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The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

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Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#411
post #154

> We believe energy should be in an upward spiral. Energy is the foundational engine of our civilization. The more energy we have, the more people we can have, and the better everyone’s lives can be. We should raise everyone to the energy consumption level we have, then increase our energy 1,000x, then raise everyone else’s energy 1,000x as well. Let's not do that on Earth please. If you want to build a planet-sized…

Assuming the CO2 stat is even true (that stood out to me, too, so I did a search, but couldn’t find a good source either way) I 100% guarantee it’s sophistry: carbon produced in the US per-capita is perhaps down—that’s not impossible, at least—but I’ll eat my hat if carbon released due to US consumption is down.

"I’ll eat my hat if carbon released due to US consumption is down."

Markets will figure out how to do more with less to reduce costs, and this includes energy.

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#412
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea of increasing per-capita energy consumption to 1,000x current American levels is so ludicrous Andreesen should immediately be laughed out of town without any further consideration. I did some back of the envelope calculations (and obviously made a few assumptions about what he meant), but, roughly, 1,000x current US per capita energy consumption is about enough to keep you airborne in a (fully occupied) corp…

For all that work you did you could have used some imagination and thought about projects like Starlink + space mining.

Yes, if you imagine a world where large numbers of people live off-Earth, that kind of energy consumption is likely necessary.

But that society will not exist in the lifetimes of my children’s children’s children, and I’m not letting venture capitalists loose to create more “inventions” like NFTs on the basis that it will make it happen sooner and better.

Re: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto

#413
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's perfectly self aware that he has rejected his own class. It's weird that people think that's impossible or something and insist that he must be one in the same.

This isn't it, he was never part of the class in the first place and he does not share its insular self-serving worldview. He didn't go to Harvard, he went to Illinois. He built his own tech firm when taking that path wasn't even a thing for people to do, he did not inherit banking interests.

> he was never part of the class in the first place and he does not share its insular self-serving worldview

I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you over his 4,800-square-foot Tuscan-style Atherton mansion and 13-structure Malibu compound [1].

I went to public university. I then made money. Where you come from doesn't determine who you end up as. But it can leave chips on your shoulders if you never revisit your own past critically. I genuinely have no problem with Andreessen’s lifestyle. But his conspiratorial worldview is in lockstep with the class.

[1] https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/b...

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