How Silicon Valley is disrupting democracy

One thing this book does particularly well is bust the myth that these entrepreneurs are somehow gifted prophets (and investors) of a future that the rest of us simply cannot understand or predict.

Of course, people like Thiel made smart investments in Facebook early on, but he also made some costly mistakes with that stake. As Lalka points out, Thiel’s Founders Fund sold off tens of millions of Facebook shares soon after it went public, and Thiel himself went from owning 2.5% of the company in 2012 to 0.000004% less than a decade later ( Around the same time Facebook hit a trillion dollar market cap) – USD valuation). Add to that his objectively bad bets in 2008, 2009 and beyond, when he effectively shorted one of the longest bull markets in world history, and you get the impression that he was less oracular and more Like a visionary who happened to accept some big investments.

One of Larka’s favorite mantras throughout Risk Alchemist It’s “Words matter.” In fact, he uses many of these entrepreneurs’ own words to expose their hypocrisy, bullying, teenage contrarianism, casual racism, and—yes—outright greed and self-interest. It’s not a pleasant image, to say the least.

Unfortunately, rather than simply letting these words and actions speak for themselves, Larka often feels the need to insert his own words and actions, often cautioning readers not to blame each other or judge these people too harshly, even after he documents many of their After transgression. Whether this is done to try to convey some objectivity or simply to remind readers that these entrepreneurs are complex people making tough decisions, it just doesn’t work. Not at all.

On the one hand, Larka clearly has strong opinions about the behavior of these entrepreneurs—and he doesn’t try to hide them. At one point in the book, he says Kalanick’s macho-at-all-costs way of running Uber is “almost, but not quite” like rape, a comparison you probably wouldn’t make if you wanted to do that. Like an impartial arbiter. If he really wants readers to draw different conclusions about these people, he certainly doesn’t provide much of a reason to do so. Simply telling us to “judge less and discern more” seems worse than avoidance. It feels “almost, but not quite” like victim blaming — as if we are somehow as guilty as they are for using their platform and believing their self-mythology.

“In many ways, Silicon Valley has become the antithesis of what its early pioneers set out to do.”

Marie Schack

Equally frustrating is the empty cliché at the end of the book. “Future technologies must be pursued thoughtfully, ethically, and carefully,” Larka said after spending 313 pages showing readers how these entrepreneurs willfully ignore these three adverbs. Instead, they build vast wealth-creating machines that divide, distract, and spy on us. Maybe it’s just me, but this behavior seems appropriate not just for judgment but for action.

So what on earth do you do with a group of people who seem incapable of serious self-reflection – who clearly believe in their own greatness and are happy to make decisions on behalf of hundreds of millions of people who did not elect them, but who did elect them. Do share their values?

Of course, you can regulate them. Or at least you oversee the companies they run and fund. At Marietje Schaake’s Technological coupThis book gives readers a roadmap for how to implement such regulation, as well as an eye-opening description of how much power has been ceded to these companies over the past 20 years.