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Abolish Silicon Valley

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Highlights

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But the choice of being pro-tech industry or anti-tech is a false dilemma. The tech industry in its current form — with billion-dollar corporations, venture capitalists, and a few boy geniuses running the show — is not the only way of developing technology. ^ref-32988

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Of course, this instinct isn’t entirely misguided; more ethical founders would certainly be better than the status quo. But the problems go deeper than the idiosyncrasies of individuals. There’s a cold underlying rationality which corrupts the motives of even the most well-meaning, and in the absence of strong accountability mechanisms, individual ethics can only go so far. Ultimately the problem is structural, and the solutions will need to be structural, too. ^ref-22208

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Capitalism requires a particular social arrangement which takes advantage of divisions that predate capitalism, including those based on race, gender, geography, and other accidents of birth. ^ref-55110

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A society where most people are subject to the whims of unimaginably powerful technology corporations isn’t so bad if you’re an executive at one of those corporations. ^ref-46115

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Metadata

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