Silicon Valley Techno-Utopianism

Thread for general discussion of, and feeble resistance to, our new overpaid 20-something savant overlords, starting with this lovely article:

http://thebaffler.com/blog/2014/05/mouthbreathing_machiavellis

is the baffler as smug and unreadable as it was in the late 90s/early 00s? to be frank all i ever got from them (or thomas frank solo) was a withering contempt for most of america, rather than any mournful concern.

haha to be frank see what I (unintentionally) did there?

nerds with power

shudder

This is the first Baffler thing I've bothered with in a while. I thought it had its moments back in its earlier incarnation -- there was an essay on cities and the "creative class" that I still refer to mentally sometimes. I think the internet has kind of made the sort of bullshit-skewering it specialized in more widespread and diffuse.

oh yeah, they had some good articles from time to time. there was one incredibly condescending and snide and yet fascinating one about gay pornography. unfortinately they also published ray carney's screed against tarantino and a lot of other worthless crap. and i always felt tom frank needed to have a few beer bottles smashed over his head.

Frank seems kind of worse to me now in his Harper's editorials. I always hated Lapham's and it feels like Frank is really trying his best to assume the mantle.

Anyway

In a widely covered secessionist speech at a Silicon Valley “startup school” last year, there was more than a hint of Moldbug (see video below). The speech, by former Stanford professor and Andreessen Horowitz partner Balaji Srinivasan, never mentioned Moldbug or the Dark Enlightenment, but it was suffused with neoreactionary rhetoric and ideas. Srinivasan used the phrase “the paper belt” to describe his enemies, namely the government, the publishing industries, and universities. The formulation mirrored Moldbug’s “Cathedral.” Srinivasan’s central theme was the notion of “exit”—as in, exit from democratic society, and entry into any number of corporate mini-states whose arrival will leave the world looking like a patchwork map of feudal Europe.

Forget universal rights; this is the true “opt-in society.”

An excerpt:

We want to show what a society run by Silicon Valley would look like. That’s where “exit” comes in . . . . It basically means: build an opt-in society, ultimately outside the US, run by technology. And this is actually where the Valley is going. This is where we’re going over the next ten years . . . [Google co-founder] Larry Page, for example, wants to set aside a part of the world for unregulated experimentation. That’s carefully phrased. He’s not saying, “take away the laws in the U.S.” If you like your country, you can keep it. Same with Marc Andreessen: “The world is going to see an explosion of countries in the years ahead—doubled, tripled, quadrupled countries.”

Srinivasan ticked through the signposts of the neoreactionary fantasyland: Bitcoin as the future of finance, corporate city-states as the future of government, Detroit as a loaded symbol of government failure and 3D-printed firearms as an example of emerging technology that defies regulation.

The speech succeeded in promoting the anti-democratic authoritarianism at the core of neoreactionary thought, while glossing over the attendant bigotry. This has long been a goal of some in the movement. One such moderate—if the word can be used in this context—is Patri Friedman, grandson of the late libertarian demigod Milton Friedman. The younger Friedman expressed the need for “a more politically correct dark enlightenment” after a public falling out with Yarvin in 2009.

Friedman has lately been devoting his time (and leveraging his family name) to raise money for the SeaSteading Institute, which, as the name suggests, is a blue-sea libertarian dream to build floating fiefdoms free of outside regulation and law. Sound familiar?

The principal backer of the SeaSteading project, Peter Thiel, is also an investor in companies run by Balaji Srinivasan and Curtis Yarvin. Thiel is a co-founder of PayPal, an original investor in Facebook and hedge fund manager, as well as being the inspiration for a villainous investor on the satirical HBO series Silicon Valley. Thiel’s extreme libertarian advocacy is long and storied, beginning with his days founding the Collegiate Network-backed Stanford Review. Lately he’s been noticed writing big checks for Ted Cruz.

He’s invested in Yarvin’s current startup, Tlon. Thiel invested personally in Tlon co-founder John Burnham. In 2011, at age 18, Burnham accepted $100,000 from Thiel to skip college and go directly into business. Instead of mining asteroids as he originally intended, Burnham wound up working on obscure networking software with Yarvin, whose title at Tlon is, appropriately enough, “benevolent dictator for life.”

I love this stuff, these guys are like comic book supervillains.

yeah i dunno, this seems discountable. it's not going to get much traction.

i still think we shd take these guys out before they acquire sentience

another school of thought says that they just need to experience a moment of humanity to temper their wild anti-humanist delusions

we could administer this cure from a safe distance thanks to their work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PspagsTFvlg

Been dismayed with The Baffler since it's new revival. Seems about as shrill as Adbusters these days.

OTOH, there's these guys to make fun of: http://nymag.com/news/features/laundry-apps-2014-5/#

i still think we shd take these guys out before they acquire sentience

― coign of wantage (Noodle Vague), Thursday, May 22, 2014 6:35 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

100%

yeah i dunno, this seems discountable. it's not going to get much traction.

