I am trying to make sense of what is happening right now. How did Elon Musk go from my childhood hero to being some sort of Dr. Evil meddling with elections, trying to get extreme right wing or even fascist leaders elected and ending up in a bromance with a leader who gives zero f* about climate change or anyone else other than his personal and business interests.
And then how did this end up in a landslide of formerly progressive business leaders seemingly abandoning their progressive values wholesale?
Case in point Zuck who went from fighting mass deportations to sucking up to Trump by dropping his entire fact checking crew. Never mind that it is now okay to call women household objects and gay people mentally ill on Meta.
Wait what 🤔? How did we go from a pretty progressive society with visionary, perhaps even idealistic values of a more inclusive society, of solving climate change of progress for humanity to this?
To me it feels like we were climbing up Maslov’s hierarchy of needs 🛕, got to the top of the pyramid and then took a mudslide down 🛝 into this ever deepening cesspit of misinformation and social media hate that is undermining democracy.
It seems that some tech leaders are justifying their open support for Trump with the rationale that Trump is more pro-business. That democratic regulation could stifle innovation, such as AI and Crypto regulation which would ultimately have the US lose out to China. Fair enough to be concerned about innovation - but is this really the way?
It also seems to be based on a fundamental belief in the idea of individual merit. As Elon Musk said “I believe in an America that maximizes individual freedom and merit”. In this world view the government only muddles with business interests and business should be left alone without any regulation.
Marc Andreesen actually proposed the idea of establishing autonomous floating nations in international waters that would be free of all laws and regulation 🏝️.
To me this belief in pure individual merit is misguided and rather arrogant. Any tech company stands on the shoulders of giants. Without infrastructure, the internet, highly educated and well trained employees, there would be no successful tech companies.
Secondly it assumes that business success can exist in isolation of a stable society. Without a safety net, health insurance, affordable housing more and more people will slide into deep poverty and resentment. Ever widening wealth gaps are not sustainable as the run up to the Second World War has taught us. At some point people the shore will turn the tide.
Third actions like Zuckerbergs seems to assume that it is okay to sacrifice or fully abandon values, such as the protection of minorities, the fight against misinformation as a bedrock of a stable democracy, for your personal business interests. To me this is opportunistic and despicable.
Like a gender reveal party this will be a time where many leaders show their true colours 🐣
And then how did this end up in a landslide of formerly progressive business leaders seemingly abandoning their progressive values wholesale?
Case in point Zuck who went from fighting mass deportations to sucking up to Trump by dropping his entire fact checking crew. Never mind that it is now okay to call women household objects and gay people mentally ill on Meta.
Wait what 🤔? How did we go from a pretty progressive society with visionary, perhaps even idealistic values of a more inclusive society, of solving climate change of progress for humanity to this?
To me it feels like we were climbing up Maslov’s hierarchy of needs 🛕, got to the top of the pyramid and then took a mudslide down 🛝 into this ever deepening cesspit of misinformation and social media hate that is undermining democracy.
It seems that some tech leaders are justifying their open support for Trump with the rationale that Trump is more pro-business. That democratic regulation could stifle innovation, such as AI and Crypto regulation which would ultimately have the US lose out to China. Fair enough to be concerned about innovation - but is this really the way?
It also seems to be based on a fundamental belief in the idea of individual merit. As Elon Musk said “I believe in an America that maximizes individual freedom and merit”. In this world view the government only muddles with business interests and business should be left alone without any regulation.
Marc Andreesen actually proposed the idea of establishing autonomous floating nations in international waters that would be free of all laws and regulation 🏝️.
To me this belief in pure individual merit is misguided and rather arrogant. Any tech company stands on the shoulders of giants. Without infrastructure, the internet, highly educated and well trained employees, there would be no successful tech companies.
Secondly it assumes that business success can exist in isolation of a stable society. Without a safety net, health insurance, affordable housing more and more people will slide into deep poverty and resentment. Ever widening wealth gaps are not sustainable as the run up to the Second World War has taught us. At some point people the shore will turn the tide.
Third actions like Zuckerbergs seems to assume that it is okay to sacrifice or fully abandon values, such as the protection of minorities, the fight against misinformation as a bedrock of a stable democracy, for your personal business interests. To me this is opportunistic and despicable.
Like a gender reveal party this will be a time where many leaders show their true colours 🐣
