I do know people struggle with it. Hell I do from time to time (and thats more from just not realizing oh jeez I have been at this how long now) but eventually go you know what, this post will still be here in the morning and I need to get things done RL and go do stuff.
I just boggle that having to actually lock it up with a time lock is what it takes. That is a somewhat drastic measure.
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He admits in the article that he locked the screwdriver in the safe because thatās how he can hack it, and if he wants to, he can drive to the hardware store and buy another screwdriver(!).
Like a chastity belt not really being about willpower, heās giving himself theater instead of addressing roots.
Maybe. It could be the intoxicants.
That philosophy doesnāt make sense, there is no way you can learn how to program and be responsible for everything in your life and still have a fulfilling life. (Evgeny Morozov)
If your going to google something, you absolutely have a responsibility to know something about how the results might be biased, and how your input is, or might be, used. If you uber a ride, of course you should know something of the ramifications to make an informed decision.
Yes, programming is a basic skill set that is commonly used, at many levels of everyday life. Itās like checking for correct change as one of many reasons for learning algebraic ideas. This does not detract from a fullfilling life; I would argue itās a wonderful thing.
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Where to even start. Actually, Iāll start later this evening after I have sanded/painted some plywood, checked how plumb my ceiling joists are, harvested a half dozen artichokes, downloaded a few dozen hacking tools, and deployed a new webapp.
(Perhaps that shall give a taste of my opinions)
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New on Ars: Soylent contains too much Cadmium and Lead
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Oh fish, 60 year old 6x2 ceiling joists are neither plumb, level, or not prone to stress flexing. I see horizontal/45 degree bracing in my future. If a 120 lbs little lady can make a 20 ft long 6x2 flex, should I double up the studs as well?
Wait, Iām not in Questions. Brb.
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I remember reading a few bits about E. Morozov and he sounded really wacky. I am not sure I would put much stock in whatever heās writing. There are certainly a few balanced voices out there, but I got the distinct impression he was not one of themā¦
That was anā¦ Oddā¦ Essay.
Okay, I read the first link but not the second. I am having trouble framing my response since I work in the belly of the beast.
The utopian libertarianism that runs rampant in SV companies is honestly quite simple: it is a shell game to provide room for acceleration (not velocity) of a company launch.
Sometimes it works and the results are good (arguably Google). Sometimes it works and the results are bad (arguably Zynga). Sometimes it doesnāt work though the results should have been good (Fisker comes to mind). Sometimes it doesnāt work and the results would have been terrible (most startups, and ZOMBO.COM!!)
The myopia comes from a simple conflict of interest. If you are developing a widget A, and you want to get funded and eat more than ramen, you have to sincerely promise that Widget A will be the Widget everyone else plugs into. Even if it is obvious Widget A should plug into Widget J.
But if Widget A plugs in to Widget J there is a perceived lack of control of the ecosystem by Widget A. And if you donāt control the ecosystem a zero (or two) is lopped off your valuation. As in instead of a $20 million series B, it will be a $2 million series B.
That is why everyone is utopian. Because as a founder it is the difference between a fake $200k, $2M, or $200M.
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Iām having a hard time finding whatās odd about his essayā¦ He walks the reader through the work that goes into a 4000 page essay he was writing for the New Yorker. Is it odd because of the amount of primary source research he used to write such a short essay? I didnāt find it particularly odd, though. Seems like heās using the tumblr as a location for keeping notes on articles he writes.
Iāve been wanting to bring that up, since itās making the rounds. But the more details I read about it, the more it sounds like itās an issue with Prop. 65 rules being unrealistically stringent.
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I didnāt read the one you linked to, but the one Jeff linked to.
But this is an odd thing to cite:
Also:
Should I, for example, make a broader argument about cybernetics and socialism ā and also look at other countries?
And then:
Or take this fascinating essay from the 1960s, which draws on the ideas of Beer and Pask, to make a case for cybernetic anarchism!
It just makes me want to scratch my eyes out. Citing literature after literature without a hypothesis (that is clear without already knowing the literature) is a definition of an ivory tower. And ivory towers donāt by definition have value.
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He strikes me as a freakish, near parody level academic. I know there have been dust ups of various kinds. Iād avoid him as a primary source for anything.
The guy is sketchy. Also, āhighbrow journalismā, Jesus, no thanks. No thanks very much.
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It is hard for me to know how freakish his arguments may beābecause his first few paragraphs made me recoil from his rabbit holeābut:
His line of thought is so close to a number of insular friends whose company I enjoy I may have to sift through the Woo.
But really, and seriously I am not being condescending I mostly want to give hugs and say Complex Ideas Are Not Always Smart or True.
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For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, easy to understand, and wrong.
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Donāt we know it. That is a great axiom. But so is Cybernetic Sixties Anarchists Are Likelyā¦ Not Correct.
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You may be correct about his sketchiness (who would not attribute all the work he clearly did), and I agree with the author of the link there that we need attribute alwaysā¦ Also, links from that worth reading:
http://www.democracyjournal.org/30/the-tech-intellectuals.php
but that doesnāt mean there arenāt issues that should be addressed and unpacked around silicon valley. If the McCray article is to be believed, tech intellectuals like Morozov and others who talk about tech are just as much a part of shaping that culture as those working in it. As we saw in the Amazon article posted by @daneel, there is some serious issues with how silicon valley works, and that can likely be attributed to the rise of neo-liberalism.Trying to pin down the ideology seems like an important project and even if Morozov is wrong on somethings, he seems to be correct in that heās trying to do that work.
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What if the ideology is the product? I think @japhroaig is on the right track :
If the product really was utopian then this wouldnāt make sense:
āThankfully, there is no way (yet) for Soylent to reconfigure global food supply chainsāor, more simply, our human love of food. Rob Rhinehart isnāt going to break into your kitchen and rip your garlic scape pesto from your fists and force you to drink Soylent 2.0. He simply doesnāt have that power.ā
I think Morozovās take on this only makes sense if you actually buy in to the Sillicon valley/VC startup culture as utopia compromised by Wall street culture.
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I donāt think that it is utopian, but that itās promoted as utopian, not economic. Thatās a sort of Gramscian reading, anyhowā¦ the creation of consensus by an economically coherent class, via dominating the cultural narrative about the products that they make. I think thatās an important point. Just looking at the economics only gets you so far down the road of a critique that gets at all the things that are going on.
But I do think that @codinghorrorās criticism might be fair (if I think heās being a bit vague) in that heās taking some things for granted, but Iām not sure if heās taking for granted that this is paradise fallen rather than just yet another capitalist shell game, aimed at crafting consensus rather than out and out ruling by force. I think heās critiquing the utopian vision as being just rhetoric to hide reality.
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