Fun With Powerset: An Epedemic Of Thyroid Conditions in Silicon Valley. . . And My Ambulatory Hallucinations
By Tom Foremski - May 12, 2008
I'm having fun using Powerset's semantic search technology on Wikipedia and Freebase. I used it to find out what semantic results it produced for the term "Silicon Valley."
That's how I came across an early newsletter from journalist Don Hoefler, who first used the term "Silicon Valley."
In one early issue of his newsletter from 1975 he cites a medical study that shows that Silicon Valley managers have a 75 per cent rate of thyroid problems compared with the overall population of 12 per cent -- all caused by work related stress!
The symptoms include: inability to translate thoughts into actions; rambling writing; inability to get ideas across; and "a tendency to sweep problems under the rug."
A psychologist is quoted: "A superior under stress will tend to feel more comfortable with weaker and less capable suboridnates. A subrdinate under stress will tend to feel that his boss is over-demanding and 'out to get him."
Anybody you know?
I also came across the Silicon Valley Tarot deck and an online reading. My question was: what should I do? In the context of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
I drew the cards: Salesman of Disks, Venture Capital, and Double Latte.
The meaning of this reading:"You know, you should pay more attention to those ambulatory hallucinations you're having. Oh, sure: they'll say you're psychotic if you talk about them, but if you act on them, they'll think you're brilliant."
Excellent advice.
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Posted to Silicon Valley
May 12, 2008 | Permalink | Comment | Subscribe to SVW
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