These were a couple of PhD geeks who hit it big, it’s certainly not inevitable that intelligent people get absorbed with money, see the creator of VLC for example. It’s just sad that these guys could have been rich AND kept the internet ‘pure’ and research focused. But instead commerce has crept in and taken a shit on what was once a clean simple brilliant search service.
Now that I think about it I’m not sure why they had to accept investor money at all. I wonder if it would have turned out differently if they had remained 100% privately owned?
Because growth… Without the R&D money, Microsoft or Yahoo, or someone else would have figured out how to do what they do faster/better, waited until google was a forgotten name and then enshittified.
When you make a lot of money, the number you see in your account starts to become part of your identity because it differentiates you between you and the people you see every day. The same way if I had blue curly hair, that would become a defining factor of where I “differ” from the general public. The numbers in one’s account becomes an obsession-point.
People get obsessed with the number and how much bigger they can make it. It’s like hoarding. No amount will ever be enough. And once you’re able to buy anything, the actual value of that money becomes meaningless. So even more drive to bring the number up because that’s the only novelty you are getting.
When you make a lot of money, the number you see in your account starts to become part of your identity because it differentiates you between you and the people you see every day.
“Tres Comas is for winners.” (A wonderful line delivery by the huge asshole venture fund bro in Silicon Valley, that illustrates your point)
I don’t get it. They were rich beyond most people’s wildest dreams. Why did they jump aboard the enshitification bandwagon?
Money is power, and people with money like to habe power.
If someone else is pulling in more money, you’re going to find yourself with less power.
These were a couple of PhD geeks who hit it big, it’s certainly not inevitable that intelligent people get absorbed with money, see the creator of VLC for example. It’s just sad that these guys could have been rich AND kept the internet ‘pure’ and research focused. But instead commerce has crept in and taken a shit on what was once a clean simple brilliant search service.
They want to be rich beyond EVERYONE’S wildest dreams.
Why else?
Public trading… it’s capitalism. By law you have to try and extort every penny.
Now that I think about it I’m not sure why they had to accept investor money at all. I wonder if it would have turned out differently if they had remained 100% privately owned?
Because growth… Without the R&D money, Microsoft or Yahoo, or someone else would have figured out how to do what they do faster/better, waited until google was a forgotten name and then enshittified.
When you make a lot of money, the number you see in your account starts to become part of your identity because it differentiates you between you and the people you see every day. The same way if I had blue curly hair, that would become a defining factor of where I “differ” from the general public. The numbers in one’s account becomes an obsession-point.
People get obsessed with the number and how much bigger they can make it. It’s like hoarding. No amount will ever be enough. And once you’re able to buy anything, the actual value of that money becomes meaningless. So even more drive to bring the number up because that’s the only novelty you are getting.
That and power.
“Tres Comas is for winners.” (A wonderful line delivery by the huge asshole venture fund bro in Silicon Valley, that illustrates your point)
More money