The Techno-Optimist Manifesto combines the spiritual uplift of a corporate team-building retreat and an alternate, alt-right history of economics and science, all with praise for actual fascists.
I think calling the economics Nobel "fake" is a bit thin without more expository. At the very least, I'd agree Alfred Nobel didn't include it in his will. But added later.
I can feel your rage and it is my rage as well. Your writing reflects the rage and I am with you. Excellent rebuttal. Fixing the typos, a reflection of your rage and nastiness to respond, would help.
I remember John Ralston Saul being interviewed by Peter Gzowski on Morningside the day after the 1995 referendum vote in Quebec. He was talking about markets and Alos using the metaphor that they have take the place of the Gods in our society. He said whenever anything happens, we look to the market to see if God is happy.
Two minutes later, the hourly new began with the words "The TSE is up this morning after last night's sovereignty referendum failed to pass in Quebec..."
It's quite deliberate. The particular brand of capitalism we are living under is based on faith-based ideas, backed by nothing, that are used to control people's behaviour through punishment, exclusion and public shaming.
There was a deliberate campaign in the US by the business lobby to associate free market capitalism with Christianity.
Andreessen's a16z is the single biggest crypto VC fund by a country mile. He's backed a bunch of crypto scams and fintech frauds that got his companies slapped by the CFPB and other regulators. some other stuff:
I despise Andreessen and all the techbros, including elon. They flap their gums a lot but what comes out is always the same message: We are your masters. You are not in the same IQ league as us. We are meant to become wealthy and rule you. To disagree is to reject the natural order of the universe.
Once again, you have no idea what you are talking about. Musk didn't invent anything. Musk doesn't patent anything, because that would show who the real inventors are.
His companies all depend on government R & D government technology AND government funding. Tesla doesn't make money selling cars. It makes money selling carbon credits. None of his companies make money.
That's separate from the ripoffs through crypto that he is involved in.
It is monumentally corrupt for an individual with government contracts to be making decisions about government spending that could benefit himself, or disadvantage his competitors. He is the most bribeable person on the planet. For him to be doing any of this should require him to step away from all of his private interests, because right now he can be paid to dismantle or defund the U.S. government to the benefit of whoever buys his stock or crypto.
It is the single most corrupt set-up I've ever seen.
Much of what Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional, and he and Trump and the other criminals, rip-off artists and scammers are doing is dismantling all the law enforcement and regulatory agencies who were investigating them for their crimes.
Musk has business in China, in Mexico, and has been having conversations with Vladimir Putin, who wants to do to the U.S. what happened to the USSR: collapse it.
Musk has no legal authority to cut spending or programs that have already been approved by congress. That includes USAID.
You want to talk about making people's live better when this administration is cutting off medication and food to people across the U.S. and around the world?
Musk accessed the entire federal funding control, and shut it down.
You want to complain about waste and fraud, when the government consists of multiple cabinet members who have been accused of serious crimes. A court found the President to be a liar, a forger, and a rapist. The techbros are ripping people off with crypto, which is used to launder money, and Trump's transition chair runs tether, which is used worldwide by terrorists and organized crime to launder money and pay each other.
No, fool. I used to be a huge elon fan until he developed a god complex. If you don’t understand what’s going on under your own nose, then you deserve what you’re going to get.
Are you in favor of someone who seeks deals with our enemies to enrich himself over the best interests of americans? You favor an unelected billionaire with zero government experience having all your personal data? And eliminating people who he has a personal grudge against rather than judging them by merit?
Elon could’ve been a force for good. He’s already the greatest entrepreneur in the world, but he’s shown himself to be incredibly uninformed about many things outside his own narrow field. He’s another Henry Ford.
I confirm everything you wrote. I used to work (technically) for Andreesen at Netscape. I had just enough interaction with him to know he was in way over his head then and that continues to be a theme of his life. He likes to quote things he doesn’t understand. He is a walking/talking proof of the Dunning/Kruger effect.
By the way, congratulations for having read that entire sophomoric piece of drivel he wrote. I was unable to get past when he claimed that growth was always good before vomiting into my mouth. And doesn’t he realize that whenever someone mentions a “manifesto”, we all think of the Unibomber. At least his was internally consistent.
I have to close by commenting that Andreesen’s article really doesn’t deserve this much analysis. You have better things to do with your time.
Possibly the most remarkable thing about this terrific essay is that it is on a platform where the subject in an investor.
I hope he reads it!
Well researched. The only thing I'd add is that HTTP was developed at CERN and virtual memory addressing in Britain: https://indico.cern.ch/event/1052073/attachments/2416333/4181516/BenSegal-TCPIPtalk-CERN-Academic-Training-20220511.pdf
https://ethw.org/Milestones:Atlas_Computer_and_the_Invention_of_Virtual_Memory,_1957-1962
Also NLNet helped develop internet infrastructure: https://nlnet.nl/foundation/history/
I think calling the economics Nobel "fake" is a bit thin without more expository. At the very least, I'd agree Alfred Nobel didn't include it in his will. But added later.
I can feel your rage and it is my rage as well. Your writing reflects the rage and I am with you. Excellent rebuttal. Fixing the typos, a reflection of your rage and nastiness to respond, would help.
