[HN Gopher] Silicon Valley elites are afraid. History says they ...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Silicon Valley elites are afraid. History says they should be
        
       Author : rmason
       Score  : 22 points
       Date   : 2023-03-25 19:46 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.latimes.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.latimes.com)
        
       | alphaomegacode wrote:
       | I was wondering why The LA Times would publish a story that seems
       | intent on somehow linking 1970s threats of violence with the
       | recent SVB issue. It was only after reading the article did I see
       | the author has a book coming out on a "tech backlash".
       | 
       | Of course there are complaints against tech companies and of
       | course it comes from left, right and center. That's because tech
       | is now woven into our personal and corporate lives.
       | 
       | But suggesting any large numbers of persons advocating violence
       | seems a real reach and could be seen by many as plain
       | irresponsible.
        
         | Teever wrote:
         | > Of course there are complaints against tech companies and of
         | course it comes from left, right and center. That's because
         | tech is now woven into our personal and corporate lives.
         | 
         | You seem to be minimizing these 'complaints' with your second
         | sentence. Do you feel that criticisms levelled by people
         | outside of silicon valley are valid, and how do you think these
         | people should best go about seeking redress for these
         | criticisms?
        
         | uejfiweun wrote:
         | I hate it when you start reading an article and then suddenly
         | the author starts talking about their new book. It becomes
         | immediately clear that the article's entire purpose was to
         | advertise the book and that you have just wasted your time. So
         | thank you for doing the scout work for me here.
        
       | rmason wrote:
       | Most of the people here on HN don't remember when the far left
       | hated computers, but I do. To me the most famous case is when
       | Adobe's Chuck Geschke was kidnapped and held for ransom.
       | 
       | I've been to meetings at Adobe HQ and the security there is still
       | tighter than a lot of other Valley headquarters and a lot of even
       | their employees don't know the reason why.
        
         | pyuser583 wrote:
         | Ted Kaczynski had (has?) a flowing among the far left.
        
         | jleyank wrote:
         | Things like Alexa and other talk-to/monitor life gadgets would
         | give the old radicals fits. "Big brother, please order me some
         | paper towels." People used to be concerned re being tabulated,
         | now they facilitate it.
        
           | pixl97 wrote:
           | And may regret it again soon when their AI overlords fall
           | under authoritarian control.
        
         | vt85 wrote:
         | [dead]
        
         | andrewfromx wrote:
         | "On the morning of May 26, 1992, as Geschke was arriving for
         | work in Mountain View, California, he was kidnapped at gunpoint
         | from the Adobe parking lot by two men, Mouhannad Albukhari, 26,
         | of San Jose, and Jack Sayeh, 25, of Campbell. A spokesperson
         | for the FBI reported that the agency had monitored phone calls
         | that the kidnappers had made to Geschke's wife, demanding a
         | ransom. The spokesperson added that Albukhari had been arrested
         | after he had picked up the $650,000 ransom that Geschke's
         | daughter had left at a drop-off point. An FBI agent explained
         | that, "after a gentlemanly discussion", Albukhari had brought
         | them to a bungalow in Hollister, where Sayeh had been holding
         | Geschke hostage. Geschke was released unhurt after being held
         | for four days, although he stated that he had been chained. The
         | two kidnappers were eventually sentenced to life terms in state
         | prison."
         | 
         | wow. I had no idea. From:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Geschke
        
       | evolve2k wrote:
       | "In other words, they'd rather keep up the flame wars on social
       | media and build survival bunkers in Montana than address the
       | social ills their critics charge them with exacerbating."
       | 
       | Nails it.
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-03-25 23:02 UTC)