In a new series, CNN explores all the crazy drug use and sexy sex stuff taking place in Silicon Valley, where people like Greg and Stella, above, go to swingers parties and apparently convince other people to sleep with them, without drugging them or paying them. The series is called, "Sex, Drugs and Silicon Valley." My one-word review: Yuck.
Silicon Valley has some of the country's more dizzying gaps in income inequality. Wealthy enclaves are built besides some of the Valley's poorest neighborhoods, leaving family services underfunded and municipalities writing laws that punish the poor. Now their own congresswoman is calling out tech CEOs for not doing enough to help:
Let's talk about last night's episode of Silicon Valley, which was staged at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. In real life, the annual conference is an island of lost startups where aspirants scramble for attention while the anointed tell tales of world change and global impact, signifying nothing (because they're told by the makers of project management software).
Most of the scenes in the final three episodes of HBO's Silicon Valley take place in Mike Judge's version of TechCrunch Disrupt. Without giving away from spoilers, it's pretty much like the real conference only with more dick jokes. Well, one very elaborate Aristocrats-style dick joke on a whiteboard.
For me, the turning point in watching HBO's Silicon Valley can be traced back to the Burger King subplot in the third episode.
Until now, no one adequately embarrassed Silicon Valley on TV. All prior attempts either embarrassed themselves, or fell just short. But Silicon Valley, Mike Judge's HBO foray into the sociopathic pit of Northern California's tech scene is beyond adequate: It gives the fuckers the graceful slap across the face they need.
If I had $1 million for every time a founder told me "It's impossible to raise funding if you're not a twenty-something dude," I could lead their Series A round. The same bias applies to hiring. The ideal resume shouldn't be much longer than "Dropped out of Prestigious University." This obsession with youth, reports The New Republic, has turned Silicon Valley into "one of the most ageist places in America":
"You remind me of my son. He's got Asperger's too." It looks like Mike Judge has another fine piece of bleak capitalist dramedy prepared for the show's premiere on April 6th. What could be better than "Office Space" in 2014?