― display name changed. (amateurist), Thursday, May 22, 2014 6:33 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'd be more willing to discount it if these weren't people with money, political fever dreams, and the ability to build & destory things

Yeah I'm not exactly alarmed yet but I am a little o_O

these people aren't good at building things that people actually need to survive so I dunno - the rhetoric is horrible and these people are frightening, at the same time they're woefully inept

fantastic article, thank you for sharing

A seafaring community of 10 plutocrats is probably going to do just fine. They can just take a private jet back to the US any time they need fresh virgins to feed on. They don't want the rest of us anyway.

Shouldn't that be Tlön, and holy shit we do not need techno-libertarians referencing Borges

I thought the setting up a new country idea sounded really good, hopefully it would end like jonestown

I am all in favor of techno-libertarian island

me too. preferably one that will be underwater in a few decades.

tru

im less worried about these creeps building their own bioshock dystopias than i am about them using their tremendous money and influence to undermine regulation and other democratic things (tm) at home

yeah that is a more serious danger

I wonder if we can convince them to relocate to Canada

I think their politics might go over well in, like, Edmonton

It should be fun to watch what happens when the VC money starts to dry up.

they all scramble for the surviving corporate monoliths

This Baffler article mentions Nick Land. That's kind of depressing, is he fully in that camp? I've only read some of his stuff but have liked work from his contemporaries.

isn't his own camp bad enough???

maybe! I'm out of the loop

yes, nick land is fully in

this is all a lil weird to me cos reading these dudes has been a minor internet fascination of mine for a long time

if anything, land's story is evidence against the thesis that an encounter with adulthood will chill these guys out: he was a philosophy professor in the 80s (?) and 90s, left for china at some point to be a journalist, was a pro-war neocon type in the early 00s and at some point during/after the 08 crash flipped to austrian economics, "race realism" (if you don't mind me using their euphemisms for a sec) and all the rest.

i feel super weird that even know this shit tbh

the connection with silicon valley utopian-supremacy is only one leg of the thing, there are linkages to a lot of weird old righty type scenes that have been left behind by contemporary conservatism, which have been kept alive in its most public face by association with ron paul. but also the remnants of european throne-and-altar type stuff

this isn't what I think of when I think of 'techno-utopianism' these dudes are just idiots

really the most salient through-line is hostility to democracy.

xp yeah this thread title is a little narrow & off from the corey pein article

feel like the broader 'apps with solve it'/obsessed with meritocracy and measurement/transnational professionalism stuff that permeates the valley and its politics is way more pernicious and worth countering than these dudes who cant help but marginalize themselves by being themselves

I feel like these guys make better bad guys than the republican party, at least their politics are internally consistent

idk i think their predilection for lingo and willingness to set up their own discursive zones is an important idea generator.

there's huge overlap with the PUA/men's rights scene, and *their* language and pop-psych antifeminism is reeeally short work way from being conservative canon

Definitely seems like there is at the root of a lot of it a bitterness stemming from a dissonance between the "meritocracy" these people have been sold on (in which their particular skillset is supposed to make them the fittest dudes) and the reality they grew up in, and the *other* reality they grew up in (having to attend high school and go on the dating scene and such) in which their supposed superior qualities didn't seem to help so much. I know this might sound like just a rehash of the "butthurt nerd" canard, but I think there's something about the combination of ego inflation AND deflation that they experience -- one world telling them they are geniuses and another telling them they are losers at the same time, that makes them want to remake the entire world in the image of the former.

Like you don't get this kind of worldview coming out of getting sand kicked in your face alone, it's more the rage that results from feeling entitled to alpha status and then getting sand kicked in your face.

yup

And to cross reference that with the "men's rights" stuff, it's not unlike "I'm a *nice* and *intelligent* guy and yet hot babes are not throwing themselves at my feet like they are supposed to. Therefore women are defective and dangerous and I must use 'techniques' to disarm and conquer them."

is there an app for that

i'm really skeptical of 'just a thwarted nerd' type explanations. some people just end up believing this kind of shit for reasons that aren't readily explicable. in many cases it doesn't appear to be true.

yeah 'chicks just didn't want him and he's not successful' doesn't explain peter thiel very well

will plain ole megalomania do.

These folks loved grey everything too: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technocracy_movement

And in The President Vanishes (1934), an organization known as "The Grey Shirts" is part of a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. president.

Technocracy_movement

> it would be enough that every citizen worked a cycle of four consecutive days, four hours a day, followed by three days off. By "tiling" the days and working hours of seven groups, industry and services could be operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

4 day weeks, 4 hour days...

