' and the laws that came out of that were 10x worse for Users then anything Google would ever do. In the end Google News is still there and even if it wasn't, its hardly a relevant service. So if it takes a decade of blustering and legal battles to maybe get few cent out of google for google news, how long do you think it would take to 'get rid of' them.

Magodo 5y ago

I want to call out that while the implication in the title might be true, nothing in the article provides any proof. By proof, I mean something like a quote from a big tech honcho to the effect of 'I don't see a future in India'. The article just spouts recent tech happenings in the last 3 years or so (chronologically beginning with Facebook's troubles pushing Free Basics on the Indian market, rightfully rejected)

chewz 5y ago

OMG the world is shrinking for SV. As US gets deeper and deeper into its Cultural Revolution more and more countries with strong cultural identity do not follow and become more and more selective in adopting US model - China, Iran, Russia, India, Europe...

diomedes 5y ago
I'd rather see the culture that gave us the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Upanishads, Algebra and many more outstanding creations have it's own way of doing capitalism, or whatever the heck they end up with, than having a another copy of the US, with more curry and funny accents. This new Americanism seems like the cultural incarnation of entropy, whose sole purpose is desertify culture itself.
- rishav_sharan 5y ago
  That culture has been long gone for thousands of years. The current culture of anti-intellectualism, pseudo-nationalism and hatemongering will not take India to any forefront of world leadership. The sooner we Indians stop living in the past and live in the present - and work for our future, the better.
  - truth_ 5y ago
    Most people fail to realize this. The culture that had Ashoka as an Emperor, hosted Buddha in its soil, made breakthroughs in Mathematics and astronomy is long gone and disrupted. The condition of ower caste people were always horrible, and women were always oppressed. But that society was also open to sex, gender identities, open, free-flowing debate, LGBTQ, alcohol, etc. that are now carnal sins in modern Hindu narrative. What is gone is gone.
rayiner 5y ago
France: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threat-american-universities.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/09/world/europe/france-threa... > PARIS — The threat is said to be existential. It fuels secessionism. Gnaws at national unity. Abets Islamism. Attacks France’s intellectual and cultural heritage. > The threat? “Certain social science theories entirely imported from the United States,’’ said President Emmanuel Macron.

izacus 5y ago

This seems to be very related to the other article on first page: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27488950 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27488950 Seems like US tech companies were exporting US politics and values to India (whether by design or by simply forgetting that not all the world is US) and the government decided that doesn't fit their own goals. I see more of this starting to show up as US citizens demand that tech companies take active part in political censorship which will inevitably lead to clashes with cultures who don't fully agree with currently popular stances. This goes double for more authariatiran right-wing governmenments. After all, even previous US administration lashed out at tech companies when it decided it didn't like content removal and fact checking.

colorboy 5y ago
The fact checking of wuhan lab theory was very well done, wasn't it?
wildrhythms 5y ago
Your comparison is flawed. The article explains that Twitter's 'censorship' came only after its India-based employees were threatened with imprisonment by Indian authorities after not complying with an earlier censorship request. Your comparison of a tiny subset of internet users demanding 'censorship' in about a thousand different directions isn't the same thing as state violence.
slake 5y ago
This isn't just the government though. There's enough backing to the idea that Twitter especially applies very flawed moderation, suspension standards to voices on its platform. In the early days Twitter was a place for debate and discussion and hearing alternative viewpoints. That's eroded away and hence the outburst. Also I think Indians still hold the view that a corporate with its black box policies can't and shouldn't suppress the voices of democratically elected representatives. I think that's a recipe for disaster.

throwaway4good 5y ago

I don't like the crazy Hindu nationalism of current India at all. But the premise of this article is wrong and arrogant. India is a sovereign country and it has every right to define what is legal political discourse and what is not. The idea that the authority on this are some US companies or another outside force is absurd. Media and free speech is regulated all over the world including in the USA. Outright racism will be banned within seconds on US social media, and you guys even banned your former president. As an outsider I might disagree with this from a theoretical perspective but I have no say in it, the formulation of these limits lies with the nation state, in USA as in India.

