It's not just tech, it's anti-postmodernism - reactionaryism everywhere, in business, politics, socially, etc.: An hypothesis:
Postmodernism's foundation is distrust of power and authority as corrupting and highly dangerous, and to be prevented and opposed at all times (not just postmodernism - look at the US Constitution, for example) - power is an evil in itself (like the Ring). Postmodernism was inherently democratic, opposing the centralization of power and built, it seems, on the foundation of 'all are created equal' - liberté, égalité, fraternité.
As so many have followed the conservative reactionary program of discarding and scorning postmodernism - try talking about equality or human rights or humanitarianism and see what the response is - now people suddenly find no obstacle to authoritarianism, and even if they distrust it, they've disarmed themselves unilaterally by abandoning postmodernism's defenses.
So we see this power-worshipping (not power-skeptical), authoritarian (not democratic), hierarchical (not egalitarian), contempt for others culture taking over everywhere: politics, government, business, social relations, ... why not? I even see it in family, tragically.
In fairness, that's an expansive definition of postmodernism. There's not enough time or space here to be more precise, sorry.
Of course we only have anecdotes here, but I think this is probably a real vibe shift that's happening in big tech. For all the talk of ‘masculine energy’, my feeling is that it actually reflects a loss of confidence: it reminds me very strongly of a similar cultural shift that I remember happening during the bursting of the dotcom bubble.
Unfortunately some leaders of big tech suffer immensely from fragile masculinity, not that they are fragile or not men, but in the concept that manhood needs to be constantly proven through acts deemed "masculine" (aggressiveness, competition, etc.) or it can be taken away from them. It's an exhausting way to live, even more since under this system your manhood can be taken away from minimal infractions (like Zuck being stubbed by the "real men", fighters, when he was in that UFC match entourage).
Usually when under fragile masculinity, men that need to prove they are masculine lash out into more extreme displays of what they perceive as "masculine", become more aggressive, even more against other ways of living that are seen as less "masculine", like the typical behaviour of some bullied kid turning over into bullying their friends for anything outside of the perceived masculine traits as being "gay". You don't like sports? Gay!
We are seeing this play in real time, Zuck, Musk, Bezos, they all suffer from fragile masculinity, and since the tech world has many other leaders similarly suffering from it then it becomes quite typical herd-behaviour of the ones "down on the totem pole" from these mega-billionaires to follow the lead.
It's all insecure bullshit but on a whole other level of power, and wealth...
Yes I’m sure swinging a chainsaw and talking about memes is Musk trying to prove his masculinity. This “masculinity” is stuff is nothing more than therapy-speak, and I wonder where it originated. Some sort of own-the-right subreddit perhaps.
> This “masculinity” is stuff is nothing more than therapy-speak, and I wonder where it originated. Some sort of own-the-right subreddit perhaps.
I'd invite you to not come with shallow dismissals and thought-terminating clichés like that.
As much as some in HN tend to dismiss social studies, there's quite a bit of interesting stuff in there, and I find the concept of "precarious manhood" one of those interesting topics trying to be understood since if you are a man you have probably felt what it's like in your life.
Just try to be a bit more curious, might be good for you.
I’m not dismissing the concept of masculinity but rather this contemporary pattern of speech that involves terms like “fragile masculinity”. I’ve yet to encounter such a term in clinical psychology literature, but I see it every day on the western internet
Around 2011 or so, when facebook went IPO, there was a sudden step-jump in engineer total comp in silicon valley. Prior to that, a tech-job was just another job, and the path to riches was via startups and risk taking.
Then, because of FOMO, free-money-era, etc, the big tech firms competed for the best engineers by matching comp which jacked up the comps across the board. This made jobs at big tech very lucrative with hordes of engineers trying to get their foot in the door. The risk-reward tilted to joining big-tech versus startups.
Post covid, comp is normalizing, and I hope we get back to a scenario where, startups and risk taking become the pathway to riches - so that the best engineers are not lured by big tech comp, and work at startups.
"X-formerly-Twitter is in deep trouble — and owner Elon Musk is on his knees, yet again, imploring advertisers to return."
It's not just X/Twitter. TSLA is down over 50%. SpaceX is, to a best guess, losing money, Starlink is losing money (and that's ignoring the fact that any money transfers between SpaceX and Starlink obviously should be counted as investment in SpaceX, NOT as revenue. Otherwise SpaceX might be losing 2 digit billions per year)
You want to abuse people for economic gain? All that's been done up to now is abusing people for MASSIVE economic loss.
Postmodernism's foundation is distrust of power and authority as corrupting and highly dangerous, and to be prevented and opposed at all times (not just postmodernism - look at the US Constitution, for example) - power is an evil in itself (like the Ring). Postmodernism was inherently democratic, opposing the centralization of power and built, it seems, on the foundation of 'all are created equal' - liberté, égalité, fraternité.
As so many have followed the conservative reactionary program of discarding and scorning postmodernism - try talking about equality or human rights or humanitarianism and see what the response is - now people suddenly find no obstacle to authoritarianism, and even if they distrust it, they've disarmed themselves unilaterally by abandoning postmodernism's defenses.
So we see this power-worshipping (not power-skeptical), authoritarian (not democratic), hierarchical (not egalitarian), contempt for others culture taking over everywhere: politics, government, business, social relations, ... why not? I even see it in family, tragically.
In fairness, that's an expansive definition of postmodernism. There's not enough time or space here to be more precise, sorry.