The obvious question one might want to ask is what’s happening on university campuses (in Silicon Valley) that creates people like Lonsdale and Thiel.
17
Ah, yes, Stoics like Epictetus, famously rich and powerful.
Give me a break. Stop straw-manning philosophical schools of thought, please.
Cicero famously wrote De Finibus (On Moral Ends), where he argues in favor and against both Epicureanism and Stoicism.
Cicero was an Academic Skeptic.
38
@Jake
Thank you. Cato was a Stoic; Cicero was not. Stoics in the Roman Republic were often considered faintly ridiculous in their ostentatious displays of petty virtue, like not dressing properly for the weather. That wasn't Cicero, who had too much of a sense of humor to be an ideologue. Cicero was a moderate in most matters; on those occasions when he veered from that path, he set himself up for trouble, as when as consul he executed Catiline's conspirators without due process. That is what got him sent later into exile—and that was exile, not "retirement."
Stoicism in Neronian Rome took on a different flavor as a form of resistance to capricious autocracy. But I don't think Silicon Valley will be emulating Seneca and the course of Stoic suicide.
25
Author of this article should first research the basic tenets of Stoicism, which are quite different than what she tried to paint here. Don't cherry pick points that suit your claim, paint the complete picture. The effort has not been made here to distinguish Stoicism and the Silicon Valley version of it.
53
Last week I was riding an elevator in downtown SF with a young white man, probably just a few years out of college. He was attired unremarkably—bubble jacket, jeans, sneakers—but he caught my attention because of the book he was carrying. It was a sort of Dummies guide to Stoicism, “there might be hope yet” I thought. Now I come to learn it’s the latest fad in tech. Of course it is, something has to fill the vast vacuum creating software products of marginal value in Silicon Valley these days. The age of creativity, I’m sorry to observe, is dead, at least in tech, it left with Steve Jobs, only poor imitations remain.
25
" Go and sell all that you have and give to the poor ... then come, follow me ".
38
I teach in San Francisco. Our schools are badly underfunded. Teachers struggle to find housing they can afford - imagine what the low-income families with whom we work endure!
So I find it a bit rich that billionaires well-known for their disinclination to pay reasonable tax rates are finding expensive ways (ten day silent meditation retreats are not cheap, even if you choose to complete them in countries experiencing a genocide) to play at suffering. With no personal pain, they could ease so many people's lives. Instead, they choose hoard wealth and enable inequality and pain.
120
The great Silicon Valley hero Steve Jobs, who famously never missed an opportunity to park in handicapped spots, sure seemed to embody stoicism.
Like everything else from Silicon Valley as taught by their fearless leader Steve Jobs, it is all about manipulating public opinion to give a false sense of the ideals of those from the valley who have nothing noble in mind but simply wish to maximize profit and remove local economic opportunity from the masses.
39
"Stoicism" as defined and practiced by the "Enlightened Ones" of Silicon Valley, appears to be nothing more than sanctimonious, self-absorbed clap trap. Apparently everyone who creates or even works on some App or other thinks they have become Yoda or something.
56
A little stoicism is good for everybody but this . . .
Will the tech philosophers be falling on their swords soon?
Seneca, Cicero and Cato fell afoul of the titans of their day. But, they stood up for something.
What are your values? That is the question to ask.
The Stoicism of Rome meant being keenly aware of the fragility of life. It meant having values humanely oriented when the world looked bleak and dangerous. When those hungry for power were all around a philosophy like stoicism grew in importance.
I have better advice, something more befitting to these tech snowflakes unhappy with life. Simplify your life and plant a garden. No need for all these mental gymnastics to find your humanity. Go out. Get a hobby. Ride a bike. Read a novel. Read history. Become acquainted with those less fortunate. Go to a pub. Discover wine and become knowledgeable about something other than codes, algorithms, wires or making money. But, most importantly, invest your time in people and not call this form of narcissism stoicism. No one will proscribe you. You are under no threat. We all navel gaze from time to time. No need for theatrics.
You know where a rightful place for stoicism is to be found? In those people who have few opportunities to get out of poverty or those unfortunate to have been proscribed by our healthcare system for being born unlucky.
42
This humble reader finds The Times especially invaluable for revealing the lengths wealthy people go to in order to satisfy their need to feel special. Keep it up! What heartwarming schadenfreude results simply from realizing one has escaped such frivolous, ultimately bogus efforts to apprehend reality as are daily detailed in these virtual pages dedicated to the ways of the elite.
28
Stoicism is a harmony of the soul theory in common with Aristotle, who wasn't a Stoic. This harmony is the reward for leading a virtuous life (so virtue is not it's own reward).
But I don't think cold showers are going to make your soul harmonious.
11
Like Stoicism, Buddhism is an "exotic" philosophy/religion that unfortunately lends itself easily to manipulation by the rich and powerful, whether they are found in ancient Rome, World War II-era Japan or Trump's USA. Both Buddhism and Stoicism have a system of ethics, or ethical conclusions that derive from their fundamental principles: "loving kindness" (metta) and compassion in the former, and the basically equal status of all humans insofar as they possess a "spark of the divine" in the latter. Stripping away these ethical principles, elites have used "edited" versions of these doctrines for worldly goals: conquest, domination or, in Silicon Valley, the accumulation of huge amounts of money. We live in a society distinguished by predatory capitalism, and anything brought in from outside is utilized for the greater amassing of wealth and power.
16
Love the illustration! It gave me a giggle. On his way to Aspen, no doubt.
