Fragments

145

Chronicling the real estate adventures of Zynga, a billion-dollar gaming startup in SF whose most lucrative product is its office. Tags: startups, housing

144

Reflecting on the recent news that a billionaire offered to pay off some lucky graduates' student loan debt. Tags: inequality

143

A danger of extreme wealth concentration: it gives rise to new imperatives. Tags: inequality, game-of-thrones

142

A series of tweets responding to the claim that minimum wage is livable if you cut out, well, most of the things that make life worth living. Tags: class-struggle

141

An analysis of the tech labour dynamics in the first episode of HBO's Silicon Valley's fifth season. Tags: working-in-tech, cultural-criticism, startups

140

A fictional report from the Uber protest earlier this month. Tags: fiction, gig-economy, working-in-tech

139

A quote from an essay by John Maynard Keynes. Tags: personal

138

Reflections on Brex, which bills itself as a corporate card for startups, and what it means to uncritically promote startups in this day and age. Tags: startups

137

What if you could overthrow the socioeconomic system that forces you to resort to taking on debt in order to have a place to live? Tags: financialisation, housing, startups

136

A photo of a billboard on Folsom St in San Francisco, presented without comment. Tags: startups

135

A fictional email from a technical recruiter looking for software engineers to build tools to help extract more work out of serfs. Tags: working-in-tech, fiction

134

Kylie Jenner recently announced a product in her new skincare line that might actually hurt your skin. Tags: advertising

133

Or at least, why charges of hypocrisy against the left aren't necessarily a killer argument. Tags: the-left

132

More thoughts on Daenerys' downward spiral and the comparisons one could make to today's ruling class. Tags: game-of-thrones, underdogs

131

Another piece of flash fiction. Tags: fiction

130

A piece of flash fiction. Tags: fiction

129

An analysis of Robert Childan's decision in the season 3 finale of The Man in the High Castle. Tags: the-man-in-the-high-castle

128

Nassim Nicholas Taleb seems to think so. Tags: working-in-tech, startups, gig-economy, big-tech

127

A look at Daenerys' journey over the eight seasons of Game of Thrones, and a possible parallel with today's ruling class. Tags: game-of-thrones, cultural-criticism, underdogs

126

The practice of tipping manages to be simultaneously highly capitalist yet weirdly outside the sphere of market relations. Tags: ideology

125

The sphere of social reproduction is a counterpoint to the capitalist idea that people will only be motivated to produce things by money. Tags: ideology

124

A brief history of Colombia's .co TLD as a neat little illustration of modern-day digital colonialism. Tags: ideology

123

If you ignored all the important details, you could end concluding that the economy is going great and everything is fine. Tags: gig-economy, jason-calacanis, startups

122

The traditional gig economy business model (using independent contractors) has just been confirmed to be illegal in California, in a ruling that applies retroactively. Tags: gig-economy

121

If you don't have the latter, do you really have the former? Tags: inequality

120

A summary of the last 30 posts. Tags: recap

119

Why software engineers need to worry about the social, economic, political implications of the products they build. Tags: working-in-tech, personal, game-of-thrones

118

The typical goal of antitrust enforcement is to ensure better outcomes for consumers. But customer happiness is not the most important factor when it comes to tech companies. Tags: gig-economy, big-tech, intellectual-property

117

Some Chinese tech workers are being asked to work 9am-9pm, 6 days a week. Will this serve as a wake-up call for Silicon Valley to start working harder? Tags: working-in-tech, jason-calacanis

116

Our current 'meritocratic' sorting function is a terrible way to sort people into a system with highly variable economic rewards. Tags: meritocracy, the-left, working-in-tech

115

(continued from day 113) The reason economic inequality is a problem is because it grants some undue power over others. Tags: inequality

114

(continued from day 113) Contesting the idea that you need the promise of massive financial reward to spur socially-useful entrepreneurship. Tags: inequality, startups

