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Jerktech
The tech startup scene in Silicon Valley can be pretty fucked up. There is a term for it now: #JerkTech.
They’re emblematic of a compassionless new wave of self-serving startups that exploit small businesses and public infrastructure to make a buck and aid the wealthy.
Case in point: ReservationHop and Monkey Parking. The latter has received a cease-and-desist order from the state of SF. Good.
All these apps are essentially scalping public goods or open resource. The SF tech scene has some serious clean up to do if they wish to salvage whatever reputation they have left. I am a big fan of disruptive tech and startups. But I just can’t bring myself to support an ecosystem which compels ruthless apps whose ‘vision’ is essentially a recipe for pillaging local community.
I do believe that disruptive apps like Uber and AirBnB bring healthy competition to industries that have been complacent for too long, but one has to draw a line somewhere. And my line is drawn on making money from public goods. It is just wrong. Period. Prioritising wealth and fame over common decency is what is wrong with the valley.
Get it straight, it’s not about “changing the world”, it’s about “making the world a better place”. Or at the very least “earning money without making the world a worse place”.
In short, disrupt with care.