Thanks. Some of it is just that I am getting it out quickly.
If you have enough money, all your worst impulses become genius thoughts and the world bends to your will. Humans are so fucking stupid, sigh.
I remember John Ralston Saul being interviewed by Peter Gzowski on Morningside the day after the 1995 referendum vote in Quebec. He was talking about markets and Alos using the metaphor that they have take the place of the Gods in our society. He said whenever anything happens, we look to the market to see if God is happy.
Two minutes later, the hourly new began with the words "The TSE is up this morning after last night's sovereignty referendum failed to pass in Quebec..."
It's quite deliberate. The particular brand of capitalism we are living under is based on faith-based ideas, backed by nothing, that are used to control people's behaviour through punishment, exclusion and public shaming.
There was a deliberate campaign in the US by the business lobby to associate free market capitalism with Christianity.
Andreessen's a16z is the single biggest crypto VC fund by a country mile. He's backed a bunch of crypto scams and fintech frauds that got his companies slapped by the CFPB and other regulators. some other stuff:
* Time Magazine on Axie Infinity (huge a16z project) "A Crypto Game Promised to Lift Filipinos Out of Poverty. Here’s What Happened Instead": https://time.com/6199385/axie-infinity-crypto-game-philippines-debt/
* there's a hashtag about andreessen backed frauds #SlugsOfA16z: https://x.com/search?q=%23slugsofa16z&src=typed_query&f=live
* i wrote a whole thing about how andreessen indirectly profits from North Korean money laundering: https://cryptadamus.substack.com/p/of-tech-bros-and-trumpers
* he told so many lies on joe rogan that it almost spawned a cottage industry of debunking his bullshit: https://universeodon.com/@cryptadamist/113603397835078618
Excellent article! The pomposity of tech bros is startling. Perhaps his AI wrote this article for him?
I wonder who Andreessen hired to ghost write the article for him to edit.
I despise Andreessen and all the techbros, including elon. They flap their gums a lot but what comes out is always the same message: We are your masters. You are not in the same IQ league as us. We are meant to become wealthy and rule you. To disagree is to reject the natural order of the universe.
Ted, I don’t engage with trolls. Go back to twitter and whine about the libtards. They’ll make you feel better.
Are you kidding me? Where do you get your news? Fox?
Once again, you have no idea what you are talking about. Musk didn't invent anything. Musk doesn't patent anything, because that would show who the real inventors are.
His companies all depend on government R & D government technology AND government funding. Tesla doesn't make money selling cars. It makes money selling carbon credits. None of his companies make money.
That's separate from the ripoffs through crypto that he is involved in.
It is monumentally corrupt for an individual with government contracts to be making decisions about government spending that could benefit himself, or disadvantage his competitors. He is the most bribeable person on the planet. For him to be doing any of this should require him to step away from all of his private interests, because right now he can be paid to dismantle or defund the U.S. government to the benefit of whoever buys his stock or crypto.
It is the single most corrupt set-up I've ever seen.
Much of what Musk is doing is illegal and unconstitutional, and he and Trump and the other criminals, rip-off artists and scammers are doing is dismantling all the law enforcement and regulatory agencies who were investigating them for their crimes.
Musk has business in China, in Mexico, and has been having conversations with Vladimir Putin, who wants to do to the U.S. what happened to the USSR: collapse it.
Musk has no legal authority to cut spending or programs that have already been approved by congress. That includes USAID.
You want to talk about making people's live better when this administration is cutting off medication and food to people across the U.S. and around the world?
Musk accessed the entire federal funding control, and shut it down.
You want to complain about waste and fraud, when the government consists of multiple cabinet members who have been accused of serious crimes. A court found the President to be a liar, a forger, and a rapist. The techbros are ripping people off with crypto, which is used to launder money, and Trump's transition chair runs tether, which is used worldwide by terrorists and organized crime to launder money and pay each other.
No, fool. I used to be a huge elon fan until he developed a god complex. If you don’t understand what’s going on under your own nose, then you deserve what you’re going to get.
Are you in favor of someone who seeks deals with our enemies to enrich himself over the best interests of americans? You favor an unelected billionaire with zero government experience having all your personal data? And eliminating people who he has a personal grudge against rather than judging them by merit?
Elon could’ve been a force for good. He’s already the greatest entrepreneur in the world, but he’s shown himself to be incredibly uninformed about many things outside his own narrow field. He’s another Henry Ford.
And this clown controls Substack....
I confirm everything you wrote. I used to work (technically) for Andreesen at Netscape. I had just enough interaction with him to know he was in way over his head then and that continues to be a theme of his life. He likes to quote things he doesn’t understand. He is a walking/talking proof of the Dunning/Kruger effect.
By the way, congratulations for having read that entire sophomoric piece of drivel he wrote. I was unable to get past when he claimed that growth was always good before vomiting into my mouth. And doesn’t he realize that whenever someone mentions a “manifesto”, we all think of the Unibomber. At least his was internally consistent.
I have to close by commenting that Andreesen’s article really doesn’t deserve this much analysis. You have better things to do with your time.