[The Typing Baker] Silicon Valley's Dazzling Growth: Innovation or Desire?

Expensive Housing, Racial Discrimination, and Income Inequality
Fierce Educational Competition and High Suicide Rates...
A Distorted Capitalism That Tramples Others
This Might Not Be Just an American Story

“Time is money” was not true. It was so for the indigenous people living in Alta California, now the U.S. state of California, in the mid-19th century. They moved little by little with the changing seasons in search of food, and time was merely a means to gauge the changes in nature. However, their lives changed drastically when a large influx of Anglo white settlers called “Forty-Niners” (those who flocked to California in the mid-19th century in search of gold) arrived. Their homesites were swept away by water channels dug for gold mining, turning into mounds of dirt. They had to endure high-intensity, low-wage living to sustain their lives. The gold hunters sought to secure the maximum labor force with minimal capital. At the moment when the bell announcing mining operations echoed across the vast plains, time also became money for the indigenous people. For about 200 years since then, similar stories have been repeatedly told around one city: Palo Alto, a city of 70,000 people famous for its high housing prices, intense educational zeal, and Stanford University’s venture dreamers.

[The Typing Baker] Silicon Valley's Dazzling Growth: Innovation or Desire?

A panoramic view of the small city Palo Alto located northwest of Santa Clara, California, USA. Getty Images Bank

In the new book Palo Alto, the Shadow of Capitalism, author Malcolm Harris traces the “deficits” created by American-style capitalism from the Gold Rush era to the heyday of Silicon Valley. Every time a new technology was invented, opportunities to make money arose. The money poured out from the gold mines gave birth to huge agricultural cooperatives like Sunkist, and the agricultural products they produced led to the construction of railroads crossing the North American continent. Railroad trade created banks, and banks generated investment funds that sparked second and third gold rushes around the world. The accumulated capital led to missile and radar development, which then evolved into transistors, wireless communication, and personal computers. The principle by which entrepreneurs in Palo Alto accumulated capital was complex yet, in a way, simple: secure a labor force capable of mass production at low cost, and ensure that they could never rebel against their employers. To this end, “discrimination” between races and classes was systematically designed.

Discrimination is Palo Alto’s greatest invention. Here, it is called “Bionomics” (ecological economics). Its origin can be traced back to 19th-century businessman Leland Stanford. Having amassed enormous wealth from gold mines and the transcontinental railroad, he moved to a suburban mansion to avoid workers protesting low wages. There, he developed a hobby in the horse racing industry and created a new method of horse breeding different from traditional ways. The key was to raise promising foals into excellent racehorses through harsh training. It was considered more economical to break a leg during training at one year old than to raise the horse fully only to have its leg break as an adult horse.

The bionomics revered by Palo Alto’s ruling class was born this way. Eugenics-centered bionomics endlessly pursues the success myth that geniuses rise to higher levels through competition from a young age. It also enables extreme logic that racial differences in ability are clear and that each person has a predetermined role. Leland Stanford founded Stanford University in memory of his son who died of typhoid fever during a world trip, and it is no exaggeration to say that the young people admitted there were trained like “superior horses.” The monsters raised by bionomics expanded globally and used offshoring to find cheap laborers, making it a key means of reducing production costs.

Stanford University campus view. Getty Images Bank

We remember Steve Jobs’ famous speech at Stanford University’s commencement, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.” Many people embraced it as a symbol of a challenging spirit and were enthusiastic about it. But imagine if Jobs, who is presumed to have perfectly embodied bionomics, said the same thing to Foxconn workers who took their own lives due to overwork and stress: “You must live hungry and foolish.” Isn’t that horrifying? In fact, suicide prevention nets were installed on the rooftops of Foxconn factories, and Jobs merely commented, “Foxconn’s suicide rate is lower than the overall U.S. suicide rate.” The same goes for Amazon Prime delivery services and Uber. Ultimately, under the guise of advanced technology, they fill their pockets by exploiting workers. Therefore, the author bluntly states, “Silicon Valley is just a ‘bubble.’” Such things are destined to burst soon.

Is South Korea, which fervently worships American-style capitalism, any different? Racial discrimination and income disparity through real estate prices, fierce educational competition, and the high suicide rate among youth. What happened in Palo Alto is strikingly similar to our reality. The misguided capitalist philosophy that “you must step on others to see further” haunts us like a ghost.