4
@Passion for Peaches – While the illustrator's direction was strong, the execution is off; black parka vest and blue gingham shirt, FTW. Hello from SOMA.
3
I think Nellie Bowles is confusing stoicism with Catholicism.
12
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
43
This so-called “stoicism,” often practiced in multi-million dollar homes, is little more than virtue signaling.
30
If Silicon Valley is embracing Stoicism, it’s virtually guaranteed they’ve got it all wrong and will use it for either evil or nitwitted purposes.
28
The reporter's description of Greek and Roman stoicism is careless and inaccurate. No professor of Classics or Classical philosophy would agree with the reporter's claim that stoicism proposes or advances a justification for the rich being rich and the poor being poor, which is better description of Christianity as practiced by Jesus than it is of stoicism. Was any qualified authority on Greek and Roman stoicism consulted for this reporting? It seems not.
35
@Oltrarno
Ah, but the author is not saying that Stoicism itself advances a justification for the rich being rich. They are saying that the tenets of Stoicism are being used by the elites to justify their world view and status. In other words, it is being used as a claim to authority, regardless of whether the original Stoics meant it or not.
19
Only the extremely wealthy could live a life where they purposely chase with deprivation and discomfort. Maybe if they're really desperate to live a stoic life, they should give away their fortunes, and experience it for real? Pure, utter self-indulgence.
33
@GNol
Agreed. When I read the bit about wearing sandals to walk the dog in December snow, I snorted out loud. A more banal First World Privileged Person's notion of 'suffering' you would be hard pressed to find.
19
@Rachel
Uphill both ways!
6
This #stoicism is just the medicine silicon valley needs!
Deprivation to assuage the guilt of indulging in ruthless exploitation of labor, surveillance, and monetizing of personal data.
A path to #selfactualization to add meaning to lives otherwise singularly defined by profit
10
Do the high-ups in Silicon Valley and the aspiring know how to enjoy life? It sure doesn't seem like it. Everything is a calculated life hack. They should just be and let life unfold. The life hack culture has taken over the Bay Area. I hope the backlash comes soon before everything that is good is turned into a juice bar, cryotherapy center, or keto restaurant. Life hack culture takes the mystery out of life.
9
What they should do is fly to Guatemala in their private jet. Empty their pockets of cash and credit cards and join a caravan north. Then, after walking a 1000 miles, they should cross into the United States through a treacherous desert entry point. Once in, they should make their way to the Central Valley and get a low paid job picking avacodo’s all day for month’s on end do that a bunch of pampered stoics in Palo Alto can have fresh avocado on their toast. A little of that should straighten out their existential dread.
40
Rich, pampered, sequestered. Oh the horror. These are not the real men (or real women). They know no real hardship. If they had real courage, they'd give all their wealth to the most desperate charities. After giving it away, they'd live in very modest circumstances, driving a beat up car (eschewing Teslas) to rebuild their wealth- only to give it all away again. Silicon Valley success stories are an object lesson in vacuousness and self-absorption. No sympathy. Just pity.
22
If these people had earned their money - or even thought they had - they wouldn’t be doing all this stoic nonsense stuff.
11
Absolutely, totally, completely full of themselves.
13
Those of us who have had to deal stoically with adversity...don’t have to playact. I’ve had a lot of adversity in my life as a farmer, as a non white woman... if the people in Silicon Valley want to feel the pain...I’ll be glad to host them and give them an education. How to live on $2 per day...
8
Not really a fair summary of what stoicism is. Stoicism recommends focusing on what one has the most control over: oneself and one's reactions to events.
Not really a fair representation of classical proponents of Stoicism. Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius are far more important that Cicero.
Not really a fair representation of the implications of Stoicism and the power structure. Epictetus was a slave for much of his childhood. Stoicism can be helpful for those who are powerless as well as powerful.
40
@George Born
I think that's part of the point though - the modern tech world's co-opting of Stoicism bears little in common with the original philosophy. It's a cherry-picked and watered down edition suited to the lives of the ultra rich.
10
Stoicism promotes tranquility, but tranquility is not defined by the Stoics to mean serenity, it is defined instead to mean an absence of negative emotion. Fear, anger, jealousy, envy, sadness - Stoicism seeks to minimize the effect these have on our mental health and thus make us not only happier but also better companions to our friends and family. It's often compared to Buddhism because of its focus on the mind - the fundamental belief that our perception of things makes them either good or bad, pleasant or unpleasant. Because the mind is central, we can train our minds through meditation and other practices, such as negative visualization, to minimize negative emotion. Thus, Stoicism is a philosophy that, like Buddhism, emphasizes personal accountability - our suffering is often self-inflicted through our interpretation of external events. Maybe Stoicism appeals to the wealthy of Silicon Valley because, having wealth, they know it's not by itself fully satisfying, they still want to be engaged with their work and pursue various projects, and they need an overall creed to help them navigate human relations, setbacks, obstacles and random events. To say that it's simply a philosophy that allows them to justify what they have - that's so simplistic.
18
Other people's suffering, maybe. Steve Jobs took great delight in regularly parking his license plate less car in handicap parking slots.
It's easy to preach suffering to the worker bees. Been going on for ages.
14
The techies are just pretentious about not having any pretensions.
16
While there may be motivated mischaracterizations of Stoicism among members of the tech business class, five minutes on Massimo Pigliucci's blog How to be a Stoic would debunk this caricature of the philosophy itself. I would also recommend reading Iona Italia's review "In Praise of Stoicism" of Derren Brown's book Happy. I am not a stoic, just a bit annoyed to see lazy hit pieces like this
12
When you have only known comfort and luxury your entire life, pretending to "rough it" allows you to think you're not a weakling that has been carried through life.
