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Jesus, speaking of narcissism... America likes tech, but really doesn't care that much about Silicon Valley. Does anyone leave this place and not immediately s

Jesus, speaking of narcissism... America likes tech, but really doesn't care that much about Silicon Valley. Does anyone leave this place and not immediately see that? (even the original article is flawed, somehow thinking that distance between the New York financial sector and the press lets them fare better. The meme these days is that the tech sector is after your private data to advertise at you, but Americans by and large put the financial sector at about the same level as they put Congress. The idea that Americans even care enough about Silicon Valley to be able to loathe the place is a joke)

potatolicious 13y ago
Ehh, sort of kind of agree. America in general doesn't hate tech. Here in NYC tech is not really a controversial topic, and I certainly don't feel a stigma telling people I work in tech. That said, the Bay Area really hates tech, for much of the same reasons outlined in the article. Despite the fact that techies are everywhere, there is certainly a stigma and a very palpable tension between tech and everyone else in the area. And I have to agree with the article on that front. We talk a lot of shit about changing the world, we project the image (and the ballot boxes confirm) of bleeding heart, socially-aware liberals but yet it seems that belief applies anywhere except our own back yards. It's a quixotic place where we rant about Big Pharma abusing governments for tax breaks, and then do it ourselves. It's the sort of place where you'd talk a lot of shit about doing good, alleviating poverty, establishing microloans in distant faraway lands, but do nothing for the open-air crack den you live next to. Nothing about the tens of thousands of homeless people. Nothing about the second-world warzone of a ghetto smack in the heart of the city (the article mentions East Palo Alto, but the Mission and SOMA deserve a mention too). In fact we seem to go out of our way to obstruct any progress in this regard. We evangelize the dream of this techno-utopia when we can't even realize it in our own back yards. Worse, we're not even trying. I for one got sick of this shit and moved out. I don't want the future that the Bay Area is building, because it involves a lot of wealthy people deeply absorbed into techno-gadgetry while the world burns down around them.

potatolicious 13y ago

Ehh, sort of kind of agree. America in general doesn't hate tech. Here in NYC tech is not really a controversial topic, and I certainly don't feel a stigma telling people I work in tech. That said, the Bay Area really hates tech, for much of the same reasons outlined in the article. Despite the fact that techies are everywhere, there is certainly a stigma and a very palpable tension between tech and everyone else in the area. And I have to agree with the article on that front. We talk a lot of shit about changing the world, we project the image (and the ballot boxes confirm) of bleeding heart, socially-aware liberals but yet it seems that belief applies anywhere except our own back yards. It's a quixotic place where we rant about Big Pharma abusing governments for tax breaks, and then do it ourselves. It's the sort of place where you'd talk a lot of shit about doing good, alleviating poverty, establishing microloans in distant faraway lands, but do nothing for the open-air crack den you live next to. Nothing about the tens of thousands of homeless people. Nothing about the second-world warzone of a ghetto smack in the heart of the city (the article mentions East Palo Alto, but the Mission and SOMA deserve a mention too). In fact we seem to go out of our way to obstruct any progress in this regard. We evangelize the dream of this techno-utopia when we can't even realize it in our own back yards. Worse, we're not even trying. I for one got sick of this shit and moved out. I don't want the future that the Bay Area is building, because it involves a lot of wealthy people deeply absorbed into techno-gadgetry while the world burns down around them.