Thread

1. api · 1789769936 · focus · HN ↗

   I’m curious if someone can truthfully explain this. What’s the main motivation for all the money being thrown at R’s from these and other high up tech people?

   What I want is specific reasons not the usual Reddit “they’re rich therefore evil blah blah” zero-insight answers. Okay, but why? Almost nobody wakes up and says “I’m going to be evil today!” People have motives and objectives and belief systems.

   1. erulabs · 1789770107 · focus · HN ↗

      > leaders at the San Francisco-based tech incubator are trying to build a tech-forward future

      They're donating money to anyone who isn't anti-tech / anti-business / anti-datacenter / anti-AI

      That ~50% of those folks are R being the newsworthy part is the real question. Why should Silicon Valley support people who clearly loath the technology industry just because they're blue? The simplest explanation is the most obvious one, and the one this article explains: Tech leaders are donating money to tech-friendly politicians.

      1. api · 1789774374 · focus · HN ↗

         Tech tended to be blue and seen as an ally of at least liberal/center-left politicians until the mid-20-teens, and my memory is that it was tech that shifted way to the right and it was after that occurred that the left started its tech-hate. There was some anti-tech on the left before that but it wasn't the mainstream.

         I loathe even bringing this "G-word" up, but my memory from the time is that Gamergate and all the stuff adjacent to it was a huge part of that. It wasn't rational and it wasn't motivated by concerns rooted in the real world. It was vibes and culture war crap.

         I didn't get any of it at the time and was wondering why everyone was losing their minds over such stupid nonsense.

         Of course I'm sure there's people around here who would argue that "woke" came first, then a huge counter-reaction in the tech world, and then what I said above. My memory, again, is that "woke" and the "alt-right" rose concurrently at the same time. I'd have to write a book to get into why I think that might have been.

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