44
A classical stoic would readily ignore descriptions of stoicism such as the erroneous and revisionist one offered by Ms. Bowles here.
28
Like Buddhism, Stoicism is being distorted to fit the needs and interests of a self-satisfied elite who - in stark contrast to genuine Buddhists or Stoics - "settle for more" rather than "settle for less." It's just ego-preening meant to mask the essentially selfish nature of the Silicon Valley elite.
31
I'm more interested in why this author has so much difficulty with people's laudable attempts at self reflection and insight. Getting to know one's self better is something we can all benefit from.
10
My goodness! Where would we be without a New York Times columnist informing us what "the people of Silicon Valley" are doing? For some odd reason, I've never noticed any of this, but I only live and work here. I must have missed this Tweet. Or was it an Instagram post? (I can't be bothered with either of them, which I guess explains it.)
3
Duh. Once business becomes big, no matter what it started out, it’s all about profits for shareholders and fat cats. Making the sheep think that working hard for little will benefit them and make them virtuous is the same old game.
6
Maybe Stoicism is timeless, maybe not. But greed is. So is the neurosis inflicted by absurd wealth. Silicon Valley has gotten a pass for decades because most people were distracted by the whiz-bang of its gizmos and believed those companies were prioritizing the public good as they filled their coffers. We know now that they did not and will not unless forced. The prevailing "ethics" of the tech industry are anti-democratic and anti-equity and built on the sense of entitlement that has always infected the rich. These poseurs should spend less time practicing their pseudo-philosophy and more time thinking about how they can make good on their industry's thus-far mostly empty promises to make life better and solve the problems that matter most to most people.
7
Wow. That was about as shallow a take on Stoicism that I have read to date. Better go back and actually read Seneca, Epectitus, and Marcus. By the way, Cicero wasn’t a Stoic.
28
Seriously? It's the rest of us, upon whom our Silicon Valley overlords continuously impose their latest get-rich technologies, who are suffering.
4
Elizabeth Holmes, a college dropout, is a fan of Marcus Aurelius? Color me pink. Marcus was an educated, honorable man who served his people with distinction. Holmes? Enough said.
6
@Tapani
Not to defend Holmes for any other reason, but to call someone who left Stanford to create a promising start-up "a college dropout" is pretty absurd. Criticize her for everything else she did, sure, but calling her a "college dropout" like that is equally silly when one imagines you leveraging it against Gates and Zuckerberg too.
1
@Alex
Spare me this petty defense of Holmes; whether she should be called a college dropout or a crook who decided that fraud was preferable to a college education is meaningless.
8
@Alex
She didn't leave college to create a promising start-up; she left college to perpetrate a fraud.
8
The real issue here is that tech in general has two devastating effects: it separates us from our inner lives, and it separates us from nature. Humans cannot survive, let alone thrive, without those profound connections. No one knows this better than the tech workers themselves. I live near Silicon Valley, and the depth of its emptiness is horrifying.
10
One of the traps of a Buddhist practice is to become overly self-focused. Similarly, quoting Stoic philosophers can allow a person to flaunt their knowledge while being self-absorbed (this is big on Billions). These are egotistical behaviors masquerading as principled ones; they show that you are in the club.
The irony here is that there is little self control in Silicon Valley. Instead of running barefoot in winter, I'd like to see SV leaders display self control by refraining from treating their young employees like their own private meat market. The ways in which companies make life chores easy for their employees (e.g., laundry and grooming services, free food, meditation rooms) are simply ploys for keeping the peasants in their fraternity house-influenced workplaces for 16 hours a day. It would be more helpful to build affordable housing so employees don't have to live in their cars.
18
Well as both a former philosophy major and an engineer at one of the large tech companies in this article, I will ignore the mischaracterization of Stoicism here, but I will tell you I have never once seen works from stoic authors adorning the desks of my rank and file coworkers.
16
@Jordan
I've never seen it at work, but I'm sure plenty of us do have Meditations on our bookshelves at home.
2
I usually find the illustrations accompanying Times articles to be so-so, but the illustration for this article made me laugh for five minutes. Kudos to Tracy Ma. Her image perfectly illustrates the truth of the Latin proverb by Erasmus: "Vestis virum facit" ("clothes make the man").
This is the second time I've noticed Ma's work. Her graphics for the an earlier Times' article, "Clouds in My Coffee! A Supertall Skyscraper Sleepover," were also outstanding:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/02/22/style/one-57-manhattan-skyscraper-condominiums.html
2
I do not think the author of this piece has a very good idea of what Stoics believed. They did not argue that one should seek out and experience suffering. There is a religion that DID argue that - as Nietzsche pointed out, one can recognize in that the Christian promotion of asceticism ("the meek shall inherit..."). Nor did Stoics argue that things are "good underneath" and for the status quo to be protected.
Stoicism is built on a few simple ideas, many of which are embodied in the classic Serenity Prayer, and most of which concern one's disposition towards the situations you find yourself in. To realize that you don't control most outcomes and be ok. To face your life with equanimity. To recognize that most unease comes from one's own perceptions of things. THOSE are Stoic principles. Whatever these doofuses are doing by starving themselves and taking cold showers sounds to me more like boredom and self-harm "to feel something".
