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This reflects an interesting development in Bay Area politics, which has global impact through tech companies. A few decades ago, tech, science and liberalism

by pcrh 10mo ago

This reflects an interesting development in Bay Area politics, which has global impact through tech companies. A few decades ago, tech, science and liberalism were bedfellows in the Bay Area. Apple was famous for its anti-authoritarian "1984" ad, directed by Ridley Scott. Google proclaimed "Don't be evil". I'm not sure quite what to make of the current trend of the dominant "technocrats", and their employees, from being liberal to supporting division within society. But it does not seem conducive to a perpetuation of what made the Bay Area such a productive environment, from scientific, cultural and business perspectives.

andsoitis 10mo ago
> Apple was famous for its anti-authoritarian "1984" ad Perhaps, but Apple’s corporate culture is (and has always been?) pretty command-and-control. > A few decades ago, tech, science and liberalism were bedfellows in the Bay Area. Digital Technology is a powerful tool to create uniformity (scale), force authority (control, predictability, sentiment shaping). Of course it can be used to fight against these, but digital tech leans very much in the direction of centralization and control if you ask me.
- zozbot234 10mo ago
  The "1984" ad is from... well duh, 1984. Apple was a small startup in a niche industry back then - fighting against centralization and control by building "a bicycle for the mind" that would push useful computation to the "edge" where it can be controlled by the user.
  - andsoitis 10mo ago
    > The "1984" ad is from... well duh, 1984. Apple was a small startup Small startup in 1984? Apple IPOd in 1980 and had a market cap in 1984 of $1.6 billion, which is just under $5 billion in today’s dollars.
    - AnimalMuppet 10mo ago
      OK, but... who were they going against? Who were they aiming the ad at? IBM. What was IBM's market cap in 1984?
- pcrh 10mo ago
  In the 1990's to 2010's digital tech was perceived as liberating the masses from government and "business" control of information. It's quite contrary to the present information environment.
ThrowawayR2 10mo ago
> "A few decades ago, tech, science and liberalism were bedfellows in the Bay Area." A few decades ago was before the meteoric internet and mobile web boom and the deluge of non-hackers with CS degrees and MBA types with dollar signs in their eyes that flooded into the tech industry. The hacker ethos turned from "information wants to be free" into "f--- you, pay me" in only a few short years simply because the old guard was diluted away to nothingness by so many newcomers.

by pcrh 10mo ago

andsoitis 10mo ago

> Apple was famous for its anti-authoritarian "1984" ad Perhaps, but Apple’s corporate culture is (and has always been?) pretty command-and-control. > A few decades ago, tech, science and liberalism were bedfellows in the Bay Area. Digital Technology is a powerful tool to create uniformity (scale), force authority (control, predictability, sentiment shaping). Of course it can be used to fight against these, but digital tech leans very much in the direction of centralization and control if you ask me.

zozbot234 10mo ago
The "1984" ad is from... well duh, 1984. Apple was a small startup in a niche industry back then - fighting against centralization and control by building "a bicycle for the mind" that would push useful computation to the "edge" where it can be controlled by the user.
- andsoitis 10mo ago
  > The "1984" ad is from... well duh, 1984. Apple was a small startup Small startup in 1984? Apple IPOd in 1980 and had a market cap in 1984 of $1.6 billion, which is just under $5 billion in today’s dollars.
  - AnimalMuppet 10mo ago
    OK, but... who were they going against? Who were they aiming the ad at? IBM. What was IBM's market cap in 1984?
pcrh 10mo ago
In the 1990's to 2010's digital tech was perceived as liberating the masses from government and "business" control of information. It's quite contrary to the present information environment.

ThrowawayR2 10mo ago

> "A few decades ago, tech, science and liberalism were bedfellows in the Bay Area." A few decades ago was before the meteoric internet and mobile web boom and the deluge of non-hackers with CS degrees and MBA types with dollar signs in their eyes that flooded into the tech industry. The hacker ethos turned from "information wants to be free" into "f--- you, pay me" in only a few short years simply because the old guard was diluted away to nothingness by so many newcomers.