Talks at Google
4 HN mentions · mentioned in 4 months, 2017–2018
1:00:10 · 500K views · Jun 5, 2017
Noam Chomsky speaks at Google Cambridge in 2017 about his political development and the control of information and media. It is a wide-ranging talk with audience discussion.
HN mostly links it as background in political arguments or for a memorable moment, rather than as a recommendation.
4 comments from Hacker News
> Maybe we should be, though? [..] Great. I'm not sure that should top your list of injustices, though. It doesn't top mine, because it's not one thats happening in my back yard. So do you think we should care, or shouldn't we? If your point ultimately is no, we should not care, then why not be honest and say "but we shouldn't care, and here's why". And how can you claim "nobody" cares? Are you sure there aren't people in many countries who wish companies wouldn't just deal with their butcherers, but give the oppressed a voice? If you don't care, just say it. It's not about where it happens, it's about whether my "friends" are involved in it. If Google didn't use this site as a PR platform, too, there'd be no point in talking about it. But since many people here use their products, because they claim a "Hi fellow Kids" kind of humanness, it is relevant. When some total stranger acts horrible to others, but they can handle it themselves, I probably wouldn't bother getting involved. But if that guy was chatting to me 5 minutes prior to that, and considers himself someone on good terms with me, I would absolutely at least say something. It doesn't matter what's on "top" of the "list of priorites", it only matters that it matters, and that I have a position on it I must make known or be complicit by silence. It's really simple, we understand that intuitively in all sorts of situations, it doesn't get more complicated because the behaviour to have a position on gets worse. Totalit
So you're turning being held accountable into somehow furthering lack of accountability. Not that I think the agreement is super perfect, but that still sticks out like a sore thumb. > Let's fund solar power and electric cars You've always been free to do that. You still are. Instead of, say, waging a war of aggression for control of oil, littering the world with military bases, all the while complaining about the specter of a "world government" -- which is anything but the US desires of hegemony, right? No problem with the main superpower being a brute instead of a boon, but a huge problem with the means to defend ourselves. Also see this video , and for now in general I'll just say "no". Not good enough. Too little, too late.
It's scary (Stanford prison experiment-like) how easy it is to convince a regular joe employee that what he's working on is "for the betterment of the world", while that statement is very very fuzzy to say the least (and as recent events have shown) where one man's Utopia is another man's surveillance state. We put waaay too much impetus on "world changing ideas" while completely ignoring the real life implications of them, as the article rightfully points out. Reminds me of the statement that Noam Chomsky ended his recent talk at Google with (which I consider one of the nicest "burn" moments ever): Interviewer: It's not everyday that a non-google gets to sit in a room full of people who work at google, and are s/w engineers, and are advertising experts, and are market experts in different fields. Do you have anything that you'd like to ask us? Chomsky: <shrugs> Why not do some of the serious things? this video
The last part is great: Khalil: "It's not every day that a non-Googler gets to sit in a room full of people who work at Google, and are software engineers, and are advertising experts, and are you know market experts in different fields. Do you have anything that you'd like to ask us?" Chomsky: "Why not do some of the serious things?" :) this video