A deep look at the rift between some prominent SV figures and the journalists increasingly critical of the tech industry, based on Slate Star Codex vs. The NYT
Long, angry LRB essay by Pankaj Mishra. Tweets: Balaji S. Srinivasan / @balajis : Had a fun chat just now with Lewis-Kraus on positive sum ways to build a new relationship between tech & media. He recommended this piece, which I also endorse. Insults for both sides aside, it nails the key question: do you have sincerity? Or only irony? https://fredrikdeboer.com/... https://twitter.com/... Ben Thompson / @benthompson : I should clarify: the New Yorker certainly understood the explicit meaning, but not the meta meaning. To put it another way, if the New Yorker article had a section like the final section of the outgroup essay, it would have been elevated from a good article to a great one. Ben Thompson / @benthompson : If you read that New Yorker article about Slate Star Codex, you owe it to yourself to read the blue/red/gray tribe post referenced (I don't think the New Yorker understood it). It's very long, but worth it. Make it to the end! https://web.archive.org/... Nathan Baschez / @nbashaw : I tweeted this while reading the New Yorker article on SSC He never says “rationalists are irrationally suspicious of journalists,” but he implies it. And it works really well. https://www.newyorker.com/... https://twitter.com/... Nick Riccardi / @nickriccardi : What a great look at the whole Slate Star Codex imbroglio https://www.newyorker.com/... David Cohn / @digidave : On Media vs. Silicon Valley. In this essay it comes down to irony vs Principle. You might disagree with it. But this is how many people view journalists on twitter. https://fredrikdeboer.com/... https://twitter.com/... Edmund Lee / @edmundlee : The @NewYorker unmasks @slatestarcodex ... don't worry, it doesn't name him, just exposes him: https://www.newyorker.com/... Mathew Ingram / @mathewi : This New Yorker piece is a great overview of Slate Star Codex and how it became a centerpiece of the “rationalist” community in Silicon Valley — it even describes the Roko's Basilisk paradox, although it doesn't use that name https://www.newyorker.com/... Nathan Bernhardt / @jonbernhardt : it owns that something like half of this massive article about scott alexander and SSC by someone who obviously personally loathes them (and takes shots at them in journalist-speak throughout) is dedicated to...disseminating his philosophy https://www.newyorker.com/... Alan Henry / @halophoenix : “sure i'm complicit in building a dystopian surveillance state run by billionares eager to consume all the everything on the planet but my girlfriend deserves a cookie and besides why won't anyone think of the *spirit* of silicon valley” https://twitter.com/... @newyorker : How a controversial rationalist blogger became a mascot and martyr in a struggle against the New York Times. https://nyer.cm/fFFmhqU Lance Ulanoff / @lanceulanoff : Fascinating on so many levels. Many thoughts, which I think I'll keep to myself https://www.newyorker.com/... Julia Carrie Wong / @juliacarriew : By my count there are 34 named individuals in this article and 32 of them are men. The other two are Hillary Clinton (mentioned by way of the fact that a man voted for her) and Taylor Lorenz (mentioned in the third to last paragraph). https://www.newyorker.com/... @can : Reminds me how Reddit used to call itself the front page of the internet https://twitter.com/... @can : Agree with the “scare quotes” here in that there are a lot of people in tech, like me, who don't have this inherent distrust in journalists and consider the current negativity from a select but influential few in tech towards journalists a worrying and a childish trend. https://twitter.com/... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : Agreed. So well done https://twitter.com/... Casey Newton / @caseynewton : If you want to understand “tech vs. journalism” AS “tech vs. journalism,” this is the piece to read https://www.newyorker.com/...
Had a fun chat just now with Lewis-Kraus on positive sum ways to build a new relationship between tech & media. He recommended this piece, which I also endorse. Insults for both sides aside, it nails the key question: do you have sincerity? Or only irony? https://fredrikdeboer.co…
I should clarify: the New Yorker certainly understood the explicit meaning, but not the meta meaning. To put it another way, if the New Yorker article had a section like the final section of the outgroup essay, it would have been elevated from a good article to a great one.
If you read that New Yorker article about Slate Star Codex, you owe it to yourself to read the blue/red/gray tribe post referenced (I don't think the New Yorker understood it). It's very long, but worth it. Make it to the end! https://web.archive.org/...
I tweeted this while reading the New Yorker article on SSC He never says “rationalists are irrationally suspicious of journalists,” but he implies it. And it works really well. https://www.newyorker.com/... https://twitter.com/...
On Media vs. Silicon Valley. In this essay it comes down to irony vs Principle. You might disagree with it. But this is how many people view journalists on twitter. https://fredrikdeboer.com/... https://twitter.com/...
This New Yorker piece is a great overview of Slate Star Codex and how it became a centerpiece of the “rationalist” community in Silicon Valley — it even describes the Roko's Basilisk paradox, although it doesn't use that name https://www.newyorker.com/...
it owns that something like half of this massive article about scott alexander and SSC by someone who obviously personally loathes them (and takes shots at them in journalist-speak throughout) is dedicated to...disseminating his philosophy https://www.newyorker.com/...
“sure i'm complicit in building a dystopian surveillance state run by billionares eager to consume all the everything on the planet but my girlfriend deserves a cookie and besides why won't anyone think of the *spirit* of silicon valley” https://twitter.com/...
By my count there are 34 named individuals in this article and 32 of them are men. The other two are Hillary Clinton (mentioned by way of the fact that a man voted for her) and Taylor Lorenz (mentioned in the third to last paragraph). https://www.newyorker.com/...
Agree with the “scare quotes” here in that there are a lot of people in tech, like me, who don't have this inherent distrust in journalists and consider the current negativity from a select but influential few in tech towards journalists a worrying and a childish trend. https://t…