53
I'm confused; why Cicero? I did not think he was particularly associated with stoic philosophy. He was more of a rhetorician and political theorist. As a philosopher, I believe he identified more with the Academy (i.e. Plato and Aristotle) than the stoics. Stoicism really took off as the every-mans philosophy later during the imperial era, anyway. Seneca and Epictetus are the names most commonly associated with stoicism.
21
The lists of the Ancients that are periodically pushed forward on the stage to give answers to the answer men are familiar.
Swallows and Capistrano or maybe the list makers are thinking of Locusts and nineteen years (need to recycle to keep it fresh).
We will all be reminded of the wisdom of Sun Tzu as martial responses are needed to respond to attacks on the Walls of Sand Hill Road.
1
I'm in IT, not in Silicon valley, but near by, in California. Like most in IT, I look at a screen all day. I deal with a lot of data and very, very complex requirements for organizing the data and reports. My work environment is kind of dead - there is no life.
I'm grateful for this job. It pays well, and I feel like I'm contributing. It's just that there is no life in computers, and, for all the good they do, they also drain the life out of you. I'm always looking for ways to balance out the dry materialism of my job with something real, like a walk in nature, or gardening. Perhaps that is what Stoicism is addressing here.
8
The stoics will always be popular among intelligent young individuals who seek to gain dominance over the day-to-day tossings and turnings of life. Anyone who reads the ultimate popular stoic aphorist, Marcus Aurelius, would understand that he does not posit everything in the world is perfect. Marcus Aurelius makes plenty clear that he views his time on the Danube in a negative light. He doesn't argue that this is a good experience; he only argues that it must be done -- as he must do all other duties associated with being Roman emperor.
This is the power of modern stoicism. It is recognition that certain things must be done regardless of how difficult they may be. I see this philosophy in medical school as well. Now, self-inflicting suffering is utterly pretentious. Stoics shouldn't desire suffering. They only know that suffering is inevitable, and that what truly matters is how one deals with it.
22
"And yet, the people of Silicon Valley seem determined to make themselves miserable. They sit in painful, silent meditations for weeks on end. They starve for days — on purpose. Cold morning showers are a bragging right. Notoriety is a badge of honor."
I have lived, studied, and worked in Silicon Valley for all but the firs four years of my life.
The text quoted above has virtually nothing whatsoever to do with the reality of the place. I know no one determined to live a miserable life. Neither I nor anyone I know has sat "in silent, painful meditations for weeks on end. I've never met one of these people who "starve for days" — aside from some who live in poverty. Notoriety a badge of honor? Well, perhaps for a few... just like in Washington, New York, and many other places.
8
This article totally mischaracterizes Stoicism and, as result, entirely misses why it is popular in the tech culture.
As you can see just by spending 10 minutes reading Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations," Stoicism is not about subjecting oneself to pain, does not believe that the world is perfect, and does believe that the rich were meant to be rich. Instead, it teaches to not be driven by desires, money or emotion, to accept what you cannot change, and to focus instead on what you can change - eg to help others. It is popular, not just among the tech crowd, but generally among educated nonreligious people, because it provides a useful life philosophy for people who are not religious. A lot of Stoicism's tenets are very consistent with the morality taught by New Testament Christianity, which is not surprising since early Christian thinkers borrowed from it extensively.
49
They're just proving to the world that money doesn't buy happiness and that the tech community is just as susceptible to conformity and groupthink as any.
It's hard being humble and even harder being honest and independent....
3
The Lonsdales seem no different from all the other right wingers. They just say they feel guilty about what they promote, and allow to happen to others.
7
Is it really Ciceronian stoicism or an American attitude held over from the Puritan settlers and distilled on the western frontier? Sure, the founding fathers were well-read in the classics, but I find it more likely that this Spartan ethic (seen in Emerson, Thoreau, Hemingway, and many others) is its own, singular American attitude.
6
As for why: because it helps them rationalize the production of useless, destructive technology in the pursuit of more money.
23
@Randall
Stoicism sounds rough. I prefer whatever philosophy affords the mind-reading ability like this guy clearly has.
@Randall I’m not following.
1
@Randall You wrote: "because it helps them rationalize the production of useless, destructive technology in the pursuit of more money."
You cannot make money selling useless technology. People will not buy it. They only buy things they need or want.
How people interpret a philosophy tells you more about them than it does about it.
45
Color me skeptical of these high tech Stoics. When you brag about your stoic practices on your podcast or in your slick press interview, it is not a path to seeking wisdom and virtue but just one more way to build your "personal brand."
Or else in the case of the Cicero Institute, it's a way to give an appearance of gravitas to your political lobbying against "corruption," aka the will of citizens to have some regulation of the next start-up project to privatize prisons and healthcare.
I recall the previous Silicon Valley enchantment with Buddhism and overcoming the "illusion" of the self––practiced as a competitive sport by mega-famous men who believe in the self (or at least their self) to the exclusion of almost everything else.
26
I love the comments that begin with ( essentially) i know nothing about the subject being discussed but will comment anyway!
I am an ancient historian but woukd not consider mysekf an expert on stoicism. But i have read much on the subject. One of the important and basic tenets is the belief in a benevelent god and in the idea that peopke do evil things out of ignorance of the good, which is the plan of the benevolent god. In terms of how to lead ones life what is important is that you can not control others except by trying to educate them of the goid, and that what you can or should try to control is your response to what others do or say. It is also a universalist philosophy, which leads ine to consider insekf part of the brotherhood of man.
4
Socrates may have met with early stoics visiting Athens when he was a young man.
Plato and then Aristotle became the foundation for what's called academia today. The resurgence of stoicism was in someways a reaction against it, continuing to this day it sounds like from this article of yours.
