Meredith WhittakerJan 20, 2023
Early 2000s profitable startups gave their handful of workers novel perks/freedom. These cos/their workplace culture got big. Late 2010s tech labor gained power + made demands. Now a hint of recession = excuse to break promises/reestablish dominance over workers. It's not about $
Show threadTony Wuersch
@Mer__edith my different theory is that top tech firms strategized to forestall competition, by hiring people who would otherwise fuel startups or build open source. The main threat now is anti-big-tech regulation, tho, not startups.
Jan 21, 2023 at 4:57pmWeb
Show threadMeredith WhittakerJan 21, 2023
@twersh I don't buy it in large part because startups don't compete with big tech anymore. They license big tech infrastructure and compete with each other to get acquired by big tech.
Show threadEthan MarcotteJan 21, 2023

@Mer__edith —holy hell meredith

i need to sit down now

Show threadMeredith WhittakerJan 21, 2023
@beep where's the lie Ethan
Show threadEthan MarcotteJan 21, 2023
@Mer__edith ain’t none to be found
Show threadLocksmithJan 21, 2023

@Mer__edith @twersh it's almost like "look how competent and keen we are with the economy: we are laying off tens of thousands of people."

And "what? You are not laying off tens of thousands? You are not fit to be CEO."

Show threadPerfectDude!Jan 22, 2023
@locksmithprime
and looks like the case. most are laying off just because others are laying off too, as per this stanford prof.
news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/e…
@twersh @Mer__edith
What explains recent tech layoffs, and why should we be worried? | Stanford News

As layoffs in the tech sector mount, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer is worried. Research – by him, and others – has shown that the stress layoffs create takes a devastating toll on behavioral and physical health and increases mortality and morbidity substantially. Layoffs literally kill people, he said.

Stanford News
Show threadMax PetrasJan 23, 2023
@Mer__edith @twersh Wow, this is **the** most accurate description of the situation. Did you publish this idea somewhere? Otherwise, I need to cite this toot in my PhD.
Show threadMeredith WhittakerJan 23, 2023
@MaxPe @twersh I have not published it, but it remains true nevertheless
Show threadMax PetrasJan 23, 2023
@Mer__edith @twersh 💯. will cite the toot. Thank you!
Show threadBen RosengartJan 21, 2023

@twersh @Mer__edith Tony, is there room in your theory for the palpable fury among the VC types against empowered tech workers? I am putting together from a few sources that they feel tremendous, overflowing resentment against us. They seem compelled to reassert the natural order of things: workers should flinch when capital speaks.

Listen to VC Josh Wolfe here: https://overcast.fm/+XxhDHF2RM ; and read Elon’s discovered texts through this lens and in the context of the collective rage at Twitter employees and over .

I believe the current tech situation can’t be understood without considering the affective dimension. These aren’t cold-eyed business decisions.

Josh Wolfe on Investing in American Defense — War on the Rocks

Ryan sat down with , co-founder of Lux Capital, in his New York office earlier this month to talk about why he is drawn to invest in companies working on national security challenges. But the conversation covered much more than that. They covered…

Show threadTony WuerschJan 24, 2023
@fivetonsflax @Mer__edith It's hard to generalize about motives for layoffs apart from that no one stands out as a villain when everyone else is doing it. VCs imo have little to say with respect to these big firms, they all have their own capital to invest. States, not VCs, threaten monopolies. Elon is the exception there; none of the others are sick children corps. I still think a reduction of the threat of mobile human capital lets these moves happen, now that a "coming recession" gives cover.
Show threadBen RosengartJan 24, 2023
@twersh @Mer__edith A lot of people have gotten rich, and gotten into the upper layers of these firms, by knowing and impressing VCs. They have a lot of influence and they are a self-conscious ideological vanguard.
Show threadNicole ParsonsJan 24, 2023

@fivetonsflax @twersh @Mer__edith

Layoffs are happening because Chris Hohn, manager of TCI hedge fund, has ordered Google, Facebook etc to do so.

This hedge fund manager lost money in 2022 making bad stock market bets. He terrorizes companies using Saudi money.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-20/hedge-fund-manager-chris-hohn-s-13-year-winning-streak-ends-as-fund-drops-18

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/01/23/google-staff-overpaid-company-must-cut-thousands-jobs-investor/

https://techstory.in/tci-fund-ceo-chris-hohn-calls-for-more-layoffs-and-salary-cuts-at-google/

Show threadBen RosengartJan 24, 2023

@Npars01 @twersh @Mer__edith Very interesting, thank you.

Maybe I should just say capitalists have it in for tech workers. Or that capitalists have it in for workers, lol.