this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2024
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Seeing a sudden surge in interest in the "Tech Right" as they're being dubbed. Often the focus is on business motivations like tax breaks but I think there's more to it. The narrative that silicon Valley is a bunch of tech hippies was well sown early on, particularly by Stewart Brand and his ilk but throughout that period and prior, the intersection between tech and authoritative politics that favours systems over people is well established.

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[–] [email protected] 67 points 5 months ago (3 children)

My career curve from naive and vaguely libertarian computer programming intern to radicalized full-stack anarchist has taught me that most people in this industry are just the worst. Deeply insular people with massive chips on their shoulders, genius and martyr complexes, fully bought into this idea that the "nerds" should be in charge.

I can't stand talking to most people in my field. They are so myopically focused on either whatever computer puzzle is in front of them or whatever overcomplex scheme of cryptocurrency, third-tier stock options, and investment portfolios they fantasize will make them rich too. The outright worship of tech moguls and their money and their "big ideas."

The dirty secret is that tech people have always sucked. The radical thinkers, the FOSS people who put careers on the line so people could have functioning computers, those saints who believed computers could actually improve the lives of human beings, those true heroes of the field continue unsung, unfunded; they were always the exploited minority in computing.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

vaguely libertarian computer programming intern to radicalized full-stack anarchist

I just have to ask, is full-stack here referring to the programmer path, or is it "full-stack anarchist"? If the latter, I need an explainer of which part of anarchism is the back-end and which the front, and also where can I find the job postings.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Haha, sadly just full-stack dev, just wanted it to sound cool!

Now that I'm thinking about it though, is front end vs back end useful specialization or a kind of implied hierarchy? (True anarchist programmers never even use trees because we don't believe in hierarchy!)

As for the job postings, someone was seeking members for a gamedev co-op on Lemmy the other day! Maybe the anarchist jobs are coming soon!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As for the job postings, someone was seeking members for a gamedev co-op on Lemmy the other day! Maybe the anarchist jobs are coming soon!

Oooh! I've contemplated similar myself in the past. Have a link by chance? I want to see what they're doing and how they plan to organize.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I had essentially the same reaction. Tech shops are hard to unionize (see above for why, hah) but I think "joint equal ownership" as rebranding for starting a union shop is a good approach to poaching some people out of the capitalist system.

Anyway, here's the post:

https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/19592490

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

Worth pointing out this is usually dev. They've always had a high cunt quotient

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

So technically you went from economic liberal to an actual libertarian. Good onya. More tech people should.

Also nothing makes self-identifying libertarian saltier. Then pointing out that they're just liberals with extra steps. We're talking drop the mask / non-aggression principle sort of takes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hah, yeah I suppose so!

Also, and this is wild I know, I live in New Orleans and somehow did not know about Joseph Déjacque! So thanks for the links, I've got some books to add to my reading material it seems.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Not really that wild. The problem with actual Libertarians is that they tend not to push their beliefs on to others. And as such they really don't make themselves felt or known the way other groups do.

Combined with the way the wealthy control education and access to information. We should all expect to be ignorant, but we shouldn't accept it. The fact that the man who coined the phrase, defined the ideology, and personally embodied it. Took part in the French Revolution, and fought against the very type that hide behind the moniker these days. Is very telling. And really exposes things like the NAP as a thought terminating cliché. When those who steal from you and oppress you. Make it impossible to find justice. Want more appropriate response is there that well directed aggression?