
Stop treating tech jerks like gods - dsr12
https://nypost.com/2018/09/01/stop-treating-tech-jerks-like-gods/
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bsaul
This article completely misses the mark. People worship jobs or elon because
they’re the modern rock stars. They entertain us with technical marvels, and
we’re grateful to them. Nobody care if keith richards is a nice guy, or if
kurt cobain took drugs or was nice to kids. We liked what they did
professionally, and we don’t car about the rest.

Nobody is saying we should copy elon work ethic, or public communication, or
jobs’ family affairs. Everybody agrees they’re not perfect and can probably be
a __holes sometimes. But we don’t care. And we’re angry at people trying to
focus on the bad aspects of their personalities as a way to diminish their
professional accomplishments.

~~~
luddaite
Aren't tech leaders such as Musk and Jobs different from rock stars though?
Both groups might exhibit poor personal behavior but only tech leaders have
the ability to make thousands of employees work in miserable conditions. I
agree that the article kind of misses the point when it discusses the private
lives of these figures but there is definitely something to the idea that
people who treat their employees like shit shouldn't be worshipped.

~~~
tomp
I’m pretty sure workers at DpaceX are treated way better than workers on
rockstar concerts.

~~~
luddaite
I remember reading that SpaceX employees work crazy long hours and that the
burnout rate is high. Is the same true for the people who work the venues or
go on the road with bands?

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SimonPStevens
This was flagged and I've vouched for it as I really don't see why. I'm
hopeing it wasn't because Musk fans are just flagging anti Musk content, I
believe that his community is above that kind of behavior. Perhaps a mod has
the ability to review,or a flagger can comment on their reasons. I think the
topic of the article is something that should be discussed in the tech sector.

I actually origianlly came here to say it's interesting that the article picks
Gates as a counter example as during his working career he was known for being
ruthless, and found guilty of anti competitive behavior by several
jurisdictions. I agree he's a role model now, but not sure he has always been.

~~~
ChrisSD
RE: Gates. I think the distinction they're making is that Gates may have been
ruthless in business but he's not like that on a personal level. Or at least
he projects that image. I've no idea if this is true or not but I think that's
what they were saying.

RE: Being flagged. To be honest these discussion can often become very
unproductive so I wouldn't be surprised if it disappears into the ether.

~~~
kthejoker2
The general consensus is that Gates was demanding but fair-minded and nto
really prone to the kind of pettiness and ubermensching of Jobs, Musk, Zuck,
etc.

Also he at least seemed to be having fun throughout.

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captainbland
Yeah I've been thinking for a while how strange it is that Musk, for example,
seems to have a strange little cult of personality surrounding him.

~~~
mercer
I don't think it's strange. He's both a 'character', very much in the public
eye, and quite successful by some measures. I think those types of people will
usually cause cult-like behavior. And while I don't have a strong opinion on
Musk's achievements or on whether they're good or bad, he seems at least more
deserving of a cult-like following that many others who have similar fans.

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AstralStorm
The truth is, being rich and powerful is of much more survival benefit than
being nice.

(which can in fact be detrimental at times)

If you want to take a stand against it, you're taking a stand against human
condition... Good luck, you're going to need it. Even religions fail. Fighting
a modern day cult is hard.

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gcmartinelli
can we stop telling other people what they should do?

these tech giants are worshiped for what they achieve and how they transform
the world, not for their flaws. And yes, they are flawed... they are not
"perfect" like the instagram role models you follow - and live vicariously
thru.

and using bill gates as a good role model is just laughable to anyone who
knows just a tiny bit about his work ethics as Microsoft CEO.

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jfasi
> Despite tremendous financial security, success and personal comfort, these
> men gained a reputation for being petty and ungenerous whenever possible.
> They don’t exemplify very many personality traits we associate with a good
> person.

I realize this is beside the point, so downvote me if you like, but I'm not
sure a Trump mouthpiece like the NY Post has any business calling people out
for being petty and ungenerous...

Add to that the mostly-baseless anti-tech crusade the president and his media
friends have been on for the last year or so, I'm very surprised to see this
rag getting any sort of traction at all on HN.

~~~
klmr
> a Trump mouthpiece like the NY Post

I think you might be confusing something … the NY Post, while being a right-
wing tabloid, has been quite outspoken _against_ Trump for a long time.

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azaras
I haver other gods: Richard Stallman, Aaron Swartz, Noam Chomsky, Richard
Feynman...

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tokai
I think Bill Gates have hurt the world more than Musk and Jobs combined. I
don't subscribe to utilitarianism, so giving money to charities don't make up
for damaging personal computing.

