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The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

a16z.com

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Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#221

Post by kemitchell »

Following A16Z's RSS feed has gotten weirder and weirder, even mostly just reading headlines and leads. Anecdotally, I feel there was a turn when they went "all in" on blockchain and started having people drum out constant "ecosystem-level" booster pieces. Then there was a turn in how I took it all after the new-hotness AI post, earlier this year.

It's all intuitive, but I get the distinct feeling they took a big decision toward conscious reality distortion at the top. Not just to shore up credibility of their investment theses to LPs, but to will the very success of their investments into being. Maybe that's just natural for equity flippers on a particular time scale with enough management fees and brand rec: grease both sides of the two-sided market you turn in. Envelop as many minds as you can.

They route systematically important gobs of capital. I guess I just keep watching the space, to note the content and timing of their big investment-theme announcements. Stick to headlines and leads.

I do wonder who the other 5,000 words are for.

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#223

Post by sidcool »

I am a techno optimist and love to see the rise of it, even if there are risks associated with it.

But I also see the sky rocketing rates of mental health issues and suicide rates in the most techno developed nations. I don't now if there's a correlation or causation. But would like to understand. Is humanity built to be simple and at the mercy of nature?

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#224

Post by lazzlazzlazz »

pphysch wrote: post #186

Why does he include "John Galt" in the list of (real) authors to read, but not Ayn Rand? What am I missing? Indeed, in the spirit of Rand using an agreeable term "Objectivism" to label her confused hyperindividualism, A16Z uses the agreeable "Techno-Optimism" to repackage the same. I'm highly optimistic about technology, but not whatever this blog post is about.

The list is labeled "Patron Saints" — only a following sentence mentions "reading their works". Many listed aren't really "authors" at all. And Ayn Rand would have enjoyed having "John Galt" listed in her place, I think.

And this post is definitely about technology!

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#226

Post by lazzlazzlazz »

mattigames wrote: post #18
sph wrote: post #4

Techno-optimism manifesto written by a multi-billionaire founder of a venture capital. It doesn't get more dystopian than this. Where have the hackers gone?

Hackers would know a "techno-propagandist manifesto" when they see one.

Hackers love techno-propaganda.

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#228

Post by semitones »

survirtual wrote: post #169

In a world where abundance reigns, the old structures and the leaders who champion them fade into obsolescence. The energy that once went into seeking more begins to flow into sharing, nurturing, and sustaining. In this transformed landscape, resource hoarding and centralized control are not just out of place; they become barriers to the collective human journey toward wisdom and spiritual fulfillment. When everyone'…

It seems that you are describing a utopia, where there are no more problems to solve, other than the purpose of our own existence, and the reconciliation of our mortality in our minds. Although I do think that we can get to a point where things are pretty damn good, perhaps even as good as you describe, I don't think that humans' desire for growth and appetite for problem solving will be quenched. Even if all of our basic and supra-basic needs were met, we would become preoccupied with preserving ourselves from extraterrestrial threats - asteroids, our sun burning out, our earth not being able to permanently sustain us in one way or another, etc. If that's the case, then the desire for planetary defense and intergalactic travel will ensure that techno-capatalist forces are alive and well.

If you are talking about a society that has gotten past that point already, then all bets are off as to what their lives are like.

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#229

Post by noqc »

Balladeer wrote: post #19

> Markets prevent monopolies and cartels. A lot of the optimism seems to rely on this statement and...I'm not convinced? But I also admit I'm not well informed on the topic. Does anyone have suggested reading on 'market discipline', as they're calling it? I mean, the first person on their "Patron Saints of Techno-Optimism" is Jeff Bezos, who is actively dealing with an antitrust lawsuit from the FTC regarding Amazon'…

Even absent contracts (which exist to enable collusion) the iterated prisoner's dilemma and its generalizations seem to be solvable by tacit agreement (in the two party case, by tit for tat).

The only people who maintain that markets have the perfect competition property are those who define markets this way. Their existence is left as an exercise.

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