8mo ago

How to Become an Intellectual in Silicon Valley (2021)

thebaffler.com

How to Become an Intellectual in Silicon Valley | Aaron Timms

8 comments

Consider also Sam Altman, who once argued that “we have to allow people to say disparaging things about gay people if we want them to be able to say novel things about physics”
Good grief, I had forgotten about that.
As a queer physicist, what can I say but "suck a bag of dicks, dipshit"?
- Altman's line is what you write when you have nothing novel to say about physics but really, really want to say disparaging things about gay people.
  
  And Altman is gay himself!
Consider the pyramids of Giza. On the one hand, they’re one of the wonders of the ancient world. On the other, barriers to entry for Egyptian pyramid construction have come down drastically since the twenty-sixth century BCE. If people in Egypt were to build the pyramids today, we’d look at them and say, “Cool?” They wouldn’t be impressive. But give me a human genomics pattern search engine that can generate predictive analytics modeling infectious disease growth through sub-Saharan Africa to help optimize ad targeting for end-of-life wearables, then yeah, okay, Egyptians: now we can talk.
That's it. Pack it up. I've read the best satire can offer.
Your success as a greenhorn Silicon Valley intellectual will rest on your ability to shoehorn Girard’s name and the “mimetic theory” with which he’s associated into as many blog posts, podcast interviews, and tweets as possible.
Instructions unclear, accidentally started reading Gerard instead.
Why would I even want to learn anything from the French? As the article points out, they can't even outcompete China, a place well known for its free speech and low taxation. French language doesn't even have a word for entrepreneur.
- French language doesn’t even have a word for entrepreneur.
  this sent me
If America wants to compete with China, it must fund its engines of commerce.
High speed rail must link every major city. How can businesses make deals without cheap public transport to connect people?
Startups need to focus on innovation. Healthcare plans are a distraction. Full single-payer healthcare is essential if American businesses are to stay innovative.
Were I a VC intellectual I would demand these heretical ideas and more. Somehow I doubt they’d go down well - they’re the wrong sort of heracy.
Dear god, my ribs are hurting after 2 paragraphs already.

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