cptsmrk 5y ago
I'm no lover of these tech giants, but I think you're missing the point if you think there's no difference between Twitter banning Trump and succumbing to pressure from Modi after he threatened their entire Indian staff with arrest.
- throwaway4good 5y ago
  Sure when the us authorities want something from big tech, they can just ask nicely. Whereas if other countries wants something similar, they have to ask more forcefully (how forcefully depends on where on the totem pole of civilized nations they are). Really just shows that big tech is us big tech.
nisanth074 5y ago
@throwaway4good The Hindu nationalism narrative espoused by mainstream media (who are extremely Left and psuedo-secular) is a false one. In the contrary, Hinduism is unfortunately dying a death by thousand cuts. The country is suffering from numerous atrocities by Islam (forced conversations, rapes, temple vandalism etc.). These are just a few (and not all) atrocities by Muslims just in the past week https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/temple-vandalised-journalist-attacked-communal-violence-tiljala-west-bengal-kolkata/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/temple-vandalised-journalist... Dalits forced to Leave Noorpur, Aligarh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hcce1SSubI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hcce1SSubI Hindu beaten up by Muslims in a Muslim majority area over a petty spat where the latter were at fault https://twitter.com/swati_gs/status/1403969433157079047 https://twitter.com/swati_gs/status/1403969433157079047 Women and her children force converted to Islam and her children were circumcised https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/uttar-pradesh-forced-conversion-circumcision-minor-boys-police-law/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/uttar-pradesh-forced-convers... Assassination attempt https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/yati-assassination-plot-vipul-kashif-were-radicalised-by-salimuddin/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/yati-assassination-plot-vipu... Rape of a minor girl by a 50 year old Muslim cleric https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/up-gorakhpur-maulana-rapes-minor-girl-panchayat-orders-him-to-marry-victim/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/up-gorakhpur-maulana-rapes-m... Doctor assaulted https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/west-bengal-family-of-one-sheikh-ismail-attack-doctor-after-his-death/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/west-bengal-family-of-one-sh... Temple vandalised and desecreated A 47 year old Muslim girl rapes minor girl https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/delhi-cleric-rapes-minor-girl/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/06/delhi-cleric-rapes-minor-gir... Muslims after gaining a local majority oppose a Hindu procession https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/tamil-nadu-hindu-procession-local-muslims-object-madras-high-court/ https://www.opindia.com/2021/05/tamil-nadu-hindu-procession-... The above is in a Hindu majority nation. Imagine the sheer number of crimes/atrocities Muslims would commit if they were the majority (like they did in Pakistan, Bangladesh and other Muslim majority nations). Simultaneously, Hinduism is being dealt another severe blow by rampant Christian conversion (funded by donations arriving from the US) https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/how-devout-christian-missionary-family-of-cm-jaganmohan-has-built-church-state-nexus-in-andhra-pradesh?fbclid=IwAR3bdVjH5UqIQNCb-s5OVrKE0Asfng-ZNmLhHFd-OiDZ-U2K_nA1Q_pnOtM https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/how-devout-christian-miss... and misuse of Hindu temple funds by Christian Chief Ministers https://iskconnews.org/government-control-weakens-indias-temples,1099/?fbclid=IwAR35xYigW0o6vMi1q3--yDrQWbzEylw0bVdWBT3NcgURvDrtHgwakdTzM6g https://iskconnews.org/government-control-weakens-indias-tem... Hindu temples in the country (and especially my state) are being vandalised by the dozens. Barely a few months ago, an anclient year temple near my home was vandalised and the 400 year old temple idol was decapitated https://swarajyamag.com/insta/andhra-pradesh-400-year-old-lord-ram-idol-beheaded-in-ramatheertham https://swarajyamag.com/insta/andhra-pradesh-400-year-old-lo... The currently ruling party, BJP, were democratically elected. They can barely be classified a Centre party or a Centre-right party and even appeal to Christian and Muslim voters in a few Indian states. The old ruling party, Indian National Congress (INC) is an extremely corrupt, inept and psuedo-secular minority appeasing party leader by an incompetent leader (Rahul Gandhi). They've ruled India since 1947 independence and have caused irreparable economic and cultural damage to the country through their policies. The country and Hinduism will be in dire straits if they're re-elected. > I don't like the crazy Hindu nationalism of current India at all.

rushabh 5y ago

This needs to be understood in the context of a cultural onslaught of American values. More than just social media, services like Netflix, Prime, Disney are streaming live into millions of households in India. India has its own authentic identity that is under severe threat. If you look at China / East Asia - it is culturally and aesthetically like the West, mostly America, other than language and deference to authority. India has been traditionally liberal through the ages, it has more diverse cultures embedded in society and has fought much fewer internal wars than any ancient civilization. Few other cultures have outright pacifist icons such as Buddha or Gandhi. It has been able to absorb external influences gradually while maintaining its own distinct identity. The backlash we see is not as harsh as China or the Islamic world, but India will need its own gradual pace to accept changes. It is more than this core liberalism that connects India to the West. While India and America are not geopolitically aligned, Indians in America have formed deep cultural roots that connect the two cultures. Technology leaders like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella are role models for every child in India, so is American VP Kamala Harris. The article in my view is not wrong, but takes a very narrow view of things. Other than the few 100 posts that Indian authorities have removed, there are 100s of thousands of critical posts that are still widely circulated. The government inadvertently makes "own goals" and add fuel to fire when it does stupid things like this. The farmer's protest blew up in their face and this is not the end. There is a lot more to be hopeful about India rather than expect it to follow narrow nationalism of China or fierce capitalism of America.

random314 5y ago
This was not the case pre 2014. You are speaking as if India is a country that was recently created.