What a card.. I live on the West Coast, so I 'get it'

An exclusive Capitol Hill forum meant to connect the tech industry with Congress took a bewildering political turn on Wednesday when a key CEO condemned “pagan” anti-Israel protests, suggested the protesters be sent to North Korea and mused about launching drone strikes on his business enemies.

The comments came from Alex Karp of Palantir Technologies, the Peter Thiel-linked firm increasingly at the center of Washington’s defense-tech plans.

“We’re gonna do an exchange program sponsored by Karp,” he said. “A couple months in North Korea, nice-tasting flavored bark. See how you feel about that.”

Asked about Karp’s remarks, which at times caused visible discomfort among some attendees, the organizer said that was part of the point.

“The whole goal of the Hill & Valley Forum is to bridge the cultural gap between Washington and Silicon Valley,” said Helberg, who conducted the on-stage interview with Karp on Wednesday. “So it’s great for both sides to familiarize themselves with a little bit of West Coast humor.”

saying the quiet parts out loud seems to be more and more common

I hope Karp dies a slow and painful death

i try not to think about competitors too much, but i cannot stop thinking about the aesthetic difference between openai and google pic.twitter.com/hRFYhzm5K8

— Sam Altman (@sama) May 16, 2024

You're literally bragging about OpenAI looking like McDonald's. pic.twitter.com/yRyxJ9XKUT

— Reid Southen (@Rahll) May 17, 2024

the existence of a Sam Altman implies the existence of a Sam Mainman

The Scandi-Japanese look is all the rage in 2019

that updated 70s fernbar shit is perfect for that generation really

Odd bunch tbqh

To the journalists contacting me about the AGI consensual non-consensual (cnc) sex parties—

During my twenties in Silicon Valley, I ran among elite tech/AI circles through the community house scene. I have seen some troubling things around social circles of early OpenAI… https://t.co/LtkBjIMvGi

— Sonia Joseph (@soniajoseph_) May 17, 2024

I’m going to regret asking this but what is consensual nonconsensual

sexual assault fantasies

sand hill road VC brain

You don’t have to go to university to succeed in life.

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) May 29, 2024

Jack Dorsey gave $10 million to an anonymous founder with a deep devotion to a fascist 'guru':
https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-fiatjaf-nostr-donation-2024-6

lmao this fucken guy

lol what the heck

Nostr "has no board, no company behind it, no funding," Dorsey said in an interview with the Silicon Valley outlet Pirate Wires last month. "It's a truly open protocol. The development environment is moving fast. And I gave a bunch of money to them."

"We don't know who the leader is, it's like this anonymous Brazilian," Dorsey said.

That anonymous Brazilian is Giovanni Torres Parra

this dude again, becoming a young swede

Bryan Johnson has spent millions of dollars on his quest for eternal youth in the last few years on a mission to reduce his age, recently undergoing a cutting edge stem cell procedure.

The biohacker, from California, traveled to a luxury resort in the Bahamas, co-owned by Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake, to get 300 million stem cells injected into his shoulders, hips and knees.

The stem cells are sourced from young Swedish bone marrow by a company called Cell Colars Clinical, in an effort to increase his longevity and improve joint health.

'Each joint stem cells are the body's repair system, those healthy young Swedish cells should multiply in my body future proofing all of my major joints and taking me one step closer to age 18,' Johnson explained in the video posted to YouTube.

The stem cells traveled 5,000 miles from Sweden to the Bahamas, transported in cryo tanks filled with liquid nitrogen.

Is this the fucker who spends millions and injects himself with thousands of things all so he looks like a lesbian slightly older than his natural age?

yes

he's gonna give himself cancer

What a tragedy that would be

well think about the actual cancer patients that could use that young swedish bone marrow! and he's buying up all the cells

theres def some major gender questioning aspect of this guys thing thats not being addressed in the many articles because its not as funny hes just doing it in a very weird rich guy way, dont ask me how i know i cant remember exactly i just read some thing where it was obvious

you mean the one where he brags about having a boner all night?

the smoothest-looking horny man

great timeline today

Me reading David Sacks timeline as he slowly loses his mind pic.twitter.com/iMFYsqY4Nt

— BuccoCapital Bloke (@buccocapital) July 22, 2024

very funny that the sv brain geniuses finally came out for trump days before biden dropped out, they thought they had it in the bag lmao

One name that keeps popping up in DC tonight as a possible Harris VP pick:

Mark Cuban. https://t.co/Calk2qCPNl

— Justin Slaughter (@JBSDC) July 22, 2024

This is the most cryptobrain shit imaginable but how awesome would it be to have a Shark Tank host one heartbeat away from the Presidency?

loool

OK, as Chairman of the Interwebs, I’m going to turn off the WiFi now and want everyone in their PJs and in bed ASAP!

