I'd rather people spoke the truth as they see it, rather than being forever silenced by a big payday. The issue he raises wasn't really a thing in 2014. 9 years later, he can't raise problems?
Google search is awful now. And Google search has a big effect on the health of the web. The more people recognise it, the better.
In what way is that "hypocritical"? Maybe "disloyal" would be the applicable term, but "hypocritical"? I just don't see that this is "characterized by behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel".
if he believes his company was Good Co. and he sold it to Bad Co., he made money from enshittification, the same enshittification he's talking about which is how Google makes money.
I feel it shouldn't be a problem if personal life and belief is different than professional life. I also wouldn't deny tens of millions of dollars even if it comes from someone I hate.
Why it would be hypocritical? Living in capitalism is not hypocritical, it's the reality.
Assuming capitalism works the way it's proponents are saying it works, it doesn't matter who you sell the company to - the market will find the optimum regardless. If you're making a sub-optimal decision to sell company to someone else, the free market should self-correct this. So if you believe in capitalism, your individual moral decisions do not matter.
On the other hand, if you don't believe in capitalism, then it is not hypocritical to play by the rules of the system while campaigning for the system to change, because you want the rules to affect everyone, not just you.
> So if you believe in capitalism, your individual moral decisions do not matter.
I understand what you're saying, and I agree with emphasizing the power of market design and regulation over individual responsibility.
But I wouldn't go so far as to say individual moral decisions do not matter. Firstly, consumer decisions matter. They are not as effective as the law in directing the market, but they aren't meaningless.
Secondly, ethical decisions matter to me as an individual even if their utilitarian outcome isn't clear. I try to behave as I wished everyone would behave, even if a few badly behaved people negate my efforts. I don't drop rubbish on an already littered street. Not because the street will look any better for my restraint, but because I don't want to normalise or implicitly condone antisocial behaviour through my actions. And I guess it's just intrinsically important to me.
That said, I might well have sold my company to Google for a big payout in 2014. I would certainly be more reluctant today however.
