The old SF tech scene is dead. What it's morphing into is more sinister

Political Framing of SF Tech and AI

• Several commenters argue the article collapses “things I don’t like” into “far-right,” and that SF is not actually teeming with far-right tech people.
• Others counter that many wealthy tech figures’ class interests align with the right, regardless of personal identity or past “progressive” branding.
• There’s debate over whether one can be rich or a billionaire and genuinely “leftist,” with some saying that’s structurally incompatible, others calling that an oversimplification.
• One view: the modern far-right in tech is Social Darwinism in a hoodie, seeing itself as a natural elite and critics as “less than.”
• SF’s “progressive” image is seen by some as surface branding over extremely aggressive capitalism.

AI Hype, Dystopia, and Business Models

• Many resonate with the article’s AI fatigue: wall-to-wall AI billboards feel dystopian, even to heavy LLM users.
• Others think AI’s dystopian feel is inherent to the technology, not specific to SF.
• Concerns focus on job destruction, surveillance, and perverse incentives (e.g., AI call centers paid by time/tokens, maximizing call length).
• A minority predicts another “AI winter,” seeing current marketing as desperate, with LLMs settling into narrow uses like customer-service bots.

Rise and Fall of the SF/Bay Tech Scene

• Multiple timelines are offered for when SF’s tech soul died: dot-com bust, social media/App Store era, or around 2015 when “finance bros” and pitch-deck culture took over.
• Some recall an earlier scene of public technical discussion and mission-driven startups; later eras are described as money-first and VC-dependent.
• There’s an extended argument over whether dot-com 1.0 was mostly in Silicon Valley vs SF proper.
• Remote work and global hubs are seen as having “eaten” SF’s unique role; SF remains a symbol, but not a required locus for tech work.

Work, Meaning, and Burnout in Tech

• Many long-timers express regret, burnout, and a sense that they “wasted” their lives building adtech, gig platforms, and other marginally useful products.
• Others push back: tech has clearly improved aspects of life; most jobs in any sector mainly enrich capital; at least tech pays well and is less physically destructive.
• Commenters describe a broader crisis of meaning: relentless hours, layoffs, empty “change the world” rhetoric, and a growing desire to leave for trades, nonprofit work, or simpler lives.

Capitalism, Culture, and What’s “Sinister”

• Some say the “new sinister” AI moment is just the logical continuation of older harms: surveillance capitalism, engagement-maximizing social media, gig exploitation.
• Others see naive utopianism in tech circles enabling grifters and exploitative models under a veneer of “hope and change.”
• A recurring theme: the city’s and industry’s problems are less about ideology labels and more about unchecked capital, lack of “enough,” and a culture that long ago shifted from curiosity and craft to extraction and hype.