This technological authoritarianism is also a toxic mix of white male supremacy and is deeply environmentally damaging. AI alone demands enormous resources of energy and water, to tge point of removing power from tge publicly available grid and sequestering water. The level of misogyny doesn't just exclude women, it erases them as human. It is deeply hostile to biological processes both human and more generally. This is in addition to the other excellent points you make. Thank you for focussing on this.
Elon Musk's war on empathy aka "fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” pushing us toward “civilizational suicide." is the toxic twin of the e/acc movement.
Great post. I often myself thinking "these are just the big industrialists of the past, only with shinier tools and massively inflated hubris."
There's also nature to consider. This paradigm not only slanders human dignity and choice, it renders nature invisible. None of these so called visionaries could entertain a single thought without an intelligent biosphere creating them and the livable conditions by which to think their big thoughts.
They are laying the intellectual tracks for a nightmare. I think somewhere inside them they most know it, thus the accelerationism, lest people actually stop and think about the dystopia they are told to race toward.
I am not certainly anti-technology. In reality, I'm a technophile of sorts. I am also not anti-entrepreneurialism. But I think we all get a say in the world that we shape together. This is a fundamental liberal value that I think is worth defending.
"Accelerationism" is undoubtedly a mechanistic and, in some sense, hyper-libertarian ideology. Calling it fascist muddles the waters a bit. Some of the most defining features of fascism are 1) return to a mythical past, 2) politics of enemies/might makes right, 3) relatively uninterested attitude to the forms of economic life (i.e., "we're ok with anything that keeps us in power"). So, I wonder if we should classify it as ideologically authoritarian, similar in style (as you pointed out) to Marxism or scientism, still working in the same ideological stream as the scientific Enlightenment progressivism. There are many ways to be authoritarian rather than fascist.
Great article. Of course the other major tech bro partner in philosophical crime is Peter Thiel. This billionaire has an anathema towards democracy and wokeness in principle. The arrogance that Thiel, Marc Andreesen and Elon Musk all display is scary at a time when so much money gives so much power to transform society with minimal constraints. And the SCOTUS obviously condones this form of libertarianism/fascism/authoritarianism in its absurd Citizens United decision in which corporations have unlimited money to “express free speech”. The lack of pushback by Christians to Musk’s statement that the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy is unfortunately a confirmation that many “Christians” do not closely follow the teachings of Jesus which, iMHO, are based largely on empathy. Love thy neighbor (unless you are a billionaire tech bro).
Who is running the technology? Humans. The whole project, seemingly letting technology or market forces rule, is subterfuge.These humans think 'some or more equal than others' and that they should rule. Intellectual dishonesty and the height of hubris.
Andreesen used to be a normie tech guy who got “the deal” ; have moderate progressive values and the government will not go crazy with regulations and even get some government support. Check out his NYT interview with Ross Douthat. He even gave some props to Al Gore. But I think a lot of people have been sucked into this weird hyper libertarian mindset . I hope that not only VCs like andreesen but also people in the tech industry with a more progressive mindset will also continue to have more influence. I hope 🤞
Thank you for writing this. To me, this is the key issue:
“Technological determinism doesn't just silence debate—it quietly erases the belief that humans have meaningful agency in shaping their future.”
These guys err in thinking they will always be the ones on the crest if the wave, never the ones dragged under. Likewise, they have a limited understanding of what makes a good life. Quality of life, human thriving is all about dollars and sense. Outside of their area of expertise, I have to image they are very dull, incurious, and ignorant.
Remarkable work! Knowledge of the tech field, integration with moral and intellectual human concepts, command of language and writing. Once again I am happy to be a member of the community you created here.
This technological authoritarianism is also a toxic mix of white male supremacy and is deeply environmentally damaging. AI alone demands enormous resources of energy and water, to tge point of removing power from tge publicly available grid and sequestering water. The level of misogyny doesn't just exclude women, it erases them as human. It is deeply hostile to biological processes both human and more generally. This is in addition to the other excellent points you make. Thank you for focussing on this.
