The ideology of Silicon Valley

[Dan '82]

Here's an interesting interview about the i ideology of people in Silicon Valley.  It's from AEI, a conservative think thank but still interesting.

http://www.aei.org/publication/what-does...erenstein/

Quote:A lot has been made of the tech world’s growing involvement in politics — from accusations that social media sites such as Facebook are politically biased, to questions over certain Silicon Valley leaders’ endorsements, to the sector’s support of issues such as more high-skill immigration.

Republicans and other on the right bemoan that Silicon Valley tends to go blue. They’re confused. How could this hotbed of entrepreneurship and wealth creation be largely pro-Democrat? But Silicon Valley boasts a unique culture that emerges from an environment of competition, innovation, government involvement, and collaboration. As journalist Greg Ferenstein has written, these “hippies who dig capitalism and science” – many of them millennials – are hard to label. They go with the public policies that make their ventures possible.

So what is the “political philosophy” of Silicon Valley? And what do these tech leaders want from public policy? I sat down with Greg, editor of the Ferenstein Wire and author of The Age Of Optimists, a free book on Silicon Valley’s political endgame, available on Medium. Here’s some of our conversation, which you can listen at in full over on Ricochet.


http://www.aei.org/publication/what-does...erenstein/

[Bronco80]

(05-26-2016, 05:21 PM)Dan Wrote: Here's an interesting interview about the i ideology of people in Silicon Valley.  It's from AEI, a conservative think thank but still interesting.

http://www.aei.org/publication/what-does...erenstein/

Quote:A lot has been made of the tech world’s growing involvement in politics — from accusations that social media sites such as Facebook are politically biased, to questions over certain Silicon Valley leaders’ endorsements, to the sector’s support of issues such as more high-skill immigration.

Republicans and other on the right bemoan that Silicon Valley tends to go blue. They’re confused. How could this hotbed of entrepreneurship and wealth creation be largely pro-Democrat? But Silicon Valley boasts a unique culture that emerges from an environment of competition, innovation, government involvement, and collaboration. As journalist Greg Ferenstein has written, these “hippies who dig capitalism and science” – many of them millennials – are hard to label. They go with the public policies that make their ventures possible.

So what is the “political philosophy” of Silicon Valley? And what do these tech leaders want from public policy? I sat down with Greg, editor of the Ferenstein Wire and author of The Age Of Optimists, a free book on Silicon Valley’s political endgame, available on Medium. Here’s some of our conversation, which you can listen at in full over on Ricochet.


http://www.aei.org/publication/what-does...erenstein/

I read somewhere else that Rand Paul bombed at a Silicon Valley speech.  First I laughed at how pathetic he is, but SV being pro-business instead of pro-market isn't a much better alternative.

[Ragnarök_62]

(05-26-2016, 05:21 PM)Dan Wrote:

Quote:A lot has been made of the tech world’s growing involvement in politics — from accusations that social media sites such as Facebook are politically biased, to questions over certain Silicon Valley leaders’ endorsements, to the sector’s support of issues such as more high-skill immigration.

Ah yes, another place where :
Open = bad
Closed = good.

It's high time we slam the door on H1-B immigration and ship all current H1-B's back to where they're from.  The hell with cheap assed labor replacing US citizens!  Silicone Valley can bitch all they want, but if they offshore, I have some nice big fat excise taxes on imported tech shit.   Autarky , a concept whose time has come.

[pbrower2a]

1. They are well educated. A high level of formal education used to be a proxy for Republican voting (look at the electoral map of the 1950s for President); such is no longer so. The States that Eisenhower lost in either 1952 or 1956 included the least-educated States in America even if that meant that he would win Massachusetts and Minnesota. In 2012 Obama did not win any state that Eisenhower didn't win twice.

2. They strongly support formal education. If their kids are to stay in California and not be retail clerks or restaurant workers who must stay in the family McMansion because they cannot find work that can pay enough to live on, then they will need a high level of education.

3. They are very liberal on inter-ethnic sex. Many are in mixed-race marriages, even if the mix is 'only' white-and-Asian.

4. They are unlikely to be fervent Christians.

5. They like Big Government to keep the environment livable. They are environmentalists, and they see no reason for their environments to become moonscapes like former strip mines in Appalachia.

6. They do not see cheap labor so much as a boon as a blight, the antithesis of the GOP. Much like most screen actors in southern California they are more concerned with the common people being able to buy their product than with keeping costs down.

[pbrower2a]

I wasn't talking about "Silicone Valley" -- but instead people likely to carry a Screen Actors Guild card and think of a credit card as something at the end of a film. Porno? It probably attracts people seeking to get away from dysfunctional families as a way of survival. Daddy let Uncle Perv teach her how to use her body to get little favors... If one studied drama and find that the only openings are in porn or either Little Theater or school-teaching in the Midwest, one goes back to the Midwest rather than do porn. If you are talking about legitimate screen or stage actors, then they fit some of the patterns of techies:

Quote:1. They are well educated. A high level of formal education used to be a proxy for Republican voting (look at the electoral map of the 1950s for President); such is no longer so.  The States that Eisenhower lost in either 1952 or 1956 included the least-educated States in America even if that meant that he would win Massachusetts and Minnesota. In 2012 Obama did not win any state that Eisenhower didn't win twice.

2. They strongly support formal education. If their kids are to stay in California and not be retail clerks or restaurant workers who must stay in the family McMansion because they cannot find work that can pay enough to live on, then they will need a high level of education.

3. They are very liberal on inter-ethnic sex. Many are in mixed-race marriages, even if the mix is 'only' white-and-Asian.

