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Silicon Valley's Secret Philosophers Should Share Their Work

Silicon Valley's Secret Philosophers Should Share Their Work

5 years ago
Anonymous $4ckUSNo_FL

https://www.wired.com/story/silicon-valleys-secret-philosophers-should-share-their-work/

Karl Marx famously complained that “philosophers have only interpreted the world ... The point, however, is to change it.” While it’s doubtful Silicon Valley’s mission to disrupt the world was inspired by Marx, the father of communism captures how many capitalist engineers seem to feel about philosophy: a pointless attempt to answer theoretical questions in the pursuit of fuzzy concepts like wisdom and the examined life. Worse, philosophy is notoriously bad at offering solutions to the problems it poses. And yet, tech giants like Google and Apple have hired in-house philosophers and several others have sought their counsel. What could the solutions-oriented capital of the world possibly want from philosophers?

What could the solutions-oriented capital of the world possibly want from philosophers? We don’t really know, nor does Silicon Valley seem to want us to know.