4 ms·

Actually, I agree with you more than you'd think. After living in San Francisco for a year or two, I'm absolutely skeptical toward 99% of the stuff that's pass

Actually, I agree with you more than you'd think. After living in San Francisco for a year or two, I'm absolutely skeptical toward 99% of the stuff that's passed off as "Silicon Valley revolutionary" crap. I'm pretty much only interested in pure technology: SpaceX/Tesla, new hardware manufacturing / internet of things, drones, immersive computing, bitcoin (to some extent), etc. Which is why, I think, I can enjoy the HBO show thoroughly while still lamenting about "where did all the hackers go"

api 12y ago
The hacker has been partly replaced by the hustler, and that sucks. But there are still hackers around. There's also things that the hacker can learn from the hustler, like how to take something early or minimal and make it self-supporting. In a sense the hustler is a kind of hacker. The problem is that hustlers are often just hustle... not enough substance. But when you have substance and hustle, that's powerful. I do get turned off by all the self-congratulation coming out of the Valley. It's important to listen to criticism. Sometimes the critics have a point. In particular, a lot of the optimism out of the valley sounds dangerously close to "let them eat cake!" to the rest of America. (News flash! Most of America is more or less in a long shallow depression right now.)
ajsharp 12y ago
Cool. Yea, I really enjoyed the HBO show too (especially in the beginning, the writing tailed off a bit mid-season). The satire around "making the world a better place" was the first thing that jumped out at me and hooked me initially.
r00fus 12y ago
SF is a whole different ball game. Go south on the peninsula and towards the real "valley" and you'll get a more relaxed/grounded viewpoint (most families are priced out of SF unless they're DINKY or DISK [1]). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DINKY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DINKY

api 12y ago

The hacker has been partly replaced by the hustler, and that sucks. But there are still hackers around. There's also things that the hacker can learn from the hustler, like how to take something early or minimal and make it self-supporting. In a sense the hustler is a kind of hacker. The problem is that hustlers are often just hustle... not enough substance. But when you have substance and hustle, that's powerful. I do get turned off by all the self-congratulation coming out of the Valley. It's important to listen to criticism. Sometimes the critics have a point. In particular, a lot of the optimism out of the valley sounds dangerously close to "let them eat cake!" to the rest of America. (News flash! Most of America is more or less in a long shallow depression right now.)

ajsharp 12y ago

Cool. Yea, I really enjoyed the HBO show too (especially in the beginning, the writing tailed off a bit mid-season). The satire around "making the world a better place" was the first thing that jumped out at me and hooked me initially.

r00fus 12y ago

SF is a whole different ball game. Go south on the peninsula and towards the real "valley" and you'll get a more relaxed/grounded viewpoint (most families are priced out of SF unless they're DINKY or DISK [1]). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DINKY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DINKY