Silicon Valley protecting yourPrivacy? ; "the_conspiracy" Is 'Occupy Silicon Valley' next? – Connie Loizos is a contributor for PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication.
This article originally appeared here. The views expressed are her own. – There it was on Craigslist – an ad for “young, successful professionals living in America’s most emerging area, Silicon Valley,” ostensibly posted by a “major cable network” that’s looking to cast a Silicon Valley reality show. No wonder. To get the picture, one only need look to the invitation-only, tequila-fueled industry party that entrepreneur-investor Sean Parker hosted two weeks ago. Silicon Valley has much to celebrate. But Silicon Valley sometimes seems as tone-deaf as Wall Street to the economic straits that most Americans face, and it’s in for a “shock,” says renowned Silicon Valley futurist Paul Saffo.
“Because (Silicon Valley) has such a monomaniacal obsession to innovate, people tend to overlook things,” observes Saffo. Still, Saffo thinks the region will not be able to ignore the economic unrest for long. Should Occupy Wall Street Occupy Silicon Valley Instead? Dylan’s Desk: Is it time to occupy Silicon Valley? Sign up for our weekly newsletters, and you’ll get the latest insights from our Dylan's Desk and DeanBeat columns before they’re published on VentureBeat. NOTE: Subscribe to my newsletter and you can read these columns a whole day before they appear on our website. In the past four weeks, “Occupy” protests have spread from Wall Street to San Francisco to nearly every major city in the U.S. and many others around the world.
I’ve been trying to figure out the movement’s relevance to Silicon Valley and the tech industry in general. Why aren’t people occupying Sand Hill Road, the home of most Valley venture capitalists? Why aren’t people blocking the entrances to Google, Oracle or Apple? I’ll admit, I’m a bit confused by the movement and its targets — but the answer, I think, has to do with the way finance works in Silicon Valley versus Wall Street. In broad strokes, Silicon Valley investors are focused on building huge, billion-dollar companies.
Leaders: The coming tech-lash. Silicon Valley Arrogance Bubble. Former AngelHack CEO Greg Gopman apologized last week for a series of posts on Facebook in which he said that homeless "trash" had no place in the "heart of our city," San Francisco.
He wrote: The difference is in other cosmopolitan cities, the lower part of society keep to themselves. They sell small trinkets, beg coyly, stay quiet, and generally stay out of your way. They realize it's a privilege to be in the civilized part of town and view themselves as guests. And that's okay. It's ugly, class-war stuff. Some of them want to secede from America, or live on lawless artificial islands outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. There is a feeling outside Silicon Valley that those inside the tech business are living in a tone-deaf bubble of arrogance. As Andrew Leonard recently wrote in Salon, "it all feels like the blind, unconscious decadence of a great empire just before its final descent into madness and irrevocable decline.
" Twitter Startup founders feel entitled to hate the poor. ... Progressive Kristallnacht Coming? — Letters to the Editor. Schatrijke venture capitalist: 'Hetze tegen rijken lijkt op jodenvervolging' Arne van der Wal Onbedoeld zette de Amerikaanse venture capitalist Tom Perkins de ongelijkheid in zijn land hoger op de agenda.
Hij vergeleek kritiek op de rijken met de Kristallnacht. Wat steekt daarachter? ‘De rijken worden gedemoniseerd,’ schreef venture capitalist Tom Perkins in een ingezonden brief aan The Wall Street Journal die vrijdag 24 januari werd gepubliceerd. Als het bij die wat uitgekauwde stijlvorm was gebleven zou niemand hebben opgekeken. Het is een absurde vergelijking die niet alleen blijk geeft van een uiterst beperkt historisch besef, maar ook een inkijkje biedt in het denken van – een deel van – de financiële elite in de VS. Legende In Silicon Valley is Tom Perkins niets minder dan een legende. ‘Bubbles are good. Voor risico-investeerders in Silicon Valley waren de jaren 90 gouden jaren, het tijdperk waarin men jubelde over the largest legal wealth creation in history of the planet.
Perkins is overigens goed bekend met Nederland. Meritocratie Trickle down.