Context for what comes next: VCs, tech, and societal/environmental costs and benefits
Venture capital has funded many of today's most successful tech companies ("Big Tech"). As those companies rapidly scaled, small harms that perhaps initiated as unknown risks, ballooned. I'm not going to list them all here because I would need way more than 300 words, but here's a selective subset:
- online harassment/bullying,
- hate speech,
- mis/disinformation,
- algorithmic bias that perpetuates racial and gender inequity,
- carbon footprint of crypto mining + data center maintenance,
- human rights/environmental implications of hardware
It may now be obvious that I'm not particularly techno-utopian, accelerationist, or otherwise into futurism that holds technological innovation and up as an inevitability that will lead human society towards the best version of itself. I'll acknowledge that tech has brought society forward on a number of levels, but I don't believe in innovation for innovation's sake.
I do believe in intentional + responsible innovation. We're going to need a lot more of it to solve some of our biggest challenges, like climate adaptation and mitigation, and the (still-theoretical) shift towards a more inclusive, equitable, and prosperous global economy.
So tech founders and operators have their work cut out for them, in terms of both designing tech that does less harm, and designing tech that does more good. The growing consensus that the status quo isn't working for everyone, or even most, does little to help engineers/other operators decide on changes. And tech execs/CEOs are included among the elite few that the status quo handsomely rewards. Incentives matter.
Regarding incentives, investors also have a huge role to play. This is true throughout the entire lifecycle of a company, but especially at the earliest stages when companies are forming their culture, governance, practices, and making critical business model decisions. That's where venture capitalists come in.
If you care about these themes, then follow along.