Easy, and maybe even necessary for a billionaire, but self-imposed suffering is probably not needed when you're working 90 hours a week (not counting the hours you spend parked on the 101), and can still barely afford your room in a house you share with seven other people.
17
It's so hard to find a meaningful primal experience anymore. We still have a biological heritage to answer to. We crave the rigors, risk and simplicity that have always come with survival, strife, exploration and adventure. Bringing this to bear on the prevailing concept of wealth and the values that come with wealth is interesting. Instead of ease and greed, a more physical life, a community of happier, healthier people.
5
I don't tink the original Stoics would agree that greed is good.
40
@betty durso
Agreed. Nor do I recall Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius counseling us to move fast and break things.
5
I don’t think much of the article’s characterization of Stoicim is particularly accurate (it isn’t inherently masochistic) but that’s somewhat a distinction without a difference to the author’s thrust about a philosophical affectation of a certain set of rich people needing to broadcast their insecurity, and the general Valley mentality that you can (and should) hack your way through life and to happiness.
Jack Dorsey walking five miles to work and telling people about it or Elizabeth Holmes distributing “Meditations” is because, well, they’re weird.
My theory is (“real”?) Stoics don’t talk about it so much as do it. I’m glad we have Marcus Aurelius’ book, but he sure as heck never meant it for anybody but himself.
12
Tech and SV are not about suffering. They are about catering to people's laziness. Period.
4
Those with easily gotten, full, fat bellies are best equipped to navel gaze.
p.s. If someone from Silicon Valley wants to put themselves to good use, they can volunteer to come clean my house while I'm out trying to earn a living.
12
Suffering is not the point of stoicism, "parrhesia" is.
Parrhesia is the ability to speak as a citizen from the depths of your soul at personal risk if need be. So MLK spoke as a stoic and so to Parkland surivors.
Stoicism has been misinterpreted by our Puritan asceticism. This rear-projected and shallow form of "stoic asceticism" is a post-Reformation version of Christian asceticism.
Stoics can be good citizens precisely because they are willing to endure the consequences of speaking truth to power. To do that one must both plumb the depths of subjectivity AND understand the power dynamics of politics.
Two great thinkers around this deeper understanding of stoicism are the late Foucault and Augusto Boal. Foucault's emphasis is ontology, the construction of a stoic psyche. Boal focuses on how to wield power under oppression.
If you get this deeper version of stoicism, there is no need for cold showers.
57
A true stoic would have no time to reply here.
8
I don’t think what’s being described here is stoicism. I say this given my relation to many people who live and work in this area and ascribe to these silly obsessions.
6
This article seems to have a flawed understanding of stoicism. The core of stoicism isn’t about pain - it’s about knowing what you can and cannot change, and modifying your behavior accordingly. Even a brief scan of Epictetus should make that clear.
31
Why do I sense this is not what the C-suite of Sillycon Valley really practices, so much as the seed of a personality cult that subliminally tells workers, "You can take bad work conditions. Your boss suffers too. You don't need that union!"?
Instead of getting in line to pay for creepy tech and marketing-NOT-"tech", let's support actual tech and free software. At least avoid Ring and Alexa.
14
There are lots of competitive sociopaths and geeks in Silicon Valley high tech scenes. They are often unable to related other humans in human level, but excels in calculations and rational thinking. Stoicism is a perfect rationalization for their inability.
Maybe they should meditate on the fact that we are all going to die eventually, and then think about adopting the philosophy of compassion and selfless service. You can be stoic and be compassionate too.
10
They can afford to suffer this way. It assuages their guilt of being filthy rich.
Most working people have no choice in their daily toil, it's unavoidable and thrust upon them by society if not directly by their boss. There's a money based pecking order and they are above this fray. The Silicon Valley stoics can choose at any moment to walk away from their self imposed exile as digital monks. They flip the bromide on it's head, more means less to this well-monied clergy.
8
Oh brother.
I'm not well-versed on the philosophy of Stoicism but I do recognize spoiled and bored adults when I see them. They're the same as spoiled and bored children. I think a reason for the boredom is that they know, deep down and despite riches, they haven't done anything really meaningful for themselves or others.
As we used to say in the old days: Get a life. No need to flog yourself to feel something.
17
“We’re kept in constant comfort,” said Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, in an interview on Daily Stoic, a popular blog for the tech-Stoic community. Mr. Rose said he tries to incorporate practices in his life that “mimic” our ancestors’ environments and their daily challenges: “This can be simple things like walking in the rain without a jacket or wearing my sandals in the December snow when I take the dog out in the mornings.”
I'm guessing he still doesn't scrub his own toilet.
20
I have to say this article is pretty poorly analyzed.
"people of Silicon Valley seem determined to make themselves miserable." Come on, we're not talking about the practice of monks flagellating themselves to embody the pains of Christ.
Each one of the practices mentioned has a remarkable positive psychological impact. Especially, the 10-day meditation retreats (check out www.dhamma.org for more information)! Also, as a quicker test, take a cold shower in the morning and feel your endorphins pump afterward. This is definitely not to make you "miserable" and to imply that it does is really spreading misinformation.
As far as stoicism being for the elites you should really understand the story of Epictetus (IMO the best of the Stoics) who started life as a slave and then earned his freedom and taught as a philosopher for years. He was definitely not an elite and talked about the emptiness of putting worth in possessions...the only worth is in maintaining your character and living a life by your character (not following the whims of the masses). This is all paraphrased of course, but they are not really "fatalists" as this article implies saying that everything is "meant to be" such as being rich. Rather, the message is, that whatever situation you are in, high or low, you should live by your character and find happiness in who you are.