113

Surely inequality is just a natural consequence of innovation. And anyway, it's not that bad. Tags: inequality

112

When China restricts rural-urban migration, it's bad. When the same sort of restrictions are created by capitalism, that's totally fine. Tags: immigration, working-in-tech

111

Under capitalism, the way to encourage someone to work is to offer them money. But the effects of offering more money are neither guaranteed nor uniform. Tags: inequality, working-in-tech, personal

110

All copies of this ebook are currently checked out, so you'll have to wait until one becomes available. Tags: public-services, intellectual-property

109

And why does it matter? Tags: big-tech

108

Housing is an arena where the choices available to an individual are constrained within a narrow set of possibilities, each of which is globally suboptimal. Tags: housing, inequality

107

I found the left at a time of my life when I was forced to admit that I didn't actually know as much about the world as I thought I did. Tags: personal, the-left

106

Advertising technology solutions tend to optimise for the world as it is, not the world as it should be. Tags: advertising, startups

105

Powerful corporations view politics as an arena in which to ensure their continued existence, at the expense of everybody else. Tags: us-politics, public-services

104

How can we criticise capitalism if it's brought us so much progress? Tags: ideology, inequality

103

The public health crisis created by rising insulin costs is a strong argument for public provision of important drugs. This isn’t as impractical as it sounds. Tags: public-services, intellectual-property

102

Liberals love to scorn conservatives' dismissal of so-called 'experts'. But there is no ultimate technocratic authority to appeal to. Tags: us-politics

101

An elegant way to fix the housing crisis would be to take housing out of the market sphere. Here's one way we could do that. Tags: housing

100

How dare you criticise a system that provided you with the means of criticising it in the first place? You should be grateful. Tags: inequality

99

Thoughts on Peter Thiel's political belief system and the unstated assumptions buried within it. Tags: startups, ideology

98

The seemingly singular story of a distressed startup's acquisition which inadvertently reveals the con embedded within capitalism. Tags: startups, working-in-tech

97

Workplace surveillance is more than merely an issue of privacy. It's about power, and control, and deepening a relation of class domination. Tags: startups, class-struggle

96

Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio thinks that capitalism needs to be reformed. Who cares. Tags: inequality

95

I have still not come to terms with the fact that things could be catastrophic, and I'm not sure how I ever could. Tags: personal

94

Some amount of gatekeeping in tech is valid, because not everyone is suited for every role. The problem is when the incentives are distorted by economic factors. Tags: ideology, working-in-tech

93

Reflections on today's Bloomberg piece about YouTube's unwillingness to stop recommending toxic videos in order to preserve high 'engagement'. Tags: big-tech

92

It's time to make money, which means: cost-cutting, layoffs, and a desperate rush to turn the product into a revenue engine, no matter how much that damages reputation. Tags: startups, working-in-tech

91

For execs: money, more money, and protection from getting #MeToo'd. For contractors: tepid pay and working conditions, but if you complain you get fired. Tags: working-in-tech

90

A summary of the last 31 posts. Also: subscribe to my newsletter! Tags: recap

89

Free art is not something that can be achieved in the here-and-now, but the demand makes a political statement about the kind of world we want to live in. Tags: public-services, intellectual-property

88

One easy trick to counter criticism of a social system: by dismissing the critics as being motivated by jealousy, rather than reason. Tags: startups, personal, meritocracy, jason-calacanis

87

And what it says about our economic system. Tags: advertising, startups, personal

86

The geniuses of Silicon Valley have become the thing they fear the most: tax collectors. Tags: public-services, big-tech, intellectual-property

85

McDonald's $300m purchase of Dynamic Yield captures how startup valuations have become increasingly unmoored from any desirable reality. Tags: startups

84

Boots Riley's 2018 film 'Sorry To Bother You' is not just a piece of speculative fiction - it depicts a dystopian future that's already here. Tags: class-struggle, startups, gig-economy

83

An illustrated guide for those concerned that they're too privileged to join a union. Tags: class-struggle, startups

