4 ms·

Silicon Valley elites are afraid. History says they should be

32 points by rmason 4y ago

rmason 4y ago
Most of the people here on HN don't remember when the far left hated computers, but I do. To me the most famous case is when Adobe's Chuck Geschke was kidnapped and held for ransom. I've been to meetings at Adobe HQ and the security there is still tighter than a lot of other Valley headquarters and a lot of even their employees don't know the reason why.
- vt85 4y ago
  [dead]
- jleyank 4y ago
  Things like Alexa and other talk-to/monitor life gadgets would give the old radicals fits. “Big brother, please order me some paper towels.” People used to be concerned re being tabulated, now they facilitate it.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    And may regret it again soon when their AI overlords fall under authoritarian control.
- andrewfromx 4y ago
  "On the morning of May 26, 1992, as Geschke was arriving for work in Mountain View, California, he was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Adobe parking lot by two men, Mouhannad Albukhari, 26, of San Jose, and Jack Sayeh, 25, of Campbell. A spokesperson for the FBI reported that the agency had monitored phone calls that the kidnappers had made to Geschke's wife, demanding a ransom. The spokesperson added that Albukhari had been arrested after he had picked up the $650,000 ransom that Geschke's daughter had left at a drop-off point. An FBI agent explained that, "after a gentlemanly discussion", Albukhari had brought them to a bungalow in Hollister, where Sayeh had been holding Geschke hostage. Geschke was released unhurt after being held for four days, although he stated that he had been chained. The two kidnappers were eventually sentenced to life terms in state prison." wow. I had no idea. From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Geschke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Geschke
- pyuser583 4y ago
  Ted Kaczynski had (has?) a flowing among the far left.
  - yucky 4y ago
    And far right. He's referred to affectionately as "Uncle Ted".
  - green_man_lives 4y ago
    Eh I'd say he's just popular among the edgier anti-establishment people of all shades. He was pretty explicitly anti-progressive in his manifesto and also would most likely be labeled as a reactionary by the "far-left", since he targeted technology as the source of society's ills and not the ownership of capital.
- cafard 4y ago
  I don't see anything in the Wikipedia article on Geschke to suggest that the kidnapping was politically motivated. Was it?
alphaomegacode 4y ago
I was wondering why The LA Times would publish a story that seems intent on somehow linking 1970s threats of violence with the recent SVB issue. It was only after reading the article did I see the author has a book coming out on a "tech backlash". Of course there are complaints against tech companies and of course it comes from left, right and center. That's because tech is now woven into our personal and corporate lives. But suggesting any large numbers of persons advocating violence seems a real reach and could be seen by many as plain irresponsible.
- Teever 4y ago
  > Of course there are complaints against tech companies and of course it comes from left, right and center. That's because tech is now woven into our personal and corporate lives. You seem to be minimizing these 'complaints' with your second sentence. Do you feel that criticisms levelled by people outside of silicon valley are valid, and how do you think these people should best go about seeking redress for these criticisms?
- uejfiweun 4y ago
  I hate it when you start reading an article and then suddenly the author starts talking about their new book. It becomes immediately clear that the article's entire purpose was to advertise the book and that you have just wasted your time. So thank you for doing the scout work for me here.
- thewildginger 4y ago
  Acknowledging the historical power of violence is not "irresponsible" and neither is acknowledging every day violence perpetuated by institutions we are all beholden to. Building the weapons of war to improve military intelligence in the form of targeting and operational capability with computers at the forefront is described in the article. People violently opposed the violence being pointed at someone else. This is a fact, one conveniently ignored for the contradictions it brings up (a point of the article). This isn't advocating violence, it is a plain explanation of the nature of the historical events. It is uncomfortable and not fun to acknowledge, and goes against what many are taught I will give you that.
evolve2k 4y ago
“In other words, they’d rather keep up the flame wars on social media and build survival bunkers in Montana than address the social ills their critics charge them with exacerbating.” Nails it.
thebradbain 4y ago
> “In other words, they’d rather keep up the flame wars on social media and build survival bunkers in Montana than address the social ills their critics charge them with exacerbating.” Don’t Look Up was — after all was said and done — a glaringly stupid movie, but Mark Rylance’s portrayal of a clueless tech billionaire ”thought-leader” who unwittingly brings about the end of the world before blaming the media and his employees and sheltering with other billionaires was right on the money.
gumby 4y ago
I love these lazy articles about people like Sachs and Thiel. They have a lot of money and talk a lot but don't really feel like "elite" in the sense used by this article.

