""What I’m really calling for is something like tech Zionism,” he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (“spiritual father” of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore).""
@timnitGebru What's probably not evident to the non-Indian crowd is that Indians can clock from the very name "Balaji Srinivasan" that he's from a Brahmin family.
For context, the Brahmin caste (in the extremely toxic four-caste savarna system of Hinduism) has wielded and weaponized its position at the top of the caste ladder to maintain a hegemony over power, institutionalised discrimination against those of other castes, and ghettoised itself to minimise contact with people of other castes, including, to this day, taking a firm stance against inter-caste marriages. A distinct self-marker of Brahmin men is a sacred (white or GREY 🤭) thread worn across the torso like a sash at all times.
What's ironic and probably left out of the STEM-obsessed education systems that manufacture these tech leaders is that for all their talk of innovation, disruption and claims of proposing revolutionary ideas, they are simply perpetuating and promoting the centuries-old discriminatory systems that put them in positions of privilege and wealth.
@harshad@vinay@timnitGebru when you grow up in a class-based society that's very obvious you spot these things, but knowing the context is hard.
I don't know the ins and outs of the caste system but having worked with a lot of Indians over the years I can tell the ones I don't like working with have this attitude about them that reminds me of the British Upper/upper middle class.
"Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. “And if you see another Gray on the street … you do the nod,” he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. “You’re a fellow Gray.”"
@timnitGebru Insufferable, arrogant idiots. This level of hubris and entitlement is off-the-charts. Begs the question: what happens when the individuals who drive tech and the firms who fund it lose any semblance of connection to reality?
Add comment