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Which is curious since a LOT of the technology they develop is done under gigantic government contracts.

Apparently few people remember back in the 80's when the biggest SV employer was Lockheed Missiles and Space who developed weapons for the DOD.

More recently you can point fingers at the complacency of Facebook, Google and Yahoo who were willing participants in the PRISM scandal.



This was posted here, but worth a repost as you might be interested. Most SV VC money, traced back far enough, goes straight to DoD.

https://steveblank.com/secret-history/


The WWII and Cold War technology arms race (in which Silicon Valley got its start) is intellectually interesting and easily justified by clear existential threats to our civilization, whose emotional content we we weren't around for.

US foreign policy since then has been... murkier. I don't think the Bay Area really has a position on soldiers, so much as it opposes the current and previous few wars.


I mean internet WAS basically created by DARPA. The irony.




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