32 points by rmason 4y ago

Most of the people here on HN don't remember when the far left hated computers, but I do. To me the most famous case is when Adobe's Chuck Geschke was kidnapped and held for ransom. I've been to meetings at Adobe HQ and the security there is still tighter than a lot of other Valley headquarters and a lot of even their employees don't know the reason why.

vt85 4y ago
[dead]
jleyank 4y ago
Things like Alexa and other talk-to/monitor life gadgets would give the old radicals fits. “Big brother, please order me some paper towels.” People used to be concerned re being tabulated, now they facilitate it.
- pixl97 4y ago
  And may regret it again soon when their AI overlords fall under authoritarian control.
andrewfromx 4y ago
"On the morning of May 26, 1992, as Geschke was arriving for work in Mountain View, California, he was kidnapped at gunpoint from the Adobe parking lot by two men, Mouhannad Albukhari, 26, of San Jose, and Jack Sayeh, 25, of Campbell. A spokesperson for the FBI reported that the agency had monitored phone calls that the kidnappers had made to Geschke's wife, demanding a ransom. The spokesperson added that Albukhari had been arrested after he had picked up the $650,000 ransom that Geschke's daughter had left at a drop-off point. An FBI agent explained that, "after a gentlemanly discussion", Albukhari had brought them to a bungalow in Hollister, where Sayeh had been holding Geschke hostage. Geschke was released unhurt after being held for four days, although he stated that he had been chained. The two kidnappers were eventually sentenced to life terms in state prison." wow. I had no idea. From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Geschke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Geschke
pyuser583 4y ago
Ted Kaczynski had (has?) a flowing among the far left.
- yucky 4y ago
  And far right. He's referred to affectionately as "Uncle Ted".
- green_man_lives 4y ago
  Eh I'd say he's just popular among the edgier anti-establishment people of all shades. He was pretty explicitly anti-progressive in his manifesto and also would most likely be labeled as a reactionary by the "far-left", since he targeted technology as the source of society's ills and not the ownership of capital.
cafard 4y ago
I don't see anything in the Wikipedia article on Geschke to suggest that the kidnapping was politically motivated. Was it?

alphaomegacode 4y ago

I was wondering why The LA Times would publish a story that seems intent on somehow linking 1970s threats of violence with the recent SVB issue. It was only after reading the article did I see the author has a book coming out on a "tech backlash". Of course there are complaints against tech companies and of course it comes from left, right and center. That's because tech is now woven into our personal and corporate lives. But suggesting any large numbers of persons advocating violence seems a real reach and could be seen by many as plain irresponsible.

Teever 4y ago
> Of course there are complaints against tech companies and of course it comes from left, right and center. That's because tech is now woven into our personal and corporate lives. You seem to be minimizing these 'complaints' with your second sentence. Do you feel that criticisms levelled by people outside of silicon valley are valid, and how do you think these people should best go about seeking redress for these criticisms?
uejfiweun 4y ago
I hate it when you start reading an article and then suddenly the author starts talking about their new book. It becomes immediately clear that the article's entire purpose was to advertise the book and that you have just wasted your time. So thank you for doing the scout work for me here.
thewildginger 4y ago
Acknowledging the historical power of violence is not "irresponsible" and neither is acknowledging every day violence perpetuated by institutions we are all beholden to. Building the weapons of war to improve military intelligence in the form of targeting and operational capability with computers at the forefront is described in the article. People violently opposed the violence being pointed at someone else. This is a fact, one conveniently ignored for the contradictions it brings up (a point of the article). This isn't advocating violence, it is a plain explanation of the nature of the historical events. It is uncomfortable and not fun to acknowledge, and goes against what many are taught I will give you that.

evolve2k 4y ago

“In other words, they’d rather keep up the flame wars on social media and build survival bunkers in Montana than address the social ills their critics charge them with exacerbating.” Nails it.

thebradbain 4y ago

> “In other words, they’d rather keep up the flame wars on social media and build survival bunkers in Montana than address the social ills their critics charge them with exacerbating.” Don’t Look Up was — after all was said and done — a glaringly stupid movie, but Mark Rylance’s portrayal of a clueless tech billionaire ”thought-leader” who unwittingly brings about the end of the world before blaming the media and his employees and sheltering with other billionaires was right on the money.

gumby 4y ago

I love these lazy articles about people like Sachs and Thiel. They have a lot of money and talk a lot but don't really feel like "elite" in the sense used by this article.