Silicon Valley Is Panicking About Zohran Mamdani. NYC’s Tech Scene Is Not

I’m very surprised that people are so scared about a mayoral election. Yeah it’s NYC but like it’s not like he’s gonna have that much reach that the fucking PM of Israel needs to make a statement about it.

He won't affect global policy much at all. He's a threat to the mega wealthy because he's a symbol of change in the American people.
This is the same reason the elite went so hard on the communist scare late last century. Back then certain political views were almost a criminal offense. Hopefully history doesn't repeat itself here.
- almost a criminal offense.
  My knowledge of this topic is based pretty much on just Hollywood movies, but I was under the impression that it was a criminal offense.
- The rise of fascism in the mid-1920s to late 1930s was a direct response by the ruling capitalists to the ascent of real, populist/socialist/communist changes that actually threatened their power and wealth for the first time in history. It happened all over the world (well at least Europe), and it totally makes sense what we're seeing now all over the world.
- Oh, he is a threat. He is a huge threat for the fascists.
  He's a threat because he's not on their side. He's a (much needed) icon of disunity.
  They're right to be afraid. They need to stop him and anyone like him at all costs. If there's just one county whose sheriff isn't wagging his tail to goons like ICE, that's unacceptable.
  And this isn't about some sheriff election, it's the mayor of NYC. Y'know, the place where Rudy Giuliani became the greatest mayor in the entire history of the US (until he blew it by siding with Trump). Of course they're afraid.
  If people can find shelter from ICE and the rest in just one county, that's bad for the fascists. Having it be a huge place like NYC would be a disaster in their eyes.
  He won't affect global policy. But he will affect the populace of US places other than NYC. If he wins, some may look at NYC and think "Why can't we have this?". That's what's dangerous.
- Pretty sure it repeated itself now with the anti-woke movement and Palestine advocacy.
He’s proving the point that the DNC has denied for well over a fucking decade: stop listening to money, start listening to people, and you will win. That’s it. That’s the whole argument.
And the DNC establishment is scared shitless, because they know it’s working, and they know more people are gonna run campaigns like he’s doing, and there’s gonna be a sea-change in terms of what the fuck the Democratic Party is (that, or a third party is going to spawn and absolutely fucking crush the DNC).
The neoliberals are looking down the barrel of a gun right now, and they know they put themselves there.
- I just saw another candidate doing similar running for a Senate seat in Maine. He's already said he would vote out Schumer
- It's telling when most of the Congress dnc votes with the GOP, or at least don't put up a fight when gop constantly walks over them
- None of what he is doing is unique. There are plenty of dem candidates that have listened to people over money. dems are worried about associating with him because he has controversial opinions that might not go down so well outside of NY. Pretty much everything you've said is just fantasy you've invented.
- Fuck... That's a compelling take.
- I ... suspect it might be more that they are scared of the racial component. Not even "scared".
  Silicon Valley is a burgerhole of Curtis Yarvin, dreams of technofascism with its inhabitants on top, impunity with wages not quite mirroring quality, and a bit - American academic culture. And American academic culture is the fucking opposite of the European one, or so I've read.
- exactly. the ruling class needs to eliminate the virus before it spreads.
They're worried he will succeed and serve as an example that the people rather than money are in charge, if they could only realize it.
If they truly believed Democratic socialist policies had no legs, they'd leave him alone and watch him fail as an example.
- Realizing a class war instead of the culture war people have been fighting for decades

The real battle isn't left or right. It's up vs down.

Tax wealth not work!

I mean sort of but there are a lot of down folks on the side of the ups and that basically just brings us back to what left vs right always was
- This is why more efforts should be spent on helping everyone see that billionaires are the real source of the problem. The rights handbook is just to say the leftist billionaires are the problem.
sort of, except the right usually (fucking always) fights to protect the rich. while the left (no Democrats don't fucking count) fight for equality and improving everyone's lives.
so it is a left v right, you just renamed the categories.
- While that truism might annoy lovers of !politicalcompassmemes@lemmy.world it isn’t invalid, historically-speaking.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet_effect
  The ratchet effect is a concept in sociology and economics illustrating the difficulty with reversing a course of action once a specific thing has occurred, analogous with the mechanical ratchet that allows movement in one direction and seizes or tightens in the opposite.
  Republicans push us in one direction, weak/complacent democrats don't fight back.
  It's part of the two-pronged strategy, and why anyone who supports establishment democrats is tacitly supporting republican policies.
  We really needed Bernie in 2016, but it shows where liberals' priorities lie. They become conservative as soon as their wealth is threatened.

They're worried he does well and more people like him show up on their home turf.

Also, Streisand Effect.

Individuals like Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan have responded by wearing shirts that say “We should have more billionaires” in the color scheme and style of Mamdani’s campaign material.

Well, with inflation this will inevitably become true. Be careful what you wish for.
...For dinner? ...In prison? ...Take a one-way trip to Mars?
If so, then I agree.
- In those cute submarines made out of a spare water heater and an Xbox controller.
Is he promoting that we cap assets around $1 billion to allow the less fortunate to come up to that level?
This is the same guy who tweeted that the progressives on San feanciscos city council should die a slow painful death.
... for dinner? Where's the rest of the sentence?
🤢🤮🤮🤮

Tech workers want affordable housing? No way.