82

You'll find no shortage of articles on the proscribed economic prospects of millennials. It may be true for the majority, but if you're in the minority, it's confusing. Tags: personal, the-left, meritocracy

81

Fintech startup 'Earnin' may be a glorified payday lender, but it's managed to evade regulation by collecting tips instead of interest. This is ... not good. Tags: startups, financialisation

80

Kickstarter employees are trying to unionise, but some senior staff are claiming that a union doesn't make sense because they're too 'privileged'. Tags: class-struggle, startups, working-in-tech

79

Bill Gates has joined the $100b club. Lyft is going to IPO at over $23b. You can trade municipal bonds without even doing any research on them. Tags: inequality, financialisation

78

On the material factors behind the overrepresentation of Asian-Americans at prestigious high schools in NYC. Tags: meritocracy, inequality, immigration

77

A programming analogy for how we could see the failures of modern-day capitalism. Tags: working-in-tech

76

Everyone knows the system is broken. Wouldn't it be great if we reformed it in such a way as to benefit capital? Tags: personal, immigration

75

San Francisco is filled with billboards advertising little more than the idea of working at a tech startup. Tags: startups, working-in-tech

74

In 'The Man in the High Castle', one of the characters, John Smith, went from fighting the Nazis to becoming a high-ranking Nazi official. Tags: the-man-in-the-high-castle, the-left

73

The UBI proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang is responding to a very different question from what the left is asking. Tags: us-politics

72

An illustrated guide to the proper reaction to tragic news from various parts of the world. Tags: ideology

71

A collection of responses to the elite college admissions scandals. Tags: meritocracy

70

Sometimes I don't know if I should be prepping for the collapse, fighting to avert it, or just giving up because nothing I do will matter anyway. Tags: personal

69

What does it mean to say 'labour is the source of all value'? Why does Marx promote the labour theory of value, when a 'corn theory of value' would be just as mathematically valid? Tags: class-struggle

68

Reflections on the oft-ridiculed liberal idea that we live in 'the end of history', and what that meant to me personally. Tags: personal

67

A brief tale illustrating the tragic consequences of misunderstanding who creates value in a society, told through a series of tweets. Tags: startups, jason-calacanis

66

The great delusion of startup culture is that basically every problem can be solved with a startup, even a social problem like homelessness. Tags: startups, housing

65

Why do free market ideologues think capitalism is the best way to achieve freedom, and how should the left respond? Tags: ideology, class-struggle

64

Even, a fintech startup that offers payday loans, presents itself as tackling poverty. In reality, it's merely profiting from it. Tags: startups, financialisation

63

Did the free software movement sell out? Or was its vision of a software commons a doomed proposition from the outset? Tags: intellectual-property, ideology

62

The grand delusion of modern-day liberalism is that it denies the existence of distinct economic classes, instead opting to pretend that we're all in it together. Tags: class-struggle

61

A series of imaginary conversations with HR at various unnamed tech companies. Tags: working-in-tech, david-foster-wallace, fiction

60

An imaginary conversation with a representative of an unnamed gig economy company. Tags: gig-economy, david-foster-wallace, fiction

59

A summary of the last 27 posts. Only 10 months to go ... Tags: recap

58

A rundown of Uber's forays into the world of finance, and what that tells us about the system that gave rise to Uber. Tags: gig-economy, financialisation

57

This year's lineup of high-profile tech IPOs is going to be really, really bad for anyone who wants to live in the Bay Area and doesn't have access to IPO money. Tags: startups, inequality, housing

56

Analysing the dubious business model of a real-life startup, Cobo: a 'two-sided marketplace for working out of homes during the day'. Tags: housing, startups

55

In the alternate history TV series 'The Man in the High Castle', most of 1960s America simply accepts Nazi or Japanese rule as a fact of life. Why don't they resist? Tags: the-man-in-the-high-castle, ideology

