Silicon Valley built a religion around disruption - then quietly made sure nothing fundamental changes - Silicon Canals

"Clayton Christensen gave us the framework in 1997 with The Innovator's Dilemma, and Silicon Valley took it as scripture. Disruption, in Christensen's formulation, was a specific phenomenon: cheaper, simpler technologies entering markets from below, eventually displacing incumbents who were too focused on high-margin customers to notice the threat. It was an analytical tool. The Valley turned it into an ideology, then a marketing strategy, then something resembling a civic religion."

"The technology industry has perfected the aesthetics of revolution while systematically preventing anything revolutionary from taking root. The language is deliberately transgressive, borrowing from counterculture, from punk, from protest movements. The implication is always the [revolutionary challenge], yet the promised transformations of fundamental industries and structures have largely remained unfulfilled."

The concept of disruption, originally defined by Clayton Christensen as cheaper, simpler technologies entering markets from below to displace incumbents, has been transformed by Silicon Valley into an ideology and marketing strategy. The technology industry uses revolutionary language borrowed from counterculture and protest movements to position startups as heretics challenging orthodoxy. However, this aesthetic of revolution masks a systematic prevention of anything genuinely revolutionary from taking root. Founders present themselves as transformative agents through compelling pitches and slick presentations, yet the promised remakes of healthcare, housing, and work structures have largely failed to materialize. The industry has perfected the appearance of disruption while maintaining existing power structures and market dynamics.

Read at Silicon Canals