E88: SILICON SCAMS: Exposing Lazy Workers & Venture Capitalists w/ Dr. Emmanuel Maggiori

Dr. Emanuel Maçiori, author of Silicon, exposes how the tech industry wastes capital, hoards idle workers, and creates hype cycles built on fake problems and misaligned incentives.

Guest Bio: Dr. Emanuel Maçiori is a software engineer and researcher specializing in artificial intelligence. He is the author of Smart Intell Dumb and Silicon: How the Tech Industry Solves Fake Problems, Hoards Idle Workers, and Makes Doomed Bets with Other People’s Money. His work critiques inefficiencies in both AI development and the venture capital ecosystem.

Topics Discussed (in order):

• Viral blog post on doing no work at a prestigious tech job
• Origins of Silicon and tech idleness culture
• Twitter layoffs and the illusion of productivity
• Agile methodology and infantilization of tech workers
• Pointless jobs, “planning poker,” and bloated task estimates
• VC incentives, 2% management fees, and questionable fund performance
• Profitless companies and the illusion of growth (Uber, Spotify, etc.)
• Founder bootcamps and “recipe-driven” startup factories
• Hype cycles, survivorship bias, and inflated valuations
• ZIRP (Zero Interest Rate Policy) and the rise of fake innovation
• AI investment hype vs. business case reality
• Diminishing returns on LLMs and data exhaustion
• Government startup grants and the illusion of job creation
• “Moonshot” bias in VC funding vs. solving real-world problems
• Final message: be boring, solve real problems, and aim for sustainable businesses

Top Quote:

“Let’s go back to boring. The most successful people I’ve met lately solved a real problem they understood deeply—and built boring companies that actually work.”

📺Watch the full episode ➡️https://youtu.be/dGg1PF67knM

🎙 The Pod is hosted by Jesse Wright
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