Watching the World

Mountainhead, an HBO Max film, is described by Decider as: “a Chilling and Hilarious Tech-bro Satire…” and is said by The Verge to be “a snapshot of everything that’s ridiculous and terrible about Silicon Valley’s billionaire class.” I’m trying to watch it; 15-minute segments is all I can handle at a time. For someone who’s only moderately tech/AI/that-world savvy, I’ve been inordinately fascinated by the bad tech boys. However, since the picture of them in the infamous front row seats at the infamous bad-taste celebration of the new droopy-ass sheriff in town, what was my own version of the US’s celebrity obsession has left me with an extremely queasy feeling.

Anyway, today, a beautiful rainy day, I started watching Mountainhead. Mistake. We do not get rain often enough in New Mexico for me to spend the storm crouched over the toilet bowl vomiting after each section of this movie. Slight exaggeration! I’ve thought for a while that Silicon Valley and its worldwide neighborhoods were probably going to kill the planet, so that aspect of the movie doesn’t shock me. What does…and hey, I know it’s dark comedy, satire, make-believe, okay. But from watching the characters in the film, it’s impossible not to get the feeling that Bezos, Zuckerberg, Musk, Altman, etc. are just this self-aggrandizing, greedy, thoughtless, stupidly junior-high-bully. Wow…Really? I say that a lot lately.

While I have loved every device acquired to date, for me the interaction with this brave new world really began with Facebook. We loved it, or many of us did. Keeping up with family and friends, everyday and special occasion stuff, what their kids and houses and travels looked like as time passed. We were like Sarah Wynn-Williams, author of Careless People, who so recently riled the Facebook rulers, but who way back was in love with the whole idea of what it represented. By the way, it’s a great book, and we get to follow Sarah’s almost desperate desire to work at this ‘magic kingdom’ where the world is truly connecting, and her success in finally landing a new and important position right there at the heart of things. Happy endings to such fairytales are rare and Sarah didn’t find hers at Facebook/META. She did however have an upfront and personal view as Mark Zuckerberg transformed from earnest, and sometimes appealing geek (who did, in his own way (!), want good things to happen in, to, and for the world) to front-row sycophant at a fascist-themed presidential inauguration. As a sort of aside, my slightly above and beyond interest in Silicon Valley and the tech bros may have been enhanced with a visit to Mountain View a few years ago. Cousins from Norway visiting, skeptical Bob from Albuquerque in town, granddaughter Teresa’s boyfriend in the mysterious field of ‘tech,’ and, as usual, I needed to see the geography of the story.

As time passed, Facebook became an emblem for all that was bad about social media, but meanwhile my interest in the Valley and its denizens intensified with Kara Swisher’s Burn Book: A Tech Love Story—highly recommended for anyone interested in the Silicon Valley/tech bro back story.

Like many Facebook members, I went through a period of time decrying its potential for allowing/almost-encouraging the darker side of human nature to gain an ever-firmer foothold in the site. Yes, I need to get off Facebook, I said. But my family, friends, and acquaintances live all over the country and the world. Give up being in touch with most, or vow to write a constant stream of real letters…yeah, right. So, needless to say, I am still on Facebook. And still feel, hate to admit this, a sort of skeptical love for it. I’ve learned how to curate what I see so that, by now, my interactions are either positively benign or occasionally damn near inspiring, which would be because all my ‘friends’ are politically progressive Democrats/Socialists/’normies’ at least as far as I know. Here’s an example from a couple-minute scroll—in the inspiring category, forwarded by a friend—ICE agents actually pushed back and back by a crowd of San Diegans who objected (successfully) to their fellow human beings hauled off by goons with guns as they gathered at a local restaurant for a pleasant evening meal. What’s that expression, ‘if we don’t hang together, we most assuredly will hang separately’? See. Inspiring.

Follow me through that quick scroll to see what I mean about benign: a silly Scandinavian slapstick comedy routine; Lonely Planet ad; site called Norway: Blessed with Nature; Americans Against the Republican Party poster; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez fund-raising plea; cartoon from the New Yorker; ad for linen jackets (I ban most ads but not all); Andy Borowitz with a headline, “Mexico Renames the Liberty Bell the TACO Bell”; Surrealist art site; post from Al Franken; Feminist News; Classic literature quotes; friend forwarded ad for a planner titled: “Sorry, It’s Your Problem Now Because I’m Dead”; post from Delaware friend Tom; ditto: Minnesota friend Pat; Pluviophile site; Harvard University (graduation pictures); History and Archeology; California tourism; ProgressNow New Mexico, Michelle Obama, Coffee and Rain photography, The Atlantic, Psychotherapy.net; U.S. Democratic Socialists; SPCA International; Abandoned Houses and Unreal Places; The Dodo (animals); friends from here, there and everywhere posting news or forwarding tidbits that I enjoy…because, well, they are from friends…again… not a Nazi among them! I include these samples for the not-on-Facebook friends I have who are a little bit afraid of the site. Okay, so you get the picture. It’s actually quite calming to scroll the site in my case.

Back to why I started this ramble. Like many of us, I’m now baffled and angry at, and fearful of the “tech bros.” They’re really not a very attractive bunch. Musk, in some category(ies) of crazy, addicted, juvenile, etc.; Bezos, obsessed with boobs and showing off in his big-time mid-life crisis; and the still pale and stunned-looking Mr. Zuckerberg (even though he’s doing manly stuff!). None of them seem to have started off with bad intentions (Thiel an exception), even Musk, believe it or not (read Walter Isaacson’s bio), and at least Zuckerberg is still married to a doctor who appears quite normal. You see, I really want these guys to be better than they appear, because in spite of some awfulnesses, they are interesting. Also, they quite likely have the power to bring on the end times (not the ones in the bible; more like what Netflix comes up with from time to time), and I want to maintain enough knowledge to at least know how my killing is being orchestrated and who’s killing me. So, I guess it’s obvious I’m not getting rid of Facebook in the near future, unless Republican/MAGA/religious trash starts leaking into My Site.

Later. Getting ready to post. No, I cannot watch all of Mountainhead. Hannah Arendt’s quote about the ‘banality of evil’ keeps coming to mind. You guys are so ordinary in your selfishness. And we (and you) thought you were so smart, and in one area or the other, you were. Otherwise. Ordinary. And mean. Going to go watch serial killers on Britbox now.

Living the World

Speaking of family and friends: As you know, I make a random post now and then about life here in the poor (no one I ask can ever tell me why we’re poor since we have a lot of oil and gas/just saw a quote that we are “an energy powerhouse”) and violent land of Democratic New Mexico. Actually though, I still believe deep down that we’re a little bit enchanted as the state tag line claims. There’s so much space and absolute beauty running through our geography. And we’re kind of casual in our interactions, like we’ve all always known each other. I’m still too Minnesota to be a proper chile connoisseur but I have a red and green theme going in my home. I truly loath the fact that the sun is ever-present, but today’s cloudy so I am a happy New Mexican.

For posterity then (in my next blog book), here’s who I’ve been hanging out with this last couple of months.

Top: left to right. Patricia, Pat (the other grandma), Norah (Michele’s sister) Bottom: Birthday girl Sara and boyfriend Nick.

Old friends Willie and Bob “chewing the fat” or “shooting the bull” is what my dad would have called it.

We were in abs class together. Years of weird poses and fits of laughter and we still gather…a little older and so very much wiser. (clockwise: Beth, Bob, Ian, Dennis)

Do not all worthwhile gatherings begin and end with cake and dogs?