another view -- Dan Gillmor: Quattrone clique disgraced Silicon Valley

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Jonathan Weber <jonathanweber () earthlink net>
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 13:48:38 -0700
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Dan Gillmor: Quattrone clique disgraced Silicon Valley

Dave, I've mostly lurked on IP but wanted to pass on this comment.
Having covered Silicon Valley for the LA Times, and having observed
it closely as editor of the Industry Standard, this has been a bit of
a pet peeve and perhaps a perspective of interest for IP. FWIW I know
Dan well and consider him a friend and a fine journalist.

cheers,
- jonathan weber




But how could Frank Quattrone and his friends have disgraced Silicon
Valley? They *are* Silicon Valley. Dan seems to have adopted the
common technologists conceit that there are two Silicon Valleys, one
composed of greedy capitalists who are only out for a buck and the
other composed of altruistic engineers who only want to change the
world for the better. In truth, such a split has never existed.
Individuals may have a wide range of motivations, but certainly the
collective culture of what we know as Silicon Valley has always been
informed as much by money and capitalism as by technological
excellence. The tech bubble did not happen because a few bad apples
"disgraced" everyone else. It happened because capitalism as
currently structured in this country (and enthusiastically supported
by Silicon Valley) combined with technological optimism (also heavily
promoted by Silicon Valley) created a landscape where it could
happen. There are very few innocents in this story - I bet even Dan
enjoyed a hefty pay hike when the bubble was in full swing - and
while it's satisfying to blame Quattrone and his clique, it's also
disingenuous. Given the chance, I'm sure the overwhelming majority of
Silicon Valleyites would have acted no differently then did the
friends of Frank.

------ End of Forwarded Message

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
  http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/