6
This article is ill-informed, both about Stoicism and meditation. Where on earth do any Stoic philosophers say that "everything in the universe is already perfect and that things that seem bad or unjust are secretly good underneath." Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Cicero say nothing of the sort.
Neither Stoicism nor (mindful) meditation are about making oneself suffer and be miserable. Just the opposite. Both practices share many similar attributes about relieving human suffering, and paying attention to one's inner states.
40
@jrinsc
Voluntary facing of pain can reduce some forms of suffering though.
But I agree there is a difference between Stoicism and being a Masochist.
1
In the post-Christian void, there is room for all kinds of archaic moral codes and belief systems to return. I’m sure witchcraft and voodoo will make a return at some point.
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@Greg As opposed to the other archaic moral code of Christianity?
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@Brian
I knew one of you was going to get around to bashing Christianity eventually.
Just couldn’t help yourself, eh?
I’m so glad you cite Ada Palmer. It’s abundantly clear to me also that the tech scions of Silicon Valley, despite all their prating about the objectivity and rationalism of their engineering, rather coopt and misread convenient worldviews to justify their wealth, and try to make it seem that their often dumb and unethical ideas are borne of the greatest integrity and insight. What makes them dangerous is that they seriously buy into it—it’s not just branding—and it’s very bad for democracy (we already know how Thiel thinks on this subject). If you believe you’re the second coming of Cicero, why would you deign to listen to a city counsel member or a member of Congress? They should listen to you and do what you say.
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I trudge through my copy of “Moral Letters to Lucilius”, the Stoic philospher Seneca’s letters to his younger pupil, to find some measure of inner peace in this frenetic world.
The author noted the convenient dichotomy in the one of the tenents that things in the world make sense as they are—appropriated by tech industry adherents— “the rich are meant to be the rich and the poor, poor.”
I cringe late at night by my bedside whenever Seneca mentions his or his friend’s Slaves.
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'Stoics believed that everything in the universe is already perfect and that things that seem bad or unjust are secretly good underneath.'
It's bad enough to see the philosophy reduced to a lifehack, with an article that doesn't even mention its most basic tenets, but this is an awful interpretation. The idea that one should wish that everything happens as it does is more about a mindset that avoids obsessing over how things should have happened differently (which is a waste of time and energy) and instead focuses on how to act in the situation as it exists, including how to change what you feel is wrong or unjust. (E.g., it's more useful to accept trump's election as an inevitable and necessary symptom of a sick system, and look at how to change that system, than to just wish it had never happened or rage over it.)
The misinterpretation, which has become attractive to white supremacists, is more akin to saying that Christians have no problem with murder because sin can be forgiven.
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Is this meant as satire? Is this a parody of madness?
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"Why Is Silicon Valley So Obsessed With the Virtue of Suffering?"
They're not suffering.
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"Why Is Silicon Valley So Obsessed With the Virtue of Suffering?"
This is a rich headline coming from a publication who obsesses over matters of privilege and victimization. Your paper is actively trying to find a mathematically perfect hierarchy of victimhood so that people can just settle political debates by adding up their immutable traits and spitting out the answer. "I am a transgendered white male, and therefor, my argument is made invalid by you, a disabled Hispanic lesbian." There are plenty of awful people in this world guided by harmful personal philosophies - why on earth would you waste your time writing a snarky article about people trying to improve themselves?
Perhaps the writers at the Times could use a dose of stoicism. The attempt to master one's own feelings so that they don't control you is an admirable endeavor for anyone attempting to forge a path in this world. Because an individual has had more privilege in their life than another in no way means that the person's life is free from obstacles, challenges, and pain. People of all backgrounds - particularly those who have distressed lives and histories - should take an interest in finding healthy and productive methods for shouldering the burdens they carry with them.
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The author is misguided. Stoicism isn’t about keep the poor poor and the rich rich. It’s about maintaining balance in one’s inner life and cultivating virtue. Here we see a political bent by a NYT writer who wants make a political point. The poor can benefit from the study of the philosophy of Stoicism as much as the rich can.
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Wow, Stoicism comes to Silicon Valley reads like satire! Boo hoo for the folks whose revolution is mere gadgetry in service of the corporate overloads of the drones and proles. I guess turning their advocacy focus to deregulation, means that the next next thing for the Silicon Valley Stoics will be Republicanism, and not the type rooted in ancient Greece.
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"We're fantastically wealthy and can afford giving ourselves discomfort on a schedule."
About as clueless as when Romney, child of a car company CEO, was reminiscing during his campaign about the time when he and his wife "were poor".
Get over yourselves, stoics, and give everyone back the rights to their own data which you profit so very much from.
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I didn't know stoicism was a thing among Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, though I live here. I did however, read the English translations of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and The Art of Living by Epictetus. They contain principles of how to be detached from the pursuit of transient things, and how one should strive to become a good person regardless of external motivations, similarly found in Buddhism and Confucianism. I don't know how or why the author concludes that Stoic philosophy believes that the world is fine the way it is and therefore it validates a class structure.
My 2nd comment is on the paragraph "The Cicero Institute promises to fight for the business opportunities of entrepreneurs by focusing on deregulation, with special attention paid to making it easier to build start-ups around prisons, health care and education. Mr. Lonsdale proposes that “private prison contracts tie financial incentives to performance measures,” for instance.
