‘Change the World’ idealism is dying in Silicon Valley. We’ll miss it when it’s gone
The idealism that once characterized Silicon Valley is fading, as the tech industry shifts towards a more nationalistic and competitive mindset. This change is partly due to the political climate and the rise of right-wing tech executives who dismiss earlier values as naive. The original spirit of innovation and empowerment through technology is being overshadowed by a harsher, more exclusionary vision.
- ▪The techno-optimism of the late 1990s is quickly diminishing in Silicon Valley.
- ▪Right-wing tech executives are promoting a militaristic and competitive version of technology.
- ▪The early internet culture celebrated individual liberty and social tolerance, which is now being challenged.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, I edited a newsmagazine out of San Francisco called The Industry Standard that both lived and chronicled the birth of the Internet economy. Across the city, there was an exuberance in the air, infused with an idealistic belief that the emerging Internet would empower people in untold new ways and make the world a better place. We knew it was a bubble moment, and that the lofty ideals were weighted with contradictions that would eventually bring us back to earth. But in the magazine, and at the boozy and jam-packed Friday parties we hosted on our rooftop, we reveled in being part of the internet revolution, confident we were on the right side of history.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Fortune.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from Fortune
