Now, consider your article and where you are in the Silicon Valley ecosystem. You are the CEO of the most visible startup incubator (or whatever you want to call it) in the country. When people — founders or otherwise — think ‘startups’, YCombinator is going to come up.

So, maybe it’s a real problem when you share your thoughts on something you don’t understand. Because, for better or worse, your position means you set boundaries. Similarly ignorant people — and, I mean that in the most innocent sense — will look at you, top of the food chain in their ecosystem, and translate that into assumed authority. You’re like a lighthouse compelling those people to smash themselves upon rocks that don’t affect you — or, more likely, through other people.

That’s why outrage ensued following your post. People use outrage as a negative social sanction because it works, to a degree. It helps limit harm by drawing a line and saying, “no, this is bad!” Sure, it would be better if someone could take you by the hand and calmly walk you through all the reasons you are wrong. But again, remember that arrogant rails newbie? Such effort takes a lot of time and it presupposes a receptivity that you haven’t demonstrated. And, in the meantime, quietly and politely debating you wouldn’t address the ongoing harm that you induce.

You are right on one part — culture acts as a filter upon collaboration. For some reason, you assume that the people who are harder to work with — those less capable of empathy or at least compassion — are the ones more likely to profitably explore the space of technological possibility. I’m not really sure how to address that. It’s pretty preposterous, especially when you consider how much of Silicon Valley operates in socio-technological space.

Then again, it may explain why Silicon Valley keeps fucking up the world. Technology changes the human environment. It’s important to ask, “should we do this?” That’s a hard thing to do because it often puts people at odds with the valorized Fuck-You-Money exit that they desperately want. It’s doubly hard when you don’t have the knowledge necessary to answer that question. And, it’s nearly impossible to do when you don’t even realize it’s a question that should be asked.

Your post expands the population of people working in technology — and, who choose to apply to YC, a firm that drives technological change — who wouldn’t even think to ask “should we do this?” questions.