Live Work Work Work Die Quotes

“Thiel’s loathing for government spending did not apply when the government spent money on him. His next big startup, Palantir—a name borrowed from Tolkien—depended for survival upon the least transparent, least accountable, and most profligate extension of the federal government, the CIA. The agency invested in Thiel through its Silicon Valley VC front, In-Q-Tel. With Palantir, this self-described “civil libertarian” became an important player in the growth of a secretive, invasive, and patently unconstitutional global surveillance apparatus. Asked in a 2014 online chat if Palantir was “a front for the CIA,” Thiel replied, “No, the CIA is a front for Palantir.” With 70 percent of the U.S. intelligence budget going to the private sector, this dismissive wisecrack was not so much an outright denial as it was a sly wink at the extent of corporate dominance over even the most powerful federal agencies.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“The best defense against legal criticism and excessive regulatory scrutiny is an enormous bank account. As Uber showed, politicians can be used to minimize any consequences for past misconduct.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“Large and small companies employed “agile” and “scrum” procedures that gave clueless managers a way to discipline and control engineers whose work they could neither reproduce independently nor competently evaluate.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“The tech tycoons' carefully cultivated image as clear-eyed, hard-working problem-solvers in the frontier tradition supplies two things Americans are desperate for: validation and hope. As a people, Americans are reared to be optimists. But this means that they are also, as one noted entrepreneur of frontier times observed, suckers. And they fail to understand something that seems obvious to people from other parts of the world: as bad as things are, they can always get worse.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“Could we crowdfund a therapist who is available to depressed hackers?”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“They may get a $20 steak delivered to their desks but those lavish enticements allow the employer to extract a few hundred dollars of extra value from the employees”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“People out here ask you "What is your space?" - If I was flipping burgers at McDonalds I would say "I am in the carbon based protein space" or if I was a graveyard digger I would say "I am in the human life-cycle space".”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“Startup hopeful talking about his app: "You know about angry birds right?", "yes", I said. "It's like angry birds except there are no birds and nobody is angry". LMAO!”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“If there was substance to Singularitarianism, then the ascension of Kurzweil at Google would one day be seen as a decisive moment in history, analagous to the Roman emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“Naked racism from the mouths of serious political candidates was still vaguely taboo at that moment. But when it came to tolerating the rhetorical adaptations of resurgent fascism, Silicon Valley was once again on the cutting edge.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“The judges tended to echo one another’s advice, which sometimes meant contradicting advice they’d given earlier.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“As Google grew, it also shrank—small enough to fit inside a mailbox in Bermuda, where it funneled $14 billion in annual profits via an intricate series of transatlantic shell companies that allowed it to avoid an estimated $2 billion in taxes every year. “It’s called capitalism,” chairman Eric Schmidt said when questioned about it.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“The new tech media establishment introduced foreign customs to the culture of newsrooms. Challenging authority was out. Sycophancy was in. It had always worked that way in Silicon Valley.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“My bosses are so bitter,” Joe said. “My vice president said, ‘If you understand the drug industry, you understand the tech industry.’ It’s a hustle. You’ve got to figure out how to convince people they want what you’ve got.” Cyrus corrected Joe’s memory: “He said, ‘Internet marketing is like selling crack to children.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“In this milieu, a certain tolerance for phoniness was a prerequisite. It was not enough to have the right skills, put in your time, and get the job done—you had to be fucking pumped about your job, or else it was time to find a new one.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“they spoke as though the victims of tech-fueled displacement and gentrification had chosen to live in poverty and squalor,”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“Gimmickry was not so much a last resort for desperate startup founders as a necessary means of distinction. The techies all seemed to have come off an assembly line, and anyone who stood out just a little bit became instantly memorable.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley

“Simone was bone-tired. I didn’t blame her. She was the model of a twenty-first-century microentrepreneur, which is to say she was a grossly exploited worker.”
― Corey Pein, Live Work Work Work Die: A Journey into the Savage Heart of Silicon Valley