Dystopian tales of that time when I sold out to Google

Generational disillusionment and “it’s all a scam”

• Older commenters reflect that realizing capitalism is often extractive, not meritocratic, is a common late realization across generations.
• Some note that Millennials are no longer young or naive; many have already gone through the “it’s not that bad / it would be illegal if it were” self-rationalization phase.

Corporate doublespeak and “radical transparency”

• The line “radical transparency doesn’t mean you get to say negative things” is widely mocked.
• Some argue it’s not cognitive dissonance but deliberate doublespeak: words mean one thing in PR and another inside the company.
• Others say managers often really mean “this isn’t a license to be an asshole,” but admit it’s usually used to suppress criticism.

Crypto’s “true purpose” and systemic comparison

• A major tangent debates whether crypto is inherently a “Captain Planet villain scheme” or a tool to escape state monetary control.
• One side argues its purpose is censorship-resistant, non-confiscatable money; opponents counter that states can and do seize it, and physical coercion still works.
• Critics say crypto’s real impact has been enabling fraud, ransomware, dark markets, and sanctions evasion; defenders reply that traditional banking also enables plenty of abuse.

Privilege, AI, and who pays the costs

• Some agree with the post’s theme that tech workers’ comfort rests on others’ exploitation.
• Others push back against caricatures of “rich white guys” dismissing AI harms, but multiple people say they’ve seen exactly that attitude on HN.

Co‑ops, ownership, and risk

• The quoted line about hoarding profits sparks a question: why aren’t there more software co‑ops?
• Answers: risk aversion; lack of sales skill among engineers; capital providers want returns; interpersonal conflict and ego; co‑ops can magnify people problems.

Reactions to the author and tone

• Some find the piece powerful and relatable, especially the contrast between Google’s “don’t be evil / best place to work” branding and lived reality.
• Others call it badly written, overdramatic, or self‑victimizing: “believed corporate propaganda, made trouble, then got laid off.”
• There’s a heated subthread about the author’s identity (polyamorous anarchist, queer) and whether criticizing Google implies “people like me should run things,” with accusations of bias and straw‑manning on both sides.

“Bring your whole self to work” vs professionalism

• One camp says this slogan was a mistake: work should be about skills and boundaries, not full personal identity and politics.
• Another argues that “whole self” just normalizes what straight parents have always done—talk about their lives at work—and that authenticity can be healthy when goals align.
• Many agree there must be limits: some aspects of identity and politics are best kept out of day‑to‑day collaboration.

Temps, inequality, and white‑collar norms

• Commenters highlight how temps/contractors (TVCs) are structurally kept second‑class to avoid legal obligations and benefits, not just to inflate engineers’ egos.
• Some note that invisible service staff are a longstanding feature of Brazilian class inequality; Google participated in, rather than invented, this dynamic.
• A few frame this as part of a broader destruction of social mobility ladders (e.g., “mailroom to executive suite”).

Surveillance, spyware, and Gaza line

• The closing claim that “every software is spyware” is disputed: some insist free software needn’t be, others point out many “free” projects still track users.
• The line about Google “indexing which Gaza families to bomb” confuses some; others interpret it as a metaphor for cloud/military contracts and data‑driven targeting, though details are seen as unclear or hyperbolic.