A prominent tech investor says arrogance in Silicon Valley has reached a fever pitch and he's constantly embarrassed by what people say
- MG Siegler, a prominent tech investor with GV, formerly Google Ventures, wrote an interesting blog post this week about a disturbing trend he's noticed in Silicon Valley recently.
- He said "people in our industry, the tech industry, are losing touch with reality."
- Siegler says "it may already by systemic at this point."
MG Siegler, a prominent tech investor with GV, formerly Google Ventures, wrote a blog post this week called "Arrogance Peaks in Silicon Valley," in which he described a disturbing trend he's noticed among people in the tech industry: Namely, that they're losing touch with reality.
"You can see it in the tweets. You can hear it at tech conferences. Hell, you can hear it at most cafes in San Francisco on any given day. People - really smart people - saying some of the most vacuous things," Siegler said.
While Siegler didn't want to give specific examples, or name names, he believes the root of the problem "is an increasing sense of entitlement as the tech industry has grown in stature to become the most important from a fiscal perspective and arguably from a cultural perspective as well."
Siegler mentions the recent Facebook scandal with Cambridge Analytica, and how he was disturbed not just by the event itself, but by the responses to it. He also worries that regulating these companies, or ridiculing them for what they do or say in the mainstream media, will actually make matters worse, as those people will "dig in their heels and double down on the insanity."
"We need Silicon Valley - the people behind these companies - to wake up. We need everyone to act like human beings, not like rogue AI programs vomiting up delusions of grandeur," he said.
You can read Siegler's full blog post here.