It’s been a big day, and a crazy week, so let’s all get some Zzzzzs and be ready for breakfast by 8am — I’m making waffles! 🧇

That goes for you @DavidSacks and…

— @jason (@Jason) July 22, 2024

what a classic VC move to buy Trump at the peak

— Jordan Schneider (@jordanschnyc) July 22, 2024

https://i.imgur.com/68n79QP.png

what happened to our zuck

Is he auditioning to be the scrawny guy on the Jersey Shote reboot?

Lmao

pic.twitter.com/LXxOksekT1

— Toozebrah (@olzhu) July 25, 2024

background:

In 2016 an internal legal investigation at Zenefits found the company's licensing was out of compliance and that Conrad had created a browser extension to skirt training requirements for selling insurance in California. After self-reporting these issues, Zenefits hired an independent third party to do an internal audit of its licensing controls and sent the report to all 50 states. The California Department of Insurance as well as the Massachusetts Division of Insurance began investigations of their own based on Zenefits' report. Parker Conrad resigned as CEO and director in February and COO David O. Sacks was named as his replacement.

Sacks wasn't just COO, he was a major investor. Sounds like he knew what was going on that they fed Conrad to the SEC. Not sure I'd be airing out the fall guy from my previous venture but I don't have his amazing brain

I started reading this and no I don't need that many rabbit holes

I’ve had a handful of non-tech people ask me wtf is going on here, so I’ll try and explain the crazy drama currently transpiring in Tech/VC Twitter. This round started with this post. pic.twitter.com/kgOPOc5Ns5

— Deva Hazarika (@devahaz) July 25, 2024

the funny part is all of these guys are in the VC space so when they casually say something like "regulatory issue arcana" or "regulatory issues that weren't a big deal" you can read that as "they didn't follow any regulations at all because they'd rather be slapped on the wrist than slow down the company"

which, idk, make of that what you will but it shows how it's pretty much taken for granted in that space

one of my coworkers who used to work here just returned after a stint at a VC-funded company that recently got bought out. they were considering going public, but decided to sell instead because they didn't want to deal with a SEC vetting!

these guys getting rich off companies with the goofiest names is too perfect

Paul Graham is the founder of Y Combinator, the most successful startup accelerator in history, providing advice and funding to many very successful startups. Parker’s startups Zenefits and Rippling were part of YC. Here’s what Paul had to say about David’s comments. pic.twitter.com/7jJe3b9MXT

— Deva Hazarika (@devahaz) July 25, 2024

All VCs deserve Mr. Choppy.

yeah this is the most let them fight situation of all time

I interviewed at rippling. They record every interview unless you opt out. Weird bunch of lads.

that place is constantly trying to hire people too, or so their job postings would lead you to believe.

Lmao at writing a script to advance the employees through the pre-licensing insurance broker course. That's why they got the fine they got.

I interviewed at rippling. They record every interview unless you opt out. Weird bunch of lads.

― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, July 25, 2024 4:35 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I did an interview at UPenn once, for a job I was overqualified for, and the first round of interviews involved being asked questions on-screen— not by a human— and then recording yourself answering said questions. This swagless and soulless process was, of course, the brainchild of two Wharton MBAs whom I believe sold the tech to some company and are probably making more in a year than I will in the next ten. I hope they die.

oh yiiiikes

that's bleaker than the online tech tests. at least in that situation you can make the case that there's a right answer a computer can grade you on, even if it's a stretch to say the thing you're being tested on is useful.

the gross thing about rippling is afaict they don't actually do anything with these recordings. they just put them in a big data warehouse in case they're worth something to someone one day when they sell the company.

could be worse i suppose https://www.businessinsider.com/bridgewater-records-conversations-2014-12?op=1.

I worked for Sephora on the e-commerce team and they required people who were interviewing for development jobs to go through some stupid camera-on recorded script interview thing with a bunch of idiotic behavioral questions, and it records your eye movements and gave the interviewee a trustworthy score. I wasn't subjected to that for some reason, but someone I referred was. I told her not to do it and then got into a big fight with leadership about it; they'd actually gotted rid of that system previously because the optics were bad, people were concerned it was highly biased, etc, but the CTO re-implemented it. They then ditched it a year later. These things are completely non-science based, just total bullshit.

the best/worst part of interviewing people is when you come across a interviewee that is truly out there, often in a way that was not indicated in their resume -- or their resume is outright fraud

it's one of the burdens of interviewing that you have to run into a few of those. having a recorded video to watch to rule out deeply unsettling candidates is a heresy. you must, at times, feel deeply unsettled

idk, these interviews sound ok, not as weird as the last one i had where i was asked what i would do if i came across a tortoise in the desert flipped over on its back, belly baking in the hot sun, trying to flip itself over but it can't. not sure how i was supposed to respond to that one. i might have been recorded for that one too, not sure, don't remember.

You tell them you would do nothing because you are a Replicant. It is more acceptable than murdering them.

it's like i always say, "when life gives you a turtle, make soup!"