Tag: SV
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Steve Jobs and the Inquisitor
In the dim light of the cathedral, its sleek walls lined with glass and steel, the Church of Tech was not a place of gods but of algorithms. In the pulpit, a solemn figure stood—a high priest of silicon, cloaked not in robes, but in the sterile whites of laboratory garb. Before him, on a…
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Divine Complex: Predestination in the Land of Tech
It’s not about the algorithm, not really. Sure, they like to talk about algorithms—like they’re the ultimate proof of their genius—but that’s not what drives them. What’s at the heart of Silicon Valley isn’t some cold calculus or even technological innovation. It’s the feeling—that religious sensation of predestination, a kind of self-assured destiny etched into…
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The Great Silicon Valley Shakedown: Pearls, Sophistries, and the Hymn to Stability
By the time the sun rises over the spires of Silicon Valley, a certain brand of chaos has already taken hold. It’s a controlled chaos, carefully crafted and nurtured by the so-called “disruptors” who sit in high-backed chairs made from the bones of yesterday’s industries. These men—and they are almost always men—are the Venture Capitalists,…
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Free Stuff
The irony is thick when a Silicon Valley VC criticizes the concept of “free stuff” while the entire tech industry often thrives on giving away services for free, monetizing data, or operating on a “freemium” model. Silicon Valley’s success has largely been built on repurposing industries and offering free or heavily subsidized services to consumers,…
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The Big Exit
When Jean-Paul Sartre penned No Exit back in 1944, he didn’t have a clue that Silicon Valley would turn his existential nightmare into a business model. There, in a well-ventilated room with glass walls, soft bean bags, and artisanal cold brew on tap, the brightest minds of our generation are sweating bullets, not because of…
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Declaration of Economic Independence
When in the Course of financial events, it becomes necessary for one class of Men to dissolve the outdated economic bands which have connected them with the broader Public, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and superior station to which the Laws of Wealth and Influence entitle them, a decent…
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Thinking About Rome
In the flickering neon of late capitalism, we glimpse the mirrored chrome of a fallen giant. The Roman Republic, that sprawling, data-driven empire, its coliseum servers humming with gladiatorial content, serves as a stark historical prompt. Remember the burn Notice, the flickering scroll that announced the Empire’s terminal error? It wasn’t a barbarian horde at the gates, chums, it was a system crash. Reliance on a…
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The Rate of Pasts Abandoned
The so-called “distributed futures” of Web3 are, at first glance, a messianic promise of decentralization, an illusory liberation from the bureaucratic chains of Web2. Yet, when observed closely, this very promise betrays itself as a fetishized spectacle of freedom—what Zizek might call a “decaffeinated future,” one where the appearance of innovation is stripped of its…
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The SV Ouroboros: Eating Its Own Future
Ah, the glittering contradictions of Silicon Valley, where the titans of “innovation” hold the steering wheel with one hand and strangle competition with the other. The ecosystem of disruption is now an ant farm encased in venture-backed resin. We’re engineering a conflict to kickstart a future that will take us forward 75 years into the…
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Gladiator
[FADE IN] INT. BATHHOUSE – DAY Steam billows around the brawny form of MAXIMUS (50s), his body scarred from countless battles. He rubs himself down with a strigil, a hint of weariness in his eyes. A door creaks open and CRISPUS (30s), a clean-cut man in a linen toga that screams “startup money,” enters. CRISPUS Maximus. Legend. Just, wow. You, uh, look amazing for a guy who… you…