<unlike-us> from Marta Arniani's newsletter

[Geert Lovink]

https://www.getrevue.co/profile/futuribile?utm_campaign=Issue&utm_content=profileimage&utm_medium=email&utm_source=futuribile+%2F+curating+futures

Aloha,
In the past few days Silicon Valley has made a big leap forward in colonising the “social tech” debate. In his run towards moral salvation, Mark Zuckerberg has started a podcast called Tech & Society with Mark Zuckerberg <http://click.revue.email/mpss/c/FwE/ps1xAA/t.2r7/j7_JMurFQ_aLU-XUbtXbBg/h2/m-2B3dJ6f1XcYl52xf1FbrozwZt6N-2Fgklel7dKPyLCxqRjDFHnh3gSE-2FMtuSwbXzFDIpTsPL6xFQli0eyDGbv4-2F9sBr-2BVXiTFQsGwNLOt7hwrmjIEp21fkae4NmBJP3WlA20N6MXSsE78TU-2BEbi7-2BEKLuaR1w6JVasTZ1EYozFaNNiSYNBwJFLPiiDMHFpHlVoSVT1kQhxi2FJoTCKEWFlpUO-2FbMV-2BtZdp3-2BnvrMN0X9E-3D>, streaming conversations with other eminent society savers (e.g. the CEO of Axel Springer). Time Well Spent, rebranded as the Centre for Humane Technology, <http://click.revue.email/mpss/c/FwE/ps1xAA/t.2r7/j7_JMurFQ_aLU-XUbtXbBg/h3/RhE8KHlatr88pvkTljbO99RV-2F-2FWe40HQR9oZs1onQxJWRsz0wMwlAtp6lHqjDC01SsUF11Zmf597TWT5PyzYot9-2B5jwcYjoZuOUKWKfov6sxqVKnibL9CAaAAtqP9KiGpgK1KDLcNjgfTTI-2BSo5s57toUBuf6VWx2mb6njuEBiU-3D> hosted an event in grand style (video here <http://click.revue.email/mpss/c/FwE/ps1xAA/t.2r7/j7_JMurFQ_aLU-XUbtXbBg/h4/trXlpRf87BxsDGhXkluuyOhb3VHLpDsuvABOpmT51KOA2btaEPJz7zN-2BRisXE-2FGT1jAEEUq4mIqUWDEg6TGdMgGkw8d4kyDrwul2kJ8aJEPrDzqdg4-2FJ8q2WlYarhdaDY4SxmKkkndLIJWUyqRU7dOIRxDsRrSm2-2Fms2q7ovpICeVp13z6kzJnAL1vFV-2FPoM>) to explain to the world that technology companies are causing human downgrading “by promoting shortened attention spans, outrage-fueled dialogue, smartphone addiction, vanity, …”, and that we need a new agenda for tech. Wired covered the behind-the-scenes <http://click.revue.email/mpss/c/FwE/ps1xAA/t.2r7/j7_JMurFQ_aLU-XUbtXbBg/h5/DK2F1RctFgAfJhRAy0wP2mPkQ5myER06Zsc8cKO1yPCPQVDfuRv265kNI1z2MQnOyclwHPVDZ-2FDeQXqPxHzfEFM9XOVlBqrEXFRRquSAZYzWZU-2FJSUP9CjSndgeX3TM43I6avTMa507K9jEVHKkR3lFr3WFwR4nFEYo9aPigE7KcpDAXDNzMJZQMqZapSG6sp00XzOoyjh84hS47ljLRK1wOwUFLKXxtPClGzKIL12bnrkFZzQrBxd6vYC9mdWln> of the concept, a long process by founder Tristan Harris towards the perfect pitch. Despite the breadth of tech and design expertise (and funding!) collected in the Centre, there is no proposition behind the concept. And reactions <http://click.revue.email/mpss/c/FwE/ps1xAA/t.2r7/j7_JMurFQ_aLU-XUbtXbBg/h6/VE2atosPJwyp5yA4oN-2FSavJiVQxI4ROgr9HSdeM-2FJY6AYSQEh7xrNB8f-2FKwG-2FzxDAKkmJQ1o7DNbSQd0LX0-2Bv3cbUseoZtxyZJMVmrOUC39qde8JwWGnAFy5r9JewN5zrjmeYOeFbCvJF4kyp-2FslqL2nUfB69ILfHwObFp3C2XQJMepnOLCpi0tlDt2xn6Se4zM5wi57b8z6YeyLn-2Fr-2BIQ-3D-3D> of attendees were not enthusiast.
Silicon Valley is seeing this just as moral-washing opportunity. Or as fashionable, given that being “contrarian” is now a status symbol <http://click.revue.email/mpss/c/FwE/ps1xAA/t.2r7/j7_JMurFQ_aLU-XUbtXbBg/h7/KPtVH4E4ycnM-2FcYpaQtMqX92M7uRcsxcqbKDRvlUeyDyZzNOzahnsYlzBp4y-2BVKktu6rA5Bh-2BibpG9qLGmCq50a5nwXf7AoieGe96ecsplzdPf7w0aBNQ08XBtUqRPf1mntfrx87hwzOXpga2zUNBXEPhWh03khfkr1K4Mh7oT6hAwPuTDeAKjmNRutZaCAzXFipjPXo2vOBhcFsvk-2BxVe8Wo79RPtnntS6GDGsWcp5ifUcF50i7B-2Fqu3zbbyX7n3YNmTwKtBrR78iWVJAQMGw-3D-3D>:
What’s truly fashionable in Silicon Valley today isn’t having contrarian ideas; it’s to be contrarian as an identity. It’s pretty revealing that the phrase we use is “to be contrarian”, rather than “to think contrarily”. That says it all, really. “Being contrarian” in tech isn’t a thought process; it’s a performance. 
Aloha,
Marta Arniani
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