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| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series) |
One interesting question raised by the coronavirus pandemic has been the future of Silicon Valley. As Tesla moves to Texas, do others spread out from the expense of the Bay Area, now that we are re-embracing the work from home culture?
Perhaps this is symptom rather than cause. As the DOJ, FTC and State's AGs finally bring their anti-trust suits to big tech, the arrogance of tech investors and their proteges in the Valley is finally starting to be questioned and asked to account.
Big Tech has lost the why... and it lost it in the dotcom bubble.... At the end of his final chapter, about Yahoo, I read some comments from Mike Moritz which seem very prescient in today's world of consumer internet.
"The whole environment is preposterous. It's our game and we like playing it. I can't imagine being anywhere else that has a richer collection of talented, driven, oddball characters." But he says the notion of Yahoo or other companies changing the world is wildly overblow. "Jerry and David don't produce that many jobs. One of the dirty little secrets of the Valley is that all the job-creation we talk about is probably less than the Big Three automakers have laid off since the last decade. One of the best ways to have a nice Silicon Valley company is to keep your head count as low as possible for as long as possible.
"Look at our companies. Maybe they've produced 100,000 jobs or 150,000. But what kind and for whom? Jobs that 250 million people in this country aren't qualified to apply for. Jobs for guys out of MIT and Stanford. Jobs that in many ways gut the older industries in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Are the benefits of these jobs passed down? I don't know. What are we investing in? Companies that enable people to work harder and longer - anyplace, anytime. You can be reached on a ski lift, on a beach, or on a plane. Why is that good for people's lives?" Moritz's cold eye is downright refreshing amid the hype.
But, Mike, what about the "largest legal creation of wealth in the history of the planet"? "No argument from me," Moritz says. "But, in the end, so what?"
It almost makes you wonder why he and Jerry and David aren't offering to give some of the billions back."
Free sounds great, until you realized what the catch is. And from companies that committed to be different and do no evil, we now have the new industrial big brother complex, exploiting our data if not our bodies. This is not every company, but it is the overall culture
Big Tech has lost the why... and it lost it in the dotcom bubble.... At the end of his final chapter, about Yahoo, I read some comments from Mike Moritz which seem very prescient in today's world of consumer internet.
"The whole environment is preposterous. It's our game and we like playing it. I can't imagine being anywhere else that has a richer collection of talented, driven, oddball characters." But he says the notion of Yahoo or other companies changing the world is wildly overblow. "Jerry and David don't produce that many jobs. One of the dirty little secrets of the Valley is that all the job-creation we talk about is probably less than the Big Three automakers have laid off since the last decade. One of the best ways to have a nice Silicon Valley company is to keep your head count as low as possible for as long as possible.
"Look at our companies. Maybe they've produced 100,000 jobs or 150,000. But what kind and for whom? Jobs that 250 million people in this country aren't qualified to apply for. Jobs for guys out of MIT and Stanford. Jobs that in many ways gut the older industries in the Midwest and on the East Coast. Are the benefits of these jobs passed down? I don't know. What are we investing in? Companies that enable people to work harder and longer - anyplace, anytime. You can be reached on a ski lift, on a beach, or on a plane. Why is that good for people's lives?" Moritz's cold eye is downright refreshing amid the hype.
But, Mike, what about the "largest legal creation of wealth in the history of the planet"? "No argument from me," Moritz says. "But, in the end, so what?"
It almost makes you wonder why he and Jerry and David aren't offering to give some of the billions back."
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