4. They are unlikely to be fervent Christians.

5. They like Big Government to keep the environment livable. They are environmentalists, and they see no reason for their environments to become moonscapes like former strip mines in Appalachia.  

6. They do not see cheap labor so much as a boon as a blight, the antithesis of the GOP. Much like most screen actors in southern California they are more concerned with the common people being able to buy their product than with keeping costs down.

They are also perfectionists and they make good money. But I could have also compared them to school teachers who don't make great pay. I have little idea about the people in porn except that they are usually messed up. The immigrants? They know where the future lies, and the good future requires above-average formal education.

[Eric the Green]

(05-26-2016, 06:45 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: 1. They are well educated. A high level of formal education used to be a proxy for Republican voting (look at the electoral map of the 1950s for President); such is no longer so.  The States that Eisenhower lost in either 1952 or 1956 included the least-educated States in America even if that meant that he would win Massachusetts and Minnesota. In 2012 Obama did not win any state that Eisenhower didn't win twice.

2. They strongly support formal education. If their kids are to stay in California and not be retail clerks or restaurant workers who must stay in the family McMansion because they cannot find work that can pay enough to live on, then they will need a high level of education.

3. They are very liberal on inter-ethnic sex. Many are in mixed-race marriages, even if the mix is 'only' white-and-Asian.

4. They are unlikely to be fervent Christians.

5. They like Big Government to keep the environment livable. They are environmentalists, and they see no reason for their environments to become moonscapes like former strip mines in Appalachia.  

6. They do not see cheap labor so much as a boon as a blight, the antithesis of the GOP. Much like most screen actors in southern California they are more concerned with the common people being able to buy their product than with keeping costs down.

Very good summary. I would say any group of people inclined to have good sense today, aren't going to be voting Republican.

I think the early semi-conductor firms were in Santa Clara County, according to documentaries I have seen. This is one.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperien...s/silicon/
Intro specifically mentions Santa Clara valley
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperien...roduction/
Fairchild Semi-conductor and its offshoots like Intel were here in Santa Clara County. I believe the first location was in Mt. View. Stanford University, founded around 1890, was an original fount of tech industries here, starting with vaccuum tubes. Defense contractors were big here during the Cold War. My Dad worked for a while in a couple of those.

[Ragnarök_62]

[quote pid='1712' dateline='1464366236']

Quote:I have hired H1Bs before. It is rare for an H1B living here in the Bay Area to be considered cheap labor. Ones I've hired had advanced degrees and I paid them just like anyone else.

OK.  Well , since I lost my good job to some H1-B scum, I'm of course out for blood.

Quote: Every one I ever hired eventually got a Green Card and later Citizenship. That said, there are shops that are more into the "hired guns" mentality and don't have such a long term view.

That's blowback.  Since the 1980's started with Corporate America breaking their end of the bargain when it came to long term employment, naturally GenX adopted the attitude of returning the favor. Likewise since labor unions threw GenX under the bus with 2 tier contracts, understandably GenX  basically fucked off unions and voted them off the island. Union dues from Xer paychecks were a worthless expense.  IOW everyone tossed the long term view, but it started from the top.

Quote:Places like that tend to be sweat shops and are not the exciting sexy places according to the average Silicon Valley maven.

With Rag's program of shutting down the H1-B mill, those places would have problems right? As such:
1. Either shape up and hire US citizens.
2. Offshore and get nailed by Rag's excise tax on all offshoring entities.

Quote:BTW - "Silicone Valley" is 300 miles south of here (AKA The San Fernando Valley, most of it is inside LA city limits). It's where they shoot porno and house many immigrants in cheap dingbat style apartment blocks.

Those sounds like human trafficking  clients. Obviously, those should be shut down as human rights abusers.

Quote:Totally different animal from Silicon Valley.

Quite so. But both are evil.

Quote:An aside. I count myself among the original few hundred people who used the term Silicon Valley. I'm a 3rd generation techie, my Dad worked at one of the famous early semiconductor firms, back when most of them were concentrated in San Mateo County and the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County - San Jose was mostly still prune plum orchards back then.

Yeah, I like the term Silicone Valley.  It's the land of milk and honey for unicorns. Unicorn ranches are where hedge fund money goes to die.

Quote: Oh also, two of my H1B hires were Canucks ... EH!!!! Good day .... hosers!  

In the interest of not wanting illegal aliens from the Southern border, I don't de facto ones from the Great White North either. I don't want the ones from India either [the ones who replaced me]. They need a 1 way airline ticket back to Mumbai.  And...  call centers need a phone tariff of say $15/hour, which matches the desire for a $15/hr minimum wage.

When it comes to illegal aliens, Rags is color blind and an equal opportunity shipper off-er   After all, autarky uber alles.
[/quote]

[Eric the Green]

(05-27-2016, 06:15 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: Well , since I lost my good job to some H1-B scum, I'm of course out for blood.

I'm surprised. I thought this crap was going on in places like Silicon Valley, where I live; but in Oklahoma?

[Ragnarök_62]

(05-28-2016, 12:09 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:

(05-27-2016, 06:15 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote: Well , since I lost my good job to some H1-B scum, I'm of course out for blood.

I'm surprised. I thought this crap was going on in places like Silicon Valley, where I live; but in Oklahoma?

That's the proximate reason why I'm in Oklahoma now. Marathon outsourced its IT dept to SAIC.  SAIC then replaced me and a few others. The younger sysadmins baild before the *collapse.

*collapse = SAIC kept messing up and a former colleague told me that Marathon eventually fired SAIC and insourced IT back.

[Anthony '58]

I'll encapsulate it for you:

They're neoliberals.