[Script] The Sins of Silicon Valley - Act 1, Scene 8

 [Images of the Two Towers and Lord of the Rings]

VO: A very memorable quote from Lord of the Rings from Gandalf says, “There is only one Lord of the Ring, only one who can bend it to his will and he does not share power.”  The title of the book refers to the fallen wizard Sarumon who is corrupted thanks to the dark palantir which lets him see vast distances but ultimately exposes his mind to Sauron as a play thing.  A small glass object that gives all the secrets you could ever want?

[Images of Cell phones]

VO: Sound familiar?

[Images of Devices]

VO: And like the Palantir, the wonders of the valley seem magic.  And they are tools that can be used for good or ill.  Computers dont inherently make bad code, people do.  So why do so many things that the dark valley does have seemingly good intentions and yet ends up being corrupted?

[Images of Money and Stock Market]

VO: Just like Lord of the Rings, the rings given to men, dwarves and elves had strings attached.  The money that starts so many startups has strings attached.  Startups need venture capitalists, these ‘investment angels’ like literal fallen angels from the bible seem benevolent but bring all of the problems that capitalism has compounded by the hubris of engineers who dont consider the consequences their technology has on real people and refuse to take responsibility for.

[Images of Sauron’s Army and then cocaine cowboys and wealth]

VO: And like an army of corrupted elves twisted to the will of a fallen wizard, this need for short term quarterly investor profits at the expense of all else drives some very questionable behavior.  The corporate charter that legally shields investors and makes large modern companies possible has been stripped so now their only reason for being is to make money for shareholders at the expense of every other stakeholder imaginable.

[Images of Bezos, Musk and others brazen displays of wealth including mansions etc]

VO: When computers went mainstream in the 80’s, Wall Street made a lot of money.  When the internet came along in the 90’s, they made a lot more money.  When smart phones and social media came on board in the new millennium, they made obscene amounts of money.  As the valley moves fast and breaks things, old obsolete ways of doing business are set by the wayside but they expect the government (ie us, the public) to clean up the damage.  Sound familiar?