sa1 5y ago

It’s sad to see well intentioned people adopt the narrative that freedom of speech is just some western value, unfit for India. People under oppression need your solidarity, not their circumstances being explained away.

zozbot234 5y ago
It's hilarious to see SV firms pushing for freedom of speech while they disparage that same freedom in their own origin country.

naruvimama 5y ago

One of my favorite comedy group from Nigeria has an apt skit https://youtu.be/Z1yBM1mheU4 https://youtu.be/Z1yBM1mheU4

mcnultification 5y ago

I had to laugh at this one. I'm neither a fan of social media nor the current Indian government, but this article is either ridiculously out-of-touch, or is aimed towards an ivory-tower audience nicely cosseted within universities far away from the country they're writing about. There might've been an idealistic Silicon Valley in the 1990s-2000s, but if it ever existed, it's gone now, replaced by high-growth corporations whose goal is the same as all high-growth corporations, ie money and growth at the expense of everything else. The way they will make the most money is by amplification of whatever ideas governments and companies will pay money to amplify. The valley is not against the Indian government, it is with the people who will pay it the most / will amplify it's use the most. Political discussion will keep people within the social website bubble for longer times, so such discussions is what people will see. Administrative or legal action are side effects, and just fun-and-games as usual for both the SV companies as well as the customers (not users!) of the products, to ensure that they get a better deal for their side, in ways they've mostly always used throughout history. The author also seems to neglect mentioning that every major SV company has fairly sizable employee presence across India and recruits heavily from India's best education institutes. These employees are some of the highest-paid in the country. A lot of people at upper levels of these companies' headquarters in the valley are of Indian origin. They know how the country works; they know how fiercely angry the people get at things they perceive as slights to their identity; they know what kind of leadership the BJP has, and they definitely knew what kind of person Modi is. If they still got in bed with him, it's due to their greed and lack of respect of the same values they seem to identify with. > ...TikTok ban came into play, that the app had become an easy-to-use arena for conscientious citizens to counter mainstream media censorship, spread the word about protests, and give voice to Indians of different castes, gender and sexual identifications, and ethnicities, many of whom found themselves under attack from the BJP’s Hindu nationalist government This is ridiculous. Anyone who used TikTok even for a minute in India knows that the app was far away from what this author seems to describe. It was nothing but people dancing around and making goofy videos. I am not sure how the app's design would have helped to do anything as serious as "spreading word about protests" in a consistent way. I'm all for serious discussion of autocracy, of stifling free speech or spread of inflammatory rhetoric, but this is the flimsiest article I've read about it. It seems to side with the people responsible for amplifying these issues in the first place, and mindlessly bashes what it feels as working against those companies. IMO banning FB's Free Basics was unequivocally a good thing. Banning TikTok has almost no losers other than TikTok and some influencers. Social media was supposed to be a way to keep touch with family and upload cat photos. If it got used for something far more sinister at global scale, it should expect some sort of pushback, regardless of the people doing the pushback are right or not.

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graphtradr 5y ago

We are just so addicted in America to these platforms we just can't collectively even start to imagine how the whole world does not want the same addiction.

tim333 5y ago

>Silicon Valley Thought India Was Its Future I'm a bit skeptical. I'd imagine SV thought India was one country out of the 200+ their services are available in and if one of those 200 changing governments pass bad laws then whatevs, a developing countries manager can do a press release or something.

neonate 5y ago

https://archive.is/LhfYj https://archive.is/LhfYj

mybrid 5y ago

The sad part of this is that we've know these kinds of trends were going to happen since the advent of the computer and automation. Computing and automation leave the average physical and intellectual ability behind. Someone born in the last 20 years could be forgiven for thinking that Science Fiction is only about dystopian stories of despair. Why? Because one cornerstone of SciFi is that the average IQ is worth less every day and is being replaced by technology. Those left behind will revolt. This easily explains Trump's appeal. Average people are feeling more irrelevant ever day. Trump is proof that even the worst of con men can tap into that despair. Andrew Yang ran his Presidential campaign in part on this theme, but UBI does nothing for helping people feel relevant or in control of their lives. The title of this article could have easily been, "Silicon Valley thought the US was its future, now things have changed." The disaffected are only becoming more disaffected every day because those in the technological advancement industries don't care.

sanmon3186 5y ago

>But this quickly disintegrated, and the bargain tech execs drove in embracing an already-notorious figure like Modi became much harder. In 2016, India blocked Facebook’s “Free Basics” initiative, an attempt by the company to offer free internet access through a network of Facebook-approved sites, out of concern that the program would have created unfair tiers for internet access; I wonder why author thinks that "free basics" was a great idea that was crushed by Modi.

readonthegoapp 5y ago

Not crazy about the ambiguous/meaningless title

known 5y ago

"Windbags when it comes to fine speeches, skillfully balanced resolutions and legalistic castles in the air, the Hindus are real experts" --Sir Winston Churchill (b. 1874) https://archive.is/XlOXf https://archive.is/XlOXf