Centroids: One advantage of the freebie movie-TV package that I now have access to (for another couple of months) is that specials are available for my viewing pleasure. This gave me an opportunity to see an episode of a new -earlier this year- series called "Silicon Valley." The review below seems fair enough; the show is witty and otherwise well written. As far as I can tell it also is more-or-less true to Silicon Valley culture. Since I have not seen that culture from the inside I cannot be sure, obviously, but it does square with what I have read, and with a few movies about the valley and the business. So, admittedly, my perspective is not what it could be, but to the extent it is "in the ballpark" a few observations may be useful. (1) The value of innovation, specifically product innovation, is made very clear. The business is highly competitive and any kind of tech breakthrough is rewarded many times over. Plus, a breakthrough that was conceived with one kind of market in mind may well have other and even more profitable uses -and whoever thinks this side of things through is also rewarded. (2) There is a refreshing quality about this culture. I very much like the lack of formality, openness to new ideas, candor, and often understated levity. People have a good time at what they do. So far, so good. However..... (3) There are no internal controls to make sure that the culture works for everyone's best interests. As far as I know there have been few -if any- studies of the kind that were important in business generally back in the 1990s about "corporate culture" -what it is, what it does to people, and how to evaluate it. Instead all kinds of assumptions are made, just about all of them libertarian / nihilist or Leftist / Cultural Marxist. This is politically naive at a minimum, and at a maximum it could ultimately prove self-destructive. (4) Silicon Valley is a moral cesspool. It stinks to high heaven. Its values are pure nihilism -although probably argued from a libertarian vantage. I mean, there is no sense of right vs wrong, everything is OK no matter how disgusting, if there is a market. And in the process the entire world of religious faith is flushed down the toilet. ------------------- My conclusion predates seeing this TV show for the first time on Saturday but the program really reinforced it: Silicon Valley is heading for a fall, a really serious fall, not because of its products, not in the least, but because its culture is, in a word, "evil" in a fundamental sense. Or if you prefer a less loaded word, it is hopelessly immoral. Here's the question: What happens when the amoral foundation of Silicon Valley culture is totally discredited? This is not a simplistic matter, needless to say. The libertarian dimension of things cannot be dismissed as all bad, not at all. To see the value in some form of individualistic libertarian philosophy all you have to do is compare American individualistic culture with almost any traditional society you can name. Yes, there is need for some serious change in American popular culture, but who would trade it for tribal West Africa, or various Asian cultures dominated by a plethora of superstitions, or even rural Christian cultures in some parts of the world? No-one in their right mind. This said, the extremes that (apparently) exist in Silicon Valley -and in a different sense, on Wall Street- are so over the top, so anti-religion in nature, so anti-moral, that it is all-too-easy to foresee a time when that kind of nihilism will generate a massive reaction. OR serious internal revulsion. And it seems as if no-one in the valley is the least concerned. Hell, they don't see the problem. I'll tell you what the problem is: Sure, the show is good, lots of laughs, lots of things to think about, and a variety of insights to make one's own. This is hardly a case of Evil (upper case) vs. Good, with no good mixed in with the evil, and the Good 100% pure. However, after watching the show for some time I reached the point where I said to myself -please pardon the language- "Silicon Valley is populated by a lot of really smart people; unfortunately most of them, or certainly a significant percentage, consist of total assholes who happen to be rich and who are therefore able to influence the rest of the culture to become more asshole-like." Terrific show. Worth every minute if this is the lesson you take from it. My humble opinion Billy ===================== from the site : _d1esel6_ (http://d1esel6.wordpress.com/) June 1, 2014 The Simplistic Genius of “Silicon Valley” : TVREVIEW (https://d1esel6.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/img_0332.jpg) Sunday always marks the end of the weekend, and this Sunday marks the end of the first season of HBO’s new comedy series “Silicon Valley“. The Mike Judge created show, about a group of techie’s building a potential billion dollar business, has become one of my favorites. The writing is great, the cast delivers and it succeeds in being a light-hearted and hilarious show that is surprisingly relate-able. Judge, the man behind “King of the Hill”, “Beavis and Butthead” and the cult favorite “Office Space” applies his similar stamp to this show. He has a sort of dry, unassuming humor that is hilarious because it’s so understated. And he always manages to make us understand his characters, though we might not all be the most tech-friendly people watching, the writers do a great job of humanizing situations so we can see it from their unique perspectives. The actors also do a impressive job of keeping the characters real and not caricatures of what we’d think programming guys were like. It’s a show that has so much going for it, but isn’t overt in showing off it’s greatness. The series started with main character Richard Hendriks, played with great finesse by Thomas Middleditch, a lowly employee at Google-like company Huli. He has invented a revolutionary compression code as part of a bigger website he hopes to kick off. He doesn’t even realize that the code alone has billion-dollar potential until he is faced with the decision to sell it to Huli or build the company with the help of billionaire and eccentric genius Peter Gregory. With the help of his roommates, he decides to build the company, named Pied Piper, and each episode we get to see the progression of the company, one issue at a time. From finding a name for the company, coming up with a logo, pitching the technology, and finally getting a demonstration ready for a TechCrunch expo, which concludes tonight on the Season Finale. Each episode, and each new challenge, is written to perfection. The writers do an excellent job of staying true to the jargon, but managing to write dialogue that more or less simplifies the information so we viewers understand the severity of each situation. The writers on “Silicon” offer one of the best things about creative writing, allowing you to see life from a different perspective and giving you a better understanding of certain types of people and their problems. Of course the show couldn’t succeed if the cast didn’t do their job in bringing these characters to life. Luckily everyone in the cast is excellent at being true to the people they are asked to portray. Middleditch is great at playing the often anxious Richard with his nervous mannerisms and ticks, also there is a subtle growth of confidence that could be difficult to pull of, but Middleditch does this effortlessly, making this character real and one you want to root for. On the opposite spectrum, there is the overly confident Erlich played with so stand-out humor by T.J. Miller who gives just the right level of obnoxiousness and arrogance, with a hint of insecurity and regret within the character. We the viewers can see through Erlich’s bravado and end up liking him for it. For whatever reason Zach Woods as Jared (err Donald) is my favorite character, he’s the push-over of the group and seems to have embraced it as he struggles to take control as the business consultant for the building company. There is something so lovable and adorable that Woods brings to this otherwise pathetic character that just makes me so sympathetic to him. Rounding out the cast is the un-spoken love affair between roommates Bertram and Denish (Martin Starr and Kumail Nanjiani) that offer some great gags and one-liners, but even these two maintain a realism to the characters, that could be used as just slap-sticky comic relief under the writing of a less skilled staff. Christopher Evan Welch, who plays billionaire Peter Gregory with an amazing subtlety, passed away in December 2013 so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next season (and we’re crossing our fingers that it gets picked up), but the show is so well done that as Pied Piper continues to grow, there’s an infinite amount of situations this crew can get into. And with great writers, great acting and a great feel overall I will definitely be there to see how their story plays out. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
[RC] The Pied Piper of Silicon Valley
BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community Sun, 19 Oct 2014 04:22:22 -0700
- [RC] Th... BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
- Re... Dr. Ernie Prabhakar