54

Capital has many weapons at its disposal, but it takes a profound lack of empathy to actually pull the trigger. Tags: class-struggle

53

Startup founders love to flout the rules, assuming it's best to ask for forgiveness, not permission. But they're not breaking the rules for the right cause. Tags: class-struggle, startups

52

On Meridel Le Sueur's celebrated essay of the same name, about her experiences during the Minneapolis truck drivers' strike of 1934. Tags: the-left, class-struggle

51

How can socialists claim they care about workers' rights but still use their iPhone? Easy: because socialism is a method of systemic critique, not a description of personal consumption habits. Tags: the-left

50

On the 'computer priesthood', negative solidarity, and the story of a hit man who kills other hit men so he can make more money. Tags: ideology, class-struggle, intellectual-property

49

Because modern-day capitalism is extremely bad at effectively allocating resources. Tags: intellectual-property

48

Fleshing out the catchphrase that began as a Twitter joke but has since become part of my larger political project. Tags: class-struggle, big-tech

47

Generational war is a poor substitute for class war, because it misdiagnoses the cause of the problem. Tags: class-struggle

46

Fleshing out a (possibly tenuous) parallel between capital's relationship to labour & Germany's 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union. Tags: ideology, class-struggle, the-man-in-the-high-castle

45

Mainstream US politics is a great illustration of how not to solve the prisoner's dilemma. Tags: class-struggle

44

What the prevalence of advertising fraud tells us about the business models of platforms like Google & Facebook, and why advertising is core to capitalism as a whole. Tags: games, advertising, big-tech

43

On DoorDash's institutionalised tip theft policy, and how that undermines the implicit contract that gives it legitimacy. Tags: gig-economy, class-struggle, ideology

42

On Howard Schultz's recent suggestion to refer to billionaires as 'people of wealth' instead. Tags: class-struggle

41

On Dynasty Warriors, and the political implications of treating other people like NPCs. Tags: games, ideology, class-struggle

40

More on Erik Olin Wright, and how his theory of 'contradictory class location' could be relevant to tech worker organising. Tags: class-struggle, working-in-tech

39

On Erik Olin Wright and his idea of a socialist compass. Tags: personal

38

Instacart workers recently organised against a change in pay structure, and won. Bizarrely, some saw this as a victory for consumer action. Tags: gig-economy, class-struggle

37

As airlines' products have gotten more and more consumer-unfriendly - made possible through consolidation and shareholder pressures - their loyalty programs have become more like games. Tags: financialisation, personal, games

36

An attempt to explain why I latched onto left politics after ragequitting tech. Tags: personal, the-left

35

On Silicon Valley and the new California Gold Rush. Tags: startups, class-struggle, personal, advertising

34

The 53rd Super Bowl took place today, in the Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, in an exciting display of ads interpersed with a bit of football. Tags: advertising, mark-fisher

33

The logical endpoint of capitalism is a world where every inch of existence is both commodified and contains an advertisement for something else. Tags: advertising

32

Thoughts on the TV adaptation of The Man In The High Castle. Plus: a previously unpublished essay on why this sort of dystopian science fiction is important. Tags: the-man-in-the-high-castle, david-foster-wallace, cultural-criticism

31

A summary of the last 30 posts, and a glimpse of topics I'll be writing about next month. Tags: recap

30

Today in tech news: Apple fires a warning shot at Facebook for violating its app store policies. And the wheel keeps spinning. Tags: game-of-thrones, big-tech, advertising

29

In the 1970s, workers at Lucas Aerospace came up with a plan to repurpose the company's equipment to build more socially useful products, while also bringing it under worker control. Tags: class-struggle, big-tech, working-in-tech

28

Google and Facebook didn't cause the demise of journalism, but they are hastening it, and hurting journalists in the process. But it doesn't have to be this way. Tags: class-struggle, big-tech, advertising

27

The legitimating myth of Silicon Valley suggests that successful entrepreneurs deserve their untold wealth because they created value for which they should be rewarded. Tags: startups, ideology, big-tech, gig-economy, inequality

