January Ice
Techno-optimists are making me a pessimist

Tech leaders with the resources to resist authoritarianism are choosing complicity instead. The same executives we once admired for defiance now attend White House galas while federal agents kill citizens in the street.

I don't care for icebreaker questions in meetings, at least not those that aren't organically brought up in conversation. A manager’s favorite is to ask about heroes. "Who is your hero and why?" "If you could have dinner with your hero, what would you say?" they proudly ask as we all await a series of cringy answers that serve no purpose other than trying to impress peers. Yet someone would disappoint by picking a neo-Nazi-saluting techbro, as if that's something to be proud of.

It's been said that one should not meet one’s heroes. The thing about idolizing someone, especially someone alive, is that character is determined by time and hindsight rather than by current opinion. Something tells me history will not be kind to these so-called technocrats, who are either selling their souls for advantage and privilege or simply going along quietly with an authoritarian government that is actively trying to destroy the same opportunities and freedoms that got them where they are today.

It's January 25. Two-thirds of the country by population is under a dangerous winter storm. In Minnesota, federal agents from ICE have killed two US citizens in three weeks: Renée Good, a 37-year-old mother and poet shot in her car on January 7, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse pinned to the ground and shot in the back yesterday morning. Video of both killings exists. The pungent reaction from our federal government is no surprise to anyone, as they host a screening of a propaganda documentary at the White House. The guest list is no surprise either: the usual procession of tech executives seeking favor—among them, Apple CEO Tim Cook.

I can't help but think about what this moment would look like with Steve Jobs still alive. Jobs built a reputation on telling powerful people no. Would he have gone? Would he have stood up? We'll never know. Tim Cook chose the screening. He chose the popcorn in commemorative boxes served by gloved waiters. He chose to be there on the same day federal agents killed a nurse in the street.

What's the point of having fuck-you money if you're never going to say no to power?

"As it turned out, it was capitalism after all."
– Kara Swisher