I attend a “gamers” meetup, which takes place in what feels like a cattle pen.

It’s good! I chat with a few people, including a 20 year veteran of the games industry. The meetup could stand to be longer – they kick us all out of the cattle pen after twenty minutes.
That said, conversations start quickly here – we all have plenty of shared cultural reference points we can make smalltalk about.
I beat some more techbros at chess, including a self-described “web3 guy”, and then get lunch at media catering. Today’s vegan offerings include rolls, olives, and garlic hummus.

I miss an interesting-sounding talk by Ed Zitrone but watch it on YouTube from a desk in the Media Village.
Zitrone gives us some much-needed criticism of the current tech industry. Social media platforms, SAAS companies, and GenAI are the targets.
At the heart of it all is a criticism of the drive for endless growth. The only thing that grows forever is “cancer”.
Zitrone highlights the environmental cost. Microsoft is “600% over its emissions goals” so “we can have a thing that generates a busty Garfield”.
Zitrone talks about how startups have to tape AI to the side to secure investment, something evidenced in startup stalls all around Web Summit this year.
Everything Zitrone says is basically correct but it doesn’t matter.
The talks aren’t the point of Web Summit. We’re all very enlightened and environmentally conscious (aside, presumably, from that “web3 guy” i beat at chess earlier) but there’s no democracy here.
If one alpha startup proposes an idea and one investor likes it, the idea will be implemented. If everyone else at Web Summit looks on in horror, what of it? Tags: Websummit