by
Katy Cook
65
Myths & Stories
0
terms
4
notes
69
- Don’t be evil. (Google, scrapped in 2015.)
- Bring the world closer together. (Facebook.)
- Put a dent in the universe. (Steve Jobs, Apple.)
- Move fast and break things. (Facebook.)
- Organize the world’s information. (Google.)
- Broadcast yourself. (YouTube.)
- Give everyone a voice. (Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook.)
- Make tools that advance humankind. (Apple.)
- Improve communities around the world. (Salesforce.)
- Create a world where you can belong anywhere. (AirBnB.)
- Communicate with the full range of human emotion. (Snapchat.)
- Connect people to their passions, communities, and the world’s knowledge. (Yahoo!)
- Give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. (Twitter.)
- Simplify life for people around the world. (Dropbox.)
- Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. ( Microsoft .)
- Solve intelligence, use it to make the world a better place. (Deepmind.)
- Work hard. Have fun. Make history. ( Amazon .)
- Do the right thing. (Google, current.)
useful
- Don’t be evil. (Google, scrapped in 2015.)
- Bring the world closer together. (Facebook.)
- Put a dent in the universe. (Steve Jobs, Apple.)
- Move fast and break things. (Facebook.)
- Organize the world’s information. (Google.)
- Broadcast yourself. (YouTube.)
- Give everyone a voice. (Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook.)
- Make tools that advance humankind. (Apple.)
- Improve communities around the world. (Salesforce.)
- Create a world where you can belong anywhere. (AirBnB.)
- Communicate with the full range of human emotion. (Snapchat.)
- Connect people to their passions, communities, and the world’s knowledge. (Yahoo!)
- Give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers. (Twitter.)
- Simplify life for people around the world. (Dropbox.)
- Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. ( Microsoft .)
- Solve intelligence, use it to make the world a better place. (Deepmind.)
- Work hard. Have fun. Make history. ( Amazon .)
- Do the right thing. (Google, current.)
useful
77
In an article entitled, “The Shut-in Economy,” tech journalist Lauren Smiley details how a growing majority of products emerging from Silicon Valley “are created by the urban young for the needs of urban young,” many of which are born of the ubiquitous “on-demand economy.”32 Examples range from suitcases that follow you from the airport check-in desk to your gate; smart underwear; smart salt shakers; toothbrushes equipped with AI; virtual candles, lighters, and fireplaces; and more food delivery and laundry apps than you could ever hope to use in a lifetime. There really is something for everyone. And by everyone, I mean predominantly the people who envision and fund these products. Tom Goodwin describes how Silicon Valley’s more recent products appear to be increasingly designed for a smaller subset of people.
There’s an app where you can order another car to come and fill your car with petrol. The target audience for a lot of these things appears to be the founders themselves, because it’s normally something for a 26-year-old, privileged white guy who isn’t very social. When you consider the products that they make and the way that they do things, it’s as if they’ve never really met a normal human being.33
In an article entitled, “The Shut-in Economy,” tech journalist Lauren Smiley details how a growing majority of products emerging from Silicon Valley “are created by the urban young for the needs of urban young,” many of which are born of the ubiquitous “on-demand economy.”32 Examples range from suitcases that follow you from the airport check-in desk to your gate; smart underwear; smart salt shakers; toothbrushes equipped with AI; virtual candles, lighters, and fireplaces; and more food delivery and laundry apps than you could ever hope to use in a lifetime. There really is something for everyone. And by everyone, I mean predominantly the people who envision and fund these products. Tom Goodwin describes how Silicon Valley’s more recent products appear to be increasingly designed for a smaller subset of people.
There’s an app where you can order another car to come and fill your car with petrol. The target audience for a lot of these things appears to be the founders themselves, because it’s normally something for a 26-year-old, privileged white guy who isn’t very social. When you consider the products that they make and the way that they do things, it’s as if they’ve never really met a normal human being.33
83
Based on their behaviors to date, many would likely argue that the industry has not proven itself to be sufficiently mature or capable of handling such responsibility. Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former CSO, has put forth the argument that the attitude towards responsibility in Silicon Valley has not kept pace with the changing landscape, power, and influence of the industry.
While the times have changed, the community and the industry have not really changed with them. The truth is that we are no longer the upstarts, we are no longer the hacker kids fighting against corporate conformity…. We don’t fight the man anymore, in some ways we are the man. But we haven’t really changed our attitude towards what kind of responsibility that puts on us.46
What Stamos touches on here is a critical shortcoming of the industry, with far-reaching implications: the tendency to grow without necessarily maturing, and the willingness to assume the most important professions of the digital age without assuming the corresponding moral demands those roles entail.
Based on their behaviors to date, many would likely argue that the industry has not proven itself to be sufficiently mature or capable of handling such responsibility. Alex Stamos, Facebook’s former CSO, has put forth the argument that the attitude towards responsibility in Silicon Valley has not kept pace with the changing landscape, power, and influence of the industry.
While the times have changed, the community and the industry have not really changed with them. The truth is that we are no longer the upstarts, we are no longer the hacker kids fighting against corporate conformity…. We don’t fight the man anymore, in some ways we are the man. But we haven’t really changed our attitude towards what kind of responsibility that puts on us.46
What Stamos touches on here is a critical shortcoming of the industry, with far-reaching implications: the tendency to grow without necessarily maturing, and the willingness to assume the most important professions of the digital age without assuming the corresponding moral demands those roles entail.
85
David Hanson, a programmer and partner at software firm Basecamp, argues “it takes a while for people to catch up when the world changes, but eventually they do, and now they have.”
It used to be that you could unironically claim to be disrupting this or that, and people would look at you with puppy eyes asking to hear more. Now if you claim to be on some disruptive mission, you’re far more likely to be met with skepticism and critical inquiry, if not outright eye rolls. That’s because the disruption story hasn’t had the neat happy ending its main protagonists would like you to believe. Whether it’s the gig economy normalizing, nay, celebrating, working three jobs to make ends met. Or specifically ride sharing outsourcing all capital costs and risk to drivers. Or apartment buildings turned into defacto hotels by short-term rentals. There are real, systemic downsides.49
David Hanson, a programmer and partner at software firm Basecamp, argues “it takes a while for people to catch up when the world changes, but eventually they do, and now they have.”
It used to be that you could unironically claim to be disrupting this or that, and people would look at you with puppy eyes asking to hear more. Now if you claim to be on some disruptive mission, you’re far more likely to be met with skepticism and critical inquiry, if not outright eye rolls. That’s because the disruption story hasn’t had the neat happy ending its main protagonists would like you to believe. Whether it’s the gig economy normalizing, nay, celebrating, working three jobs to make ends met. Or specifically ride sharing outsourcing all capital costs and risk to drivers. Or apartment buildings turned into defacto hotels by short-term rentals. There are real, systemic downsides.49