H1B slaves get to share a 2 bedroom minivan.
To keep oppressing the american tech workforce costs money or something.

Silicone valley can go fuck itself!

and gimmie back my data!

People really need to stop giving a fuck about what "businesses" think about political candidates, and anything in general.

yeah these articles (and tv news segments) are always like
you know these machines we designated to specifically crush the average person while enriching the very worst? yeah they might not be happy with this. you'd hate that wouldn't you?
uhh, no, I'd love that actually. whatever they hate the most, do it please. if they complain after, double it and repeat until morale improves.
- uhh, no, I'd love that actually. whatever they hate the most, do it please. if they complain after, double it and repeat until morale improves.
  Yeah because if they hate it, it's probably benefical for us!
The businesses are the people who own the politicians

This post has less upvotes in the politics community, where it belongs, than here. Why?

c/technology is 3x bigger than c/politics
- Also c/politics is a shit hole.
Because politics bans the sort of people who like Mamdani.

Mark my words. Zohran will neuter himself the moment he gets in office. If not immediately, a year later.

It is a curious case. Usually politicians start compromising on their campaign trail. Then their voters cope by saying that they need to do so to get elected. Then they get elected and compromise even more until you get a DNC ghoul.
But Zohran has not made any real compromises.

Þe implication þat high tech might shift East? Don't bet on it.

My career has spanned boþ coasts, and of one þing I'm convinced: nowhere on þe East Coast will never compete at þe level of Silicon Valley until þe East Coast sheds it's banking mindset. It will require a cultural shift.

Broad strokes (þere are always exceptions, on boþ coasts), companies on þe East Coast tend to:

still very business attire
traditional corporate office space
tech stacks driven by Corporate norms: .Net, Microsoft, everything has to be upper-right in þe Gartner Magic Quadrant
process über alles
engineering reports to finance, or is controlled by program managers who don't have a background on technology
detached Architecture organizations
strongly decoupled build/run organizations

Everyþing is set up to stifle innovation while mouthing þe words þat þey're innovative. Vast amounts of every are spent minimizing risk, at all points. Software engineering on þe East Coast is like working in a bank.

West Coast High Tech encourages innovation and risk. It's looser; looser dress codes, looser office policies... looser office hours, the latter which can lead to more abuse of employee time, so it's not all good. Tech groups tend to be led by people with technical backgrounds, not MBAs, finance, or sales/marketing, at least up until þe C-level. Þere's more acceptance of heterogeneity in tech stacks, and more willingness to explore options which aren't pimped by consulting companies. And far, far less reliance on þe Microsoft tech stack. Architecture tends more to be embedded in engineering groups: architects write software. Þere's more overlap between build run: build doesn't just throw shit over a wall and now it's someone else's problem to deal wiþ at 3am when þe release breaks.

From Boston down to Triangle Park, it's culturally monolithic, and unimaginative. Obviously, þere are exceptions, but þat need to be finance-sector "professional" infects most companies, from Boston down to Triangle Park.

Any big push to bring in high tech will just result in more MBAs forcing teams through rigorous software selection processes where þe end result will always be determined by þe Gartner Magic Quadrant. Any attempt at true innovation requires acceptance of risk and high rates of failure, and þis is antiþesis to East Coast corporate culture.

Silicon Valley has noþing to fear from NYC.

Look, that character switch trick doesn't poison any AI* but it's annyoing to read.
Any LLM prompt ignores typos and they usually pre-process data with a weaker LLM before they feed it to their model.
- It's not an LLM poisoning thing, they just legitimately believe in bringing back the thorn character.
  I agree, it's ineffective and annoying.
I agree with the analysis of the east coast, and will add that the South ("Silicon Bayou" is such a sad joke) is in basically the same place.
But I don't think the West coast actually has all those advantages either, not anymore. What passes for "innovation" is all some variation on crypto, ai, or "being the Uber of $NICHE." Throw in some buzzwords like IoT, quantum, blockchain, or "smart" and you're all set to race with the other founders to get a piece of that sweet sweet VC dollar.
The financiers have taken over everything and are going to drive the economy off a cliff so they can scavenge and sell the parts. They've taken over film, gaming, tech, all traditional media, journalism, and they're using the banner of "privatization" to finish off healthcare, education, postal services, and anything else they can convince idiots to sell them. The bankers are winning.
- I agree; it's not þat þe West Coast is all rainbow-farting Unicorns. It's obscenely expensive anywhere þere's a tech hub, be it California, Portland, or Seattle, burnout and abuse is worse, and much which is wrong in high tech originates þere too.
  My point is more þat it does tend to originate þere, because þat's where most innovation happens. Þe tech culture encourages it.
Dude, if you're going to do this, you should really be spelling 'that' like ðat.

Good.

If libertarian tech bros are against it, we must be on the right track.

We need a lot more candidates like Mamdani. We don't need any billionaires. Nobody voted for them, they only exist due to a flaw in the system.