Elon Musk's war on empathy aka "fundamental weakness of Western civilization,” pushing us toward “civilizational suicide." is the toxic twin of the e/acc movement.
Musk projects.
https://www.persuasion.community/p/elon-musk-and-the-decline-of-western
https://machinesociety.ai/p/elon-musk-and-the-rise-of-supranational
Great post. I often myself thinking "these are just the big industrialists of the past, only with shinier tools and massively inflated hubris."
There's also nature to consider. This paradigm not only slanders human dignity and choice, it renders nature invisible. None of these so called visionaries could entertain a single thought without an intelligent biosphere creating them and the livable conditions by which to think their big thoughts.
They are laying the intellectual tracks for a nightmare. I think somewhere inside them they most know it, thus the accelerationism, lest people actually stop and think about the dystopia they are told to race toward.
I am not certainly anti-technology. In reality, I'm a technophile of sorts. I am also not anti-entrepreneurialism. But I think we all get a say in the world that we shape together. This is a fundamental liberal value that I think is worth defending.
"Accelerationism" is undoubtedly a mechanistic and, in some sense, hyper-libertarian ideology. Calling it fascist muddles the waters a bit. Some of the most defining features of fascism are 1) return to a mythical past, 2) politics of enemies/might makes right, 3) relatively uninterested attitude to the forms of economic life (i.e., "we're ok with anything that keeps us in power"). So, I wonder if we should classify it as ideologically authoritarian, similar in style (as you pointed out) to Marxism or scientism, still working in the same ideological stream as the scientific Enlightenment progressivism. There are many ways to be authoritarian rather than fascist.
Great article. Of course the other major tech bro partner in philosophical crime is Peter Thiel. This billionaire has an anathema towards democracy and wokeness in principle. The arrogance that Thiel, Marc Andreesen and Elon Musk all display is scary at a time when so much money gives so much power to transform society with minimal constraints. And the SCOTUS obviously condones this form of libertarianism/fascism/authoritarianism in its absurd Citizens United decision in which corporations have unlimited money to “express free speech”. The lack of pushback by Christians to Musk’s statement that the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy is unfortunately a confirmation that many “Christians” do not closely follow the teachings of Jesus which, iMHO, are based largely on empathy. Love thy neighbor (unless you are a billionaire tech bro).
Who is running the technology? Humans. The whole project, seemingly letting technology or market forces rule, is subterfuge.These humans think 'some or more equal than others' and that they should rule. Intellectual dishonesty and the height of hubris.
So, Andreessen has taken a classic moral hazard that scales to the planetary level and rebranded it as ‘pro-civilization’.
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
This is one of your best posts Mike! Many techno-optimists are self-unaware misanthropists.
The platitudes in the TO Manifesto ("We believe in the truth") are so insufferable.
Andreesen used to be a normie tech guy who got “the deal” ; have moderate progressive values and the government will not go crazy with regulations and even get some government support. Check out his NYT interview with Ross Douthat. He even gave some props to Al Gore. But I think a lot of people have been sucked into this weird hyper libertarian mindset . I hope that not only VCs like andreesen but also people in the tech industry with a more progressive mindset will also continue to have more influence. I hope 🤞
Fabulous title to your essay!
Your argument stakes out excellent ground!
Thank you for writing this. To me, this is the key issue:
“Technological determinism doesn't just silence debate—it quietly erases the belief that humans have meaningful agency in shaping their future.”
These guys err in thinking they will always be the ones on the crest if the wave, never the ones dragged under. Likewise, they have a limited understanding of what makes a good life. Quality of life, human thriving is all about dollars and sense. Outside of their area of expertise, I have to image they are very dull, incurious, and ignorant.
Remarkable work! Knowledge of the tech field, integration with moral and intellectual human concepts, command of language and writing. Once again I am happy to be a member of the community you created here.