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How Big Tech Got So Damn Big | WIRED

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The idea that you can lose money on every transaction but make it up with scale (looking at you, Uber)? Pure tech exceptionalism. The idea that you can take an unjust system like racist policing practices and fix it with technology? Exceptionalism. The idea that tech itself can’t be racist because computers are just doing math, and math can’t be racist? Utter exceptionalism. Buy this book at: If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. This helps support our journalism. Learn more. Tech critics are usually good at pointing out tech exceptionalism when they see it, but there’s one tech exceptionalist blind spot. There’s one place where tech boosters and critics come together to sing the same song. Both tech’s biggest boosters and its most savage critics agree that tech leaders—the Zuckerbergs, Jobses, Bezoses, Musks, Gateses, Brins, and Pages—are brilliant. Now, the boosters will tell you that these men are good geniuses whose singular vision and leadershi

Save this story Save this story “Tech exceptionalism” is the sin of thinking that the normal rules don’t apply to technology. The idea that you can lose money on every transaction but make it up with scale (looking at you, Uber)? Pure tech exceptionalism. The idea that you can take an unjust system like racist policing practices and fix it with technology? Exceptionalism. The idea that tech itself can’t be racist because computers are just doing math, and math can’t be racist? Utter exceptionalism. Courtesy of Verso Buy this book at: Amazon Bookshop.org Books-A-Million Apple Books If you buy s

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