Brilliant Tech Founders, Problematic Saviours

You may have heard of Tony Fadell:

[Tony Fadell] oversaw all iPod hardware, software, and accessories development. He is known as the “father of the iPod”. As the co-creator of the iPhone, he also worked on the first three generations of the iPhone and oversaw all iPhone hardware, firmware, and accessories development from March 2006 to November 2008.
—Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Fadell

Fadell is a true Silicon Valley success story. After his brilliant career at Apple, he went on to create the Nest learning thermostat, a true hit when it was announced in 2011, and got acquired by Google for $3.2B.

So what do successful SV entrepreneurs like Fadell do once they are set for life?

They turn their attention to Great Causes. Fadell’s resume continues with Future Shape, an investment and advisory firm that works on deep, foundational, disruptive technologies around the big issues of our time.

Our mission is to deploy our network, our expertise into these companies doing really hard, disruptive, typically deep technology companies who could be disruptive to a given industry. And that is either in the environment, societal issues or health issues. So really, the planet, society, or health. […]

We know that there are problems. When is the world going to wake up to them? Because we’re solving pains. We’re not just doing things frivolously and doing fun things. We think we’re doing very important things. And that’s what drives our team. That’s what drives us.
—Source: https://tim.blog/2022/04/29/tony-fadell-build-transcript/

So, let’s see…

Step One: Fadell spends a significant portion of his career putting gazillions of electronic devices, full of rare earth metals and with a questionable environmental impact, into the world. Kick-starts the age of ubiquitous computers, which, combined with Social Media, is looking more and more like a Bad Idea™ in the grand scheme of things.

(My daughter is 8, and I still have no plan for how to introduce her to Social Media and the safe use of smartphones and the internet. I’m terrified.)

Step Two: Now rich, Fadell starts spending (and making) money on addressing the problems he contributed to creating in the first place. He does this by funding more startups. Next thing you know, ten founders and engineers are taking Step 1…

My guess is that Fadell genuinely feels he’s trying to help, and genuinely doesn’t see any issue with his past contributions. A shiny example of Techno-Optimism. Technology is going to solve all problems. Founders will save the world.

A founder doesn’t create a new chat software nowadays. They change the world by helping hundreds of millions of people building relationships and experiencing belonging.

I’m an old schmuck, I know, but I do find this system and this narrative deeply problematic.

With tech able to affect our social, financial, political and mental habits so deeply, we really ought to take more time when introducing new ideas. Instead, Tech’s business model is to slam these ideas onto the world using ever larger money canons. Founders get super rich, investors get richer still, but it’s OK because they’re saving the world, meanwhile the rest of us are left wondering how we’re going to clean up the mess.

I don’t mind rich people. But I do mind inconsiderate behaviour.

I much prefer the old hacker ethos. Put something cool out there, and if you get lucky, it might even contribute some good to the world. But make it about the fun. Don’t go around claiming you’re doing it to make the world a better place. You aren’t, and you won’t.