This is a thread about how utterly in love with Penelope Scott's song Rät I am. It's a breakup song to Silicon Valley and Elon Musk in particular. It is 🔥🔥🔥 on the promise, failure, and disappointment of technology. Some of my favorite lyrics:
/ God damn, I fell for you, your flamethrowers, your tunnels, and your tech
/ I studied code because I wanted to do something great like you
/ And the real tragedy is half of it was true
/ I studied code because I wanted to do something great like you
/ And the real tragedy is half of it was true
(This is the problem with the promise of tech, right? There IS promise. So much to fall for in that expectation for tech to be for the public good, but then... it's possible that the potential is the part that's true and the execution is the part that's not.)
/ I bit the apple 'cause I trusted you, it tastes like Thomas Malthus
/ Your proposal is immodest and insane
/ And I hope someday Selmers rides her fuckin' train
(These references are so brilliant I'll just quote the Genius annotation rather than try to unpack it myself.)
/ Your proposal is immodest and insane
/ And I hope someday Selmers rides her fuckin' train
(These references are so brilliant I'll just quote the Genius annotation rather than try to unpack it myself.)
/ I loved you, I loved you, I loved you, it's true
/ I wanted to be you and do what you do
/ I lived here, I loved here, I thought it was true
/ I feel so stupid, and so used
(Raise your hand if you've worked in tech and have felt this.)
/ I wanted to be you and do what you do
/ I lived here, I loved here, I thought it was true
/ I feel so stupid, and so used
(Raise your hand if you've worked in tech and have felt this.)
/ Well I don't want to eat the rich, I'd have to eat my heroes first
/ And my tuition's paid by blood, I might deserve your fate or worse
/ Let me level with you, man, as someone guilty of the game
/ I took the help, I took the cash, I would've taken your last name
(Or this. 🙌)
/ And my tuition's paid by blood, I might deserve your fate or worse
/ Let me level with you, man, as someone guilty of the game
/ I took the help, I took the cash, I would've taken your last name
(Or this. 🙌)
/ When I said take me to the moon, I never meant take me alone
/ I thought if mankind toured the sky, it meant that all of us could go
/ But I don't want to see the stars if they're just one more piece of land
/ For us to colonize, for us to turn to sand
/ I thought if mankind toured the sky, it meant that all of us could go
/ But I don't want to see the stars if they're just one more piece of land
/ For us to colonize, for us to turn to sand
(What if the promise of technology is only for the privileged? Sure, it's great... if you're rich enough to pay to go to the moon. And if you're not the one being colonized.)
Anyway thanks to TikTok to bringing this song to my attention, here's Penelope. tiktok.com/@worsethanithot
And Penelope if you want to get a PhD let me know because this song is a dissertation I wish I'd advised.
And Penelope if you want to get a PhD let me know because this song is a dissertation I wish I'd advised.
Also while we're on the topic of tech breakup songs, a decade ago Molly Lewis wrote a breakup song to Wikipedia.
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