[jmyeet]

How far we've come in a little over a decade.

If you're working for Big Tech now, you're basically working for a defense contractor. Amazon, Microsoft, Google or Meta are really no different to Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman.

Meta was culpable in the Rohingya genocide [1], builds AI for the military [2], silences content about Palestine (with deep ties to the Netanyahu government) [3] and Zuckerberg is cozying up to the incoming Trump administration [4].

We're so far away from Sergey Brin's principled stance against China [5]. You can find similar lists to the above for Google, Microsoft or Amazon.

[1]: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-faceb...

[2]: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/05/meta-allo...

[3]: https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/12/21/metas-broken-promises/...

[4]: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c87x98q8y08o

[5]: https://archive.is/tOWfY

[KerrAvon]

re: 4 -- Facebook and reactionary politics have been hand in hand from the beginning of general public access to Facebook -- the world would be in a much better place without it.

[NetOpWibby]

I work at a fruit company in Cupertino and I felt disgusted when the CEO of said company was in the list of tech CEOs groveling to the incoming president. As idealistic as I am, I do understand that certain things need to be done for waves hand reasons, but...ugh. At least I'm not (directly) supporting war? I think?

The world is feeling rather Cyberpunk 2077-ish so it's only a matter of time before I have no choice to trade in my values for the ability to support my family. I feel for people currently in that position.

[52-6F-62]

I think its a very good sign to see people deep within the industry having emergent intuitions about the direction of the entity that puts food on their table…

But please, please dedicate more time to reading outside your sphere and beyond video games. They can be a part of the path to enlightenment, but there is much more going on.

None of the current status quo is a surprise to anyone who has been studying media or history or polemics or even poetry. In fact it’s just been agonizing to watch the cycles.

Equip yourselves, because if you don’t people will use those unknown ideas against you and the wider world.

[NetOpWibby]

I have "A People's History of the United States," I've been too busy to read it. What I've read so far though made the cycles obvious.

I didn't know the NYT has always been right-leaning and letting folks with dubious intentions guest write. I thought that was recent! Nope.