Those are exactly the areas that should not be privatized. Nothing good has ever come of privatizing prisons, health care and education. Salman Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, whom I admire very much, concluded that the only sustainable business model for education is non-profit. I believe the same is true for health care and rehabilitation system. We in the US are too blinded by capitalism and don't want to learn from Nordic countries. This has nothing to do with Stoicism, just greed.
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As one who considers himself a Stoic, I have to disagree with the Ms. Bowles assertion that Stoics “…seem determined to make themselves miserable. They sit in painful, silent meditations for weeks on end. They starve for days — on purpose. Cold morning showers are a bragging right.” There is nothing in Stoicism that advocates being miserable, just as there is no edict in Christianity to literally drag a wooden cross through the streets or handle rattlesnakes, but people often take an idea too far and lose sight of the original intent. I won’t go into explaining Stoicism, plenty have done so, but I will point out that anything done for bragging rights or to draw attention, is the antithesis of Stoicism.
I was a Stoic before I knew it was a “thing.” After a life in the fire service, I firmly believed we have little control over what happens to us, but complete control over how we respond. I believed life is short, we could die at any moment, so don’t place too much stock in the things that don’t matter. I learned to embrace fate and make the best of any moment instead of wishing it to be something else. I had no idea my beliefs were aligned with Stoicism, I always thought Stoics were just silent, dour people. I consider myself a happy person, lusting for experiences and joy, savoring every moment, not one who is seeking misery or suffering.
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There is something to learn from this article on the practice of Stoicism by the tech community. It’s a great error to construct causation from a correlation of a small group of believers in philosophy or, for that matter, religion — in order to holistically critique that belief or practice. This is a fact of life, but one must delve deeper to find truth. Stoicism doesn’t create or promote the abuse of the tech community. It is a practice to deal with human error, which we all possess. If anything, the CEO of a tech company who makes an error or is misguided finds the practice of Stoicism a comfort to push toward finding the right solution. There is no virtue of ‘misery’ in Stoicism, as was misstated by the author. The stoic virtues are wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice. These all help each person pick themselves up off the ground and work towards the main goal of life, which Stoicism teaches is ‘living in harmony with nature’ (i.e. mutual cooperation to help one another). The odd practices of Stoicism highlighted by the author are just simple ways to prepare oneself for the unforeseeable discomforts of life. They are simple mind preparation games— not to create misery but to prevent misery. Anyone who takes a cold shower in the morning knows right after it you feel much happier and awake than a hot shower. There is wisdom there. All in all, to believe in a black and white life blinds a person to be a part of the solution to our 21st-century problems.
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@Patrick James
I suspect Nellie Bowles is aware that the way these millionaires and billionaires are defining their brand of Stoicism is not in fact a cultivation of those stoic virtues, especially a commitment to justice.
The Cicero Institute appears to believe Stoicism is the school of thought best able to help them fight off the "corruption" of those who would want to regulate their for-profit start-ups.
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A dear friend, a non-religious man who has achieved life-changing success in battling decades of alcohol addiction through daily participation in Alcoholics Anonymous, has told me this sentence is the ultimate Stoic mantra:
"Grant to us the serenity of mind to accept that which cannot be changed; courage to change that which can be changed, and wisdom to know the one from the other."
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So tech will solve problems and RELIEVE suffering?
Think again.
This turn to revel in suffering is a guy thing.
And it's a power thing. No other reason.
Not a surprise that ultra-conservative Cicero Institute - also guy and power fueled - found an opening in Silicon Valley and are putting down roots.
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@Berkeley Bee
There is a difference between personal suffering voluntarily accepted and imposing suffering on others by force.
When astronauts stay in space for extended periods, their bones and muscles atrophy. Similarly, we live in a world of zero gravity. In order for our bodies and minds to find their optimal point of operation we must artificially supply that "gravity". We have to go to the gym, run, bicycle, etc. We deliberately restrict the quantities and timing of food we eat. Even when it's done right it can't help but look like self flagellation.
It's generally a good idea but suffering in itself isn't necessarily good. Whatever gravity we apply to our lives has to be in tune with our biological reality. It is not enough just to be miserable.
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I'm in my 20's here in Austin, I run my own film company, and I'm active in environmental causes. I grew up religious but didn't find solace in religion while struggling towards "success". I was working hard and Stoicism provided me with a mental framework to process that pain and continue on. I say all of this so that you can understand where I'm coming from, I'm a high achiever looking to have a positive impact.
Now, you seem ready to cast Stoicism as bad for people since it encourages people to find pleasure, despite the pain. I ask you, what is nobler? I struggle all the time trying to make it as a young business owner. I fill my empty time trying to better myself so that I can contribute more to society. That creates real pain since I sacrifice my own short term pleasures for the long-term growth of our society.
If you read the books on Stoicism you mention, you would see that they are a way for the individual to process the struggles of the world. How people use that internal process is up to them. Yes, bad people can use it, but you can say the same for literally every other religion or philosophical practice. This article threw shade on many positive people (Kevin Rose and Tim Ferriss in particular) and positive practices (practicing stoicism, meditation, fasting, cold showers). Why, Nellie Bowles?
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Stoicism has a wide range of philosophies and views. There are agnostic and athiesitic stoics, christian stoics, and many others. I am not a techie nor wealthy but am a novice student of the stoics and view stoicism and it's teachings as the best possible way to understand the individual and their standing in the universe. Stoics advocate for virtue and morality in society. Stoics believe in a life well lived, not a life of punishing physical adversity or physical pain- that is from another philosophical school.
