A growing number of residents and observers recognize that the tech industry’s relentless pursuit of profit and innovation has come at a steep moral and societal cost. Recent polls show over two-thirds of Silicon Valley residents believe tech companies have lost their ethical bearings, a sentiment only intensified by the sector’s increasing alignment with divisive political movements.
The Roots of Disillusionment: “Cyberselfish”
This dissatisfaction isn’t new. As early as 1999, author Paulina Borsook warned of the dangers brewing within the dot-com boom in her book Cyberselfish. She argued that the rise of Silicon Valley transformed a once-pragmatic, civic-minded community into one consumed by unchecked ambition and a radical ideology she termed “techno-libertarianism.”
Borsook’s analysis pointed to the tech sector’s inherent disdain for regulation, its belief in meritocratic elitism (the idea that wealth equals intelligence), and its dehumanizing tendency to view individuals as programmable entities. This mindset, she predicted, would inevitably extend beyond the Valley’s boundaries.
A Prophecy Fulfilled
Her predictions appear disturbingly accurate today. The erosion of empathy in public discourse, the normalization of invasive surveillance capitalism, and the cavalier disregard for environmental consequences of artificial intelligence all point to the reality Borsook foresaw three decades ago.
“If empathy has now become a distasteful personal failing; if surveillance capitalism has become the default shrugged-off business practice; if the environmental impacts of A.I. are waved away: then we are alas living in the tech-driven culture I saw headed our way 30 years ago,” Borsook stated in a recent interview. “It’s terrible that I was right.”
The implications are clear: Silicon Valley’s unchecked power has reshaped society in ways that many now recognize as profoundly damaging. The industry’s early rejection of ethical constraints has resulted in a world where profit often trumps people, and technology’s potential for good is undermined by its relentless pursuit of dominance.
Silicon Valley’s own residents are now acknowledging the consequences of a system that prioritized disruption over responsibility. The question remains: will this self-awareness translate into meaningful change, or will the tech industry continue to accelerate down a path it long ago set itself on?