26

Entrepreneur (and scam artist) Billy McFarland was a product of his system, and he has more in common with 'legitimate' entrepreneurs than they'd like to admit. Tags: meritocracy, startups

25

Some problems arise due to the larger socioeconomic system, and introducing technical innovations won't help unless they actually change that system. Tags: startups, inequality

24

Labour is often confused about where its class interests lie. But capital never forgets. Tags: class-struggle, big-tech, ideology

23

What makes a diamond necklace worth $150 million? Why does everyone act as if it is worth anything at all? Tags: financialisation, ideology, cultural-criticism

22

The materialist analysis that no one asked for but that I've been wanting to write for ages. Don't ask why. I won't be hurt if you don't read this. Tags: games, meritocracy, financialisation, personal, cultural-criticism

21

What brought me to the left was finding a cognitive 'click' when I discovered big-t Theory. Tags: the-left, personal, david-foster-wallace

20

One of the justifications behind the rise of the financial industry is that it provides liquidity. But liquidity isn't always a good thing. Tags: financialisation, public-services

19

Sure, MacKenzie Bezos should get half of Jeff Bezos' Amazon stock. But in an ideal world, that would be worth nothing. Tags: liberal-feminism, big-tech, financialisation, ideology

18

Scooter startups should not exist. If we want scooters, they should be a public service. Tags: startups, public-services, inequality

17

The 2008 financial crisis showed us what happens when your models are incomplete. Tech companies have a similar problem, but with class struggle. Tags: financialisation, big-tech, class-struggle, gig-economy, batman, underdogs

16

Need to get your driver's license renewed, but don't want to spend 6 hours waiting in line? There's an app for that. Tags: gig-economy, startups, ideology, inequality

15

The idea of 'pre-tax income' is a pernicious myth that has led to some really dumb libertarian takes around 'taxpayer money'. It needs to be abolished. Tags: inequality, ideology, public-services, personal

14

Advice for anyone considering doing a masters degree on the topic of inequality. Tags: personal, inequality, career-advice

13

Tech startups may start out with good intentions, but the process of gaining wealth and power comes with existential risks. Tags: underdogs, batman, startups, meritocracy

12

What a lawsuit over gender discrimination in the top echelons of Silicon Valley reveals about the weakness of liberal feminism. Tags: liberal-feminism, inequality

11

On Linds Reddings' 2012 blog post 'A Short Lesson in Perspective', which reflects on his 30 years in the advertising industry and concludes that it wasn't worth it. Tags: advertising, career-advice, personal, working-in-tech

10

Have the option to work in tech, but concerned about the ethics of the industry? There's a solution for that: organise. Tags: working-in-tech, class-struggle, career-advice

9

On Mark Fisher's 2013 blog post about The Hunger Games & why it's still relevant today. Tags: mark-fisher, the-hunger-games, ideology, class-struggle, cultural-criticism

8

Reflections on Paul Graham's 2003 blog post about nerds, and what it illuminates about the tech industry today. Tags: startups, ideology, personal, underdogs

7

A truly diabolical startup idea that I really hope never actually materialises. Tags: inequality, startups

6

A compendium of bad jokes about politics, philosophy, and other things, featuring myself and @tlornewr. Tags: personal, the-left

5

Musings on the concept of upward mobility, and how it's used to excuse inequality, no matter how stark or unjustifiable. Tags: inequality, meritocracy, gig-economy

4

The US needs neither a border wall nor drones. Plus: a previously unpublished piece on 'illegal' immigration. Tags: immigration, startups

3

Some inchoate thoughts on organising Silicon Valley's shadow workforce and why it matters. Tags: class-struggle, working-in-tech, meritocracy

2

A highly curated summary of things that happened to me in 2018. Tags: personal, immigration, writing

1

Why I'm making myself write a blog post every day in 2019. Tags: personal, mark-fisher, writing