Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum (2016)(www.newyorker.com)
21 pointsby rmason3 hours ago7 comments
  • Avicebron2 hours ago
    We've totally altered our information environment in something like 30 years. Less than an average lifespan. On the back of that anyone remotely competent and well wishing in technology was immediately supplanted by those who worship venal money-grubbing.
  • frollogaston2 hours ago
    I went in ready to laugh at this article because it's The New Yorker casting stones about empathy vacuum, but it was actually good. Dunno if I buy the connection to Donald Trump's 2016 win, but it's refreshing to hear this explanation instead of stuff like "Facebook helped him win," the author was really empathetic.
  • gnabgib3 hours ago
    Title should be Silicon Valley Has an Empathy Vacuum (2016), at the time:

    flagged (85 points, 136 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13055427

    (49 points, 16 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13057589

  • JSR_FDED2 hours ago
    It always bugs me when “Silicon Valley” is written about as some kind of monolith.

    Do all the sincere, hard-working, risk-taking startups deserve to be painted by the same brush as Facebook?

    • frollogaston2 hours ago
      Yes actually, cause those startups are trying to either become a large company or be bought by one. And talent moves decently well between the two kinds of companies.

      This reminds me of when someone outside California asks what city someone is from and they say Palo Alto or Sunnyvale. No, that's SF.

      • JSR_FDED32 minutes ago
        The issue I’m referring to isn’t large companies VS small companies. I don’t think large companies are inherently bad.

        I am referring to the societal harm that’s done by companies (that’s also what the article is referring to). Why is the company that’s trying to improve efficiency in the building industry being lumped together with Facebook?

  • consensus13 hours ago
    > the distinct lack of empathy for those whose lives are disturbed by its technological wizardry. Two years ago, on my blog, I wrote, “It is important for us to talk about the societal impact of what Google is doing or what Facebook can do with all the data. If it can influence emotions (for increased engagements), can it compromise the political process?”

    He means his life is disrupted. He doesn't like Google / Meta's influence on emotions / politics, not because he has a problem with that in general, but because journalists like him view it as their god given right. And by "compromise the political process" he means the tech industry does the exact thing he built his career doing. But he is right about one thing. I don't have a shred of empathy for the journalists.

    • dozerly3 hours ago
      Well that’s a sour take. There’s plenty of journalists that are vital to you as a citizen, that helped create the societal contract that we enjoy today. There also happen to be a lot of journalists that shill for political or monetary gain. Journalism (the act of gathering, verifying and distributing information) is extremely vital to a functioning democracy.
    • celdon253 hours ago
      The author just died, and is now dead, and unable to provide an opinion, like many others who have fallen under hard times. Those with privilege therefore tend to have their opinions over-represented in the public square.
    • ambicapter3 hours ago
      This comment could be thoroughly summarized as “no, you”.
    • rgrPlantner2 hours ago
      I don't have a shred of empathy for software engineers at risk to AI

      Same old technological advancement they championed coming for them.

      Too bad for them they had too little vision and skill for engineering which led them to erroneous conclusion hardware would never evolve to be self-configuring even though its a long sought goal of hardware engineering

      I mean this is the US, where it could be argued the lack of social safety net means none of us really have empathy for our neighbors. Same as I am not out there feeding homeless, if you end up living in your car, oh well.

      • frollogaston2 hours ago
        I'm fine with "live by the sword, die by the sword" for software engineering. SWEs who insisted on using outdated tooling have been getting replaced for decades. If I get replaced, it's my fault. Not speaking for truckers or other professions, just my own.
  • delichon2 hours ago
    > Globalization is a proxy for technology-powered capitalism, which tends to reward fewer and fewer members of society.

    This is just false. The growth of income inequality does not diminish the clear global trend of increased median income and consumption.

    https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/daily-median-income?tab=l...

  • aaron6952 hours ago
    [dead]