4 ms·
OP here, just to add some context. I remember reading this piece back in 2007 when I lived in NYC and worked on software on Wall Street, and this line stuck wit
by siavosh 11y ago
OP here, just to add some context. I remember reading this piece back in 2007 when I lived in NYC and worked on software on Wall Street, and this line stuck with me:
“I think this is a time of great prosperity and a time of great danger"
...which was in direct contrast to the self aggrandizing pride of the main character in the piece, Sanford I. Weill. Within a few a months, if I recall, almost everything he was defending and boasting of in the interview was proven to be a complete farce, delusion and some criminal, as the world neared another Great Depression. Large amounts of human suffering ensued (and still does) as a result of what happened.
I really wish there was a resource that would collect pieces like this, meaning, journalism right before some large societal self-inflicted disaster (war, financial etc) where media and cultural hype helped blind everyone to impending catastrophe. When the idolizing puff journalism and self-congratulation of industry heads reach a deafening crescendo, it's time to brace yourself.
- adwhit 11y agoThe tragedy, though, is because of the way the very rich are embedded at the very top of political and economic power structures, they got away scott-free and are now more powerful than ever [1]. Their wealth is pure rent-extraction and they will happily consume and destroy every person and resource on this planet before they voluntarily surrender a single cent ("nu-philanthropy" notwithstanding). These are complicated political problems that I think the tech community cannot solve on it's own (and possibly lacks the language to even discuss sensibly). [1] e.g. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/19/world-wealth-oxfam_n_6499798.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/19/world-wealth-oxfam_...
- maaku 11y agoWell there is some hope for a technical miracle in things like Freicoin. But very limited hope given the scale of the issue and the power of entrenched wealth... http://freico.in/ http://freico.in/
- wikiwaka 11y agoThe unelected bureaucrats who hoard political power instead of wealth have happily destroyed people in many societies as well.
- m-i-l 11y ago> I really wish there was a resource that would collect pieces like this There was the The Memory Hole (web site) [0]. I remember an article by the Scottish Nationalist Party saying they would model an independent Scotland's economy on the then very successful Icelandic and Irish economies. That was in 2007. Then I read another article a couple of years later saying they would model it on the Norwegian economy. I tried to find the original article, but I suspect it may have disappeared down the memory hole. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Memory_Hole_(web_site) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Memory_Hole_(web_site)
- bko 11y ago> I really wish there was a resource that would collect pieces like this, meaning, journalism right before some large societal self-inflicted disaster (war, financial etc) where media and cultural hype helped blind everyone to impending catastrophe. When the idolizing puff journalism and self-congratulation of industry heads reach a deafening crescendo, it's time to brace yourself. Reminds me of Nassim Taleb's quote: "To be completely cured of newspapers, spend a year reading the previous week’s newspapers." I try and do this once in a while to provide some historical perspective and introduce some skepticism in my thinking on current events
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]