"Now, I know what you’re thinking. Ed, isn’t that exactly what’s happening here? We’ve got overvalued startups, we’ve got multiple unprofitable, unsustainable AI companies promising to IPO, we’ve got overvalued tech stocks, and we’ve got one of the largest infrastructural buildouts of all time. Tech companies are trading at ridiculous multiples of their earnings-per-share, but the multiples aren’t as high. That’s good, right?

No. No it isn’t. AI boosters and well-wishers are obsessed with making this comparison because saying “things worked out after the dot com bubble” allows them to rationalize doing stupid, destructive and reckless things.

Even if this was just like the dot com bubble, things would be absolutely fucking catastrophic — the NASDAQ dropped 78% from its peak in March 2000 — but due to the incredible ignorance of both the private and public power brokers of the tech industry, I expect consequences that range from calamitous to catastrophic, dependent almost entirely on how long the bubble takes to burst, and how willing the SEC is to greenlight an IPO.

The AI bubble bursting will be worse, because the investments are larger, the contagion is wider, and the underlying asset — GPUs — are entirely different in their costs, utility and basic value than dark fiber. Furthermore, the basic unit economics of AI — both in its infrastructure and the AI companies themselves — are magnitudes more horrifying than anything we saw in the dot com bubble.

In simpler terms, I’m really fucking worried, and I’m sick and tired of hearing people making this comparison."

https://www.wheresyoured.at/dot-com-bubble/

#AI #GenerativeAI #LLMs #DotComBubble #AIBubble #VC #VentureCapital #BigTech

“Oh, look, they’ve built a new sewer… I wonder if it’ll enshittify?”

– Some folks, over and over again

#startups #VC

“Oh, look, they’ve built a new sewer… I wonder if it’ll enshittify?”

– Some folks, over and over again

#startups #VC

@evan @Edent If you look through the lens of native/western histories — indigenous struggles vs colonial modernity — the same pattern plays out again and again: the native path is degraded, disrespected, overwritten. In tech, it’s no different. You see it when horizontal, trust-based networks get steamrolled by #NGO capture, institutional gatekeeping, or #VC-funded platforms that sell convenience and control.

https://hamishcampbell.com/a-guide-for-staying-honest-and-native/

"Venture capitalists have a thing they like to say. "We don't invest in ideas. We invest in people." That's true in a couple of ways. Let's get the funny one out of the way: they don't invest in ideas. Check. They invest in people. Specifically, they invest in people who look like they do, because today's venture capitalist was yesterday's startup founder and vice versa. They might as well be saying "we're both investing in our younger selves, and reinvesting in the idea that we've earned our place by perpetuating the idea that the next wave of us will come from the same pool.""

— Mike Monteiro: Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It, p. 110

#VC #startup #diversity

"Venture capitalists have a thing they like to say. "We don't invest in ideas. We invest in people." That's true in a couple of ways. Let's get the funny one out of the way: they don't invest in ideas. Check. They invest in people. Specifically, they invest in people who look like they do, because today's venture capitalist was yesterday's startup founder and vice versa. They might as well be saying "we're both investing in our younger selves, and reinvesting in the idea that we've earned our place by perpetuating the idea that the next wave of us will come from the same pool.""

— Mike Monteiro: Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It, p. 110

#VC #startup #diversity

This is why I don't make "community contributions" to "open platforms" which don't have some very solid legal framework for governance in place.

They sell out to VC and rug pull hard on the community that provides the bulk of their data and value.

https://bikepacking.com/plog/when-we-get-komooted/

#enshitification#rugpull#VC #venturecapital

This is why I don't make "community contributions" to "open platforms" which don't have some very solid legal framework for governance in place.

They sell out to VC and rug pull hard on the community that provides the bulk of their data and value.

https://bikepacking.com/plog/when-we-get-komooted/

#enshitification#rugpull#VC #venturecapital

A little reminder that DuckDuckGo is venture capital (VC) funded.

The way VC works:

1. You get VC
2. You grow as fast as you can (or fail fast)
3. You sell (either to a larger corporation or to the public in an IPO; this is called the “exit”)

(In case any of you are surprised by recent/future developments.)

#DuckDuckGo #ventureCapital #VC #BigTech #capitalism

This is the Silicon Valley “startup” model. Startups are not long-term sustainable businesses or small businesses. A startup is a temporary business designed to either grow exponentially and exit (sell) or to fail fast.

#startups#ventureCapital#VC#BigTech#SiliconValley

This is the Silicon Valley “startup” model. Startups are not long-term sustainable businesses or small businesses. A startup is a temporary business designed to either grow exponentially and exit (sell) or to fail fast.

#startups#ventureCapital#VC#BigTech#SiliconValley

A little reminder that DuckDuckGo is venture capital (VC) funded.

The way VC works:

1. You get VC
2. You grow as fast as you can (or fail fast)
3. You sell (either to a larger corporation or to the public in an IPO; this is called the “exit”)

(In case any of you are surprised by recent/future developments.)

#DuckDuckGo #ventureCapital #VC #BigTech #capitalism

“We’re building services that improve the personal computing experience by understanding your unique context and taking action at your command. When you use our services, you’re trusting us to handle your personal data.”

https://sky.app/privacy

A VC-backed startup with Sam Altman as their lead investor* wants the keys to your Mac.

Yeah, no.

* https://www.crunchbase.com/funding_round/software-applications-incorporated-seed--db0eafa1

#AI #privacy #Sky #SamAltman #startup #VC #BigTech #surveillance #capitalism #mac https://mastodon.macstories.net/@viticci/114586346228814327