Sadly it seems that these leaders in tech are trying to fill a hole of emptiness brought about by sudden physical and material wealth and a lack of virtue. When one achieves success at an early age, what else is left? I hope that study of Stoicisms leads them to contemplate the un importance of material wealth and instead try to help their fellow humanity and world.
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The author falls into the classic trap of equating Stoicism with our modern definition of “being a stoic.” Stoicism does not celebrate pain or discomfort (or comfort and success, for that matter), nor does it suggest the universe is perfect as is. Instead, it provides a mental framework to help one identify those things they can control and those which are beyond their control—and therefore not worth sweating. For instance, you cannot control the rain, so if you’re caught out in a downpour there’s no point in grousing about it. You CAN control what you wear and carry with you, so better to focus your energy on preparing for the day than complaining on how it turned out.
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@Brad Sukala This article is also fascinating in laying out the remarkable lack of reading comprehension in our various tech founders. Stoicism was not about making tons of cash and being a master of the universe through weird ascetic practice, but rather being the master of oneself, with an emphasis on simplicity. Honestly, most of these would-be stoics sound like edgy 14 year-olds trying to freak mom out.
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@Area Woman
Well said––and wittily said––Area Woman!
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Stoicism of the personal habits of the rich and super rich are nice little efforts to stave off any twinges of guilt.
A disciplined personal routine is by no means comparable to the true suffering of people who can't afford their rent, who have nowhere to live, who work two and three jobs to make ends MEET - but never have a dime for anything extra.
Are these "Stoics" able to travel whenever and wherever they wish? What do their homes look like? How many homes do they HAVE? Do they have to turn down medical care on a regular basis because they can't afford it? Do they have to ration their prescription medicines? Do they live 1-2 hours away from work because they can't afford anything within a hundred miles of the office?
Moreover, what are these "Stoics" doing to help others?
Have they ever thought of having their companies - Facebook, Google, Apple, etc. - buy up blocks and blocks of existing housing in big, over-gentrified cities so that there is a significant amount of permanent affordable housing for the rest of humanity?
Those purchases would barely make a dent in their profits, but they'd make SO MUCH DIFFERENCE in the goodwill of the cities where they are headquartered.
Stoicism as a personal pursuit of the wealthy is nice. It's better than glorying in your wealth. But it rings more than a bit hollow when they do not make daily efforts to relieve the true suffering of others. And not just by checkbook charity.
"Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel."
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So when this philosophy takes root among the left coast's cultural and economic leadership, this is a lifestyle choice and business mindset we admire, but when it is a multigenerational way of life borne of the necessity to survive the severely unpredictable nature of mother nature and the vagaries of the ag business in the middle of the country, it's grist for caricature.
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I did the Valley 1983-90 and again 1999-2001. First round taught me what to do when you can do anything. Second round taught me that the place is infected with people who love reading their reviews (Wired, Business 2.0 so on and so forth). Stoicism is nothing to do with it. If they wanted to suffer they wouldn’t live someplace that is perpetually 72 degrees, sunny and smack dab between the Pacific Ocean and the Sierras.
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I would disagree with the author's analysis of Stoicism. The philosophy is opposed to the accumulation of riches and the selfishness of ruling classes in general. From Epictetus: "Aiming therefore at [true happiness], remember that you must not allow yourself to be carried, even with a slight tendency, towards the attainment of lesser things. Instead, you must entirely quit some things and for the present postpone the rest. But if you would both have these great things, along with power and riches, then you will not gain even the latter, because you aim at the former too: but you will absolutely fail of the former, by which alone happiness and freedom are achieved."
Many Stoics, especially the early ones, advocated for a society that reflected more of an agrarian communalism rather than the neoliberal fantasies of the tech executives, as written in Zeno's Republic. Like the Roman upper classes, the Silicon Valley elite have twisted a philosophy that argued for a brotherhood of all people into an excuse for the continued dominance of the capitalist class.
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I am moderately familiar with various Stoic writers, including Cicero, Epictetus, and others, and would not characterize the main thrust of Stoicism as being about how the world is perfect as it is.
Rather, it's about how you personally have the ability to control your own responses to the stressors of life. No one has the power to disrupt your calm if you don't permit it. You can sit in the middle of intense pain and survive it. You can choose to live with integrity even as the ethical framework of the world around you collapses. Both joy and pain are fleeting, and you can find joy in pain and vice versa.
It's a highly useful philosophy for living in hard times and enduring an extremely stressful environment. My hypothesis is that's the root of the Silicon Valley interest in the Stoics -- and in Buddhism, incidentally. (I don't think Stoics were big on silent meditation retreats.)
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@ae Exactly! There is no contradiction between learning to recognize that you have little control over external events, only over your reactions to them, and also at the same time recognizing that things are NOT the way they should be and that it's your duty to work to improve them. (After all, if the world was perfect, why would the Stoics need to devote so much attention to how to deal with pain and suffering?)
I have read Irvine's book, but it doesn't sound like the author of this article has.
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@ae. But this is also what leaves it open to a lot of skepticism: it's much easier to say you are enduring pain when that pain is self-inflicted, or that you accept your lot in life when that lot is pretty good. It's also an abdication of responsibility for changing external circumstances, which is often actually possible if enough people gather the energy and willpower to do so. It makes expending energy on anything other than your own well-being seem like a waste, and that mainly benefits people who are already benefiting from the current system. I'm not an anti-Stoic, but I don't believe that no one has the power to disrupt your cal if you don't permit it. That sounds like the perspective of someone living in relative ease, and also the perspective of someone who mainly has to take care of themselves.
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