
‘Silicon Valley,’ S6E2 – a billion dollars to violate your principles - mgreg
https://padailypost.com/2019/11/04/silicon-valley-season-6-episode-2-a-billion-dollars-to-violate-your-principles/
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brenden2
I haven't watched the episode, but I've been in a situation where I had to
make the choice between taking the high road or getting money. For better or
worse I've always made the choice to take the high road, and I've never
regretted it.

Money only goes so far, and beyond a certain point it just doesn't matter if
you make a little more. I'd rather keep my dignity and contribute positively
to the world.

~~~
OnlineGladiator
As much as I agree with you, the harsh reality is that the people who do
choose the money end up having disproportionate influence over how the world
operates. Money buys power.

It's sort of like finding honesty in politics. The reason politicians are
dishonest is because it works.

It's just a bug in society, I guess.

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garmaine
Counterpoint: I've taken the high road when I had the chance to compromise my
principles and (maybe!) make a lot of money. And I ended up with a decent
amount of money as a result. People with values look for and value other
people with values, so it did open doors.

Now I'm not rolling in cash as a result, but I'm quite comfortable. And I
ended up much better than some of the cut throat people involved in that
enterprise who lost the game of thrones and ended up with nothing.

~~~
LordFast
I've always gone with my gut, which is nothing more than just common sense,
and I've also been luckier more often than not.

"Good enough" has been a highly rewarding concept for me.

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minimaxir
As the article notes, it's weird Silicon Valley went with a Chilean VC instead
of a more direct Saudi VC/Softbank analogue. Would that have been too on the
nose?

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Apocryphon
Perhaps they didn't have the right casting for such a character, and they
would have to finesse the writing to avoid lazy tropes:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel_Bad_Arabs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reel_Bad_Arabs)

That said, this show once again unintentionally predicted current event
relevance with its creative choices:

[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/americas/chile-
prot...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/world/americas/chile-
protests.html)

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YeGoblynQueenne
• Items surrounding Gilfoyle’s workstation include “Shadowrun” and “Magic the
Gathering: Ravnica” from the Dungeons & Dragons world.

Actually, Shadowrun is an RPG set in a cyberpunk world completely unrelated to
D&D and Magic is a card game set in a fantasy universe also completely
unrelated to D&D (though Magic and D&D have the same publisher).

Sorry, I just had to say that.

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enkid
Shadowrun is fantasy cyberpunk, not steam punk.

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YeGoblynQueenne
Oops, sorry. My bad - correcting. Thanks.

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smaili
Anyone know why the show is ending? It's one of the few that I genuinely enjoy
each season and am very disappointed to see this year to be the finale.

~~~
save_ferris
It started getting pretty formulaic, and some of the characters changed in
ways that made no sense, Richard being the main one. Early on, he wasn't OK
with paid users padding the usage metrics for Pied Piper and completely ruined
Bachman's fundraising, but then like 2 seasons later he's totally OK
installing software on everyone's phones at a tech conference? Totally
inconsistent character development.

TJ Miller leaving was another huge setback for them, he really was the perfect
foil for all of the characters around him.

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_chompsky
I personally believe that having TJ Miller on the cast after all of the
disciplinary stuff he got himself into (calling the bomb hoax on the AMTRAK
train / the person whose friend is called "Cunty" revealing that he was a
prick to everyone on the set) would have drawn a lot of smack towards the
production team. Miller just made things horrible for himself.

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infinitezest
Agreed but I also have to agree with GP; Bachman was a really entertaining
part of the show and I've personally had a hard time feeling as invested in it
with him gone.

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cbanek
More interesting to me was the Gilfoyle subplot of trying to get him to catch
up on his work and sticking him with a team. That was just sheer brilliance,
and having seen similar things come out in real job life, only made it more
hilarious.

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bransonf
I thought this was a homage to Yahoo offering Zuckerberg 1 billion for
Facebook early on. To which he replied something along the lines of “I may
never have an idea this good ever again”

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gotrythis
I once pitched at an investor meeting, and the only bite I had, offered me all
the money I wanted, at great terms.

He had a "warehouse of Chinese developers" and would simply throw 10
developers at it working on the exact same thing, and use the best code of the
10. That was his pitch.

Needless to say, I said no.

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Mathnerd314
HBO clip from the episode:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xabrjq14pnw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xabrjq14pnw)

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buboard
I 'll flag this SPOILERS SPOILERS people!

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minimaxir
The day after is a generally-accepted threshold for free discussion of TV
shows.

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buboard
I will binge on the season only after it's finished.

