Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future • Hacker News Board

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#451

Post by Anamon » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

ornornor wrote: post #322

ceejayoz wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If much of the population is too poor to buy anything, too sick to consume much etc - who is left to buy anything at all? No one. That's the idea. A low-population paradise. Venice without its pesky people to mess with Bezos's wedding. Bora Bora without the peasants.

We’re already heading into a certain demographics crisis. It’s not only about the pyramidal system that retirement is but also about who will be your nurse when you’re old, make your car, be your doctor, etc if there aren’t enough people anymore? Every developed country is well below replacement rate with no real plans from the powers that be to address it because it’s so far in the future that it’s the next best guy…

I don't think humanity will run into any capacity problems because of that, due to how grotesquely overpopulated it currently is. As far as I see it, every country in the world should be well below replacement rate, for the long run. Setting aside some problematic side effects stemming from our current social system setups. A small fraction of the current world population would probably enable everyone to have a much higher quality of life, if organised properly. We probably don't need to worry about who builds our cars when there are close to 10 billion of us. Where we'll get our food from, on the other hand -- I think that's where the real crisis lies.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#452

Post by Anamon » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 7:30 PM UTC

triceratops wrote: post #266

sznio wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

have you actually used a pre-uber taxi? you'd pay through your fucking nose and get a long tour of the entire city to inflate your bill. at least with uber you get a refund when the driver does this bullshit. nevermind all the crime, slashed tires and arson

> have you actually used a pre-uber taxi? I actually did, though not frequently (mostly just getting to and from the airport). They were fine. Car always showed up, I never got ripped off. I accept that Uber and Lyft made getting taxis easier for more than just those use cases.

This is heavily dependent on where we are talking about.

I live in a fairly rich place and here, taxis were fine, too. When Uber came, they mostly just eroded salaries and protections for taxi drivers, while lowering the quality of service for customers (though also, for a short while, the price). The best I can say about it is that it accelerated the digital transformation of the industry a bit.

On the other hand, I heard from several people from other places in the world that the arrival of Uber meant that they could finally get a safe and reliable ride.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#453

Post by suburban_strike » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

andriy_koval wrote: post #425

account42 wrote: post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Countries are not doing anything about low replacement rates because its currently in the interest of the elite to keep them low so that they can sell the need to import lower paid foreigners instead.

Elite is interested to have their country to win the race and not other, and healthy menpower is still essential for this.

That describes aristocracy. Those have been economically and politically compromised, or were assassinated in the 1930s.

Modern elites do not belong to any particular country; this is the entire selling point of globalism. They have no stake in any country's success.

We may pride ourselves on distinctions but when you put a white guy, an African and an Indian through the grinder, the same pink slurry comes out the other end. We're all just mince to them. We aren't even ruled from within our own borders anymore.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#454

Post by suburban_strike » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 8:14 PM UTC

m4rtink wrote: post #394

CM30 wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why wouldn't the rest of society kick them out before that point? Like at some point, there's going to be a lot of political pressure to fix things, especially if the majority of the population is going hungry or struggling to find work. Feels like at some point, some 'rogue' political figure will win election by saying the elites need to be overthrown, and the latter's influence will burn to the ground. If even…

You don't even need a democracy for this - the moment people go hungry beacause of you, they will do something about it.

The moment people go hungry because of you, they will eat each other long before they think to challenge their oppressors.

Those selling you the romance of revolution are ones sabotaging your food supply. They're sadists, and taunting you with false hope.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#455

Post by suburban_strike » Thu, Aug 27, 2026, 8:32 PM UTC

Timon3 wrote: post #405

CM30 wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why wouldn't the rest of society kick them out before that point? Like at some point, there's going to be a lot of political pressure to fix things, especially if the majority of the population is going hungry or struggling to find work. Feels like at some point, some 'rogue' political figure will win election by saying the elites need to be overthrown, and the latter's influence will burn to the ground. If even…

How many years remain where the population actually still has any way to kick them out? Once military robots are sufficiently advanced, we've lost. We'll be fully at their mercy. Optimistically speaking, that's maybe 5-10 years out?

[dead]

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#456

Post by dennis_jeeves2 » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 12:54 AM UTC

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #81

"A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case" -- Niccolo Machiavelli It's a self fulfilling prophecy... while us commoners, or so called "activists" or et…

>It's a self fulfilling prophecy... while us commoners, or so called "activists" or ethicists ponder and debate on culture, morality, law and ethics... The powerful are just living an alternate life devoid of all these moral qualms and are have clearly distanced themselves from the mundane, have distanced themselves from the guilt or any kind of accountability.

I have been musing, good deeds aren't paying off - heck the peasants don't even notice, or think I'm a loser. I'm tempted to think like the powerful...

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#457

Post by soraminazuki » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 5:46 AM UTC

jkubicek wrote: post #205

estearum wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, actually. It's a cute story but there's no evidence of it. We got here by putting two of the most hated people in the country on the ballot against him, twice. One was actively hated for decades by the ultra-powerful evangelical voting bloc and hardly loved even by her own party, then another who couldn't be more closely affiliated with the incumbent during a period of high inflation (globally) that ousted incumb…

> We got here by putting two of the most hated people in the country on the ballot against him, twice. I hate this victim-blaming. Democrats deserve heaps of criticism for how they handled the last few elections, but Clinton was the most qualified presidential candidate we've had since maybe McCain in 2008? (I didn't vote for McCain, but it would be hard to argue he wasn't qualified ). You said yourself where the bla…

This narrative sounds almost like an alternate universe where Bernie Sanders didn't run for president and wasn't pushed to the sidelines by the party he ran under.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#458

Post by K0balt » Sat, Aug 29, 2026, 10:23 AM UTC

esseph wrote: post #349

stackbutterflow wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still can't wrap my head around it. So we're all dead, robots take care of the infrastructure and healthcare, and there's maybe 50-100 billionaires left on the planet. Then what? They drive their sports car, do bungee jumping, sip cocktails and watch ai made movies. They don't have children? The human race dies with them? Or they have children, somehow avoid the trap of inbreeding and their children in turn have ch…

>I still can't wrap my head around it. Mmhm > So we're all dead, robots take care of the infrastructure and healthcare Yep, and then there's a few hundred or few thousand kings and queens of the world that can do whatever they want! And no more dirty fucking lowlife scum to worry about (poors).

Nah, still a few million people. Million.

Re: Andreessen Horowitz is investing billions into a bleak future

#459

Post by wlecometo » Tue, Sep 01, 2026, 1:44 PM UTC

akudha wrote: post #129

pulkitsh1234 wrote: post #81

"A man who wishes to make a profession of goodness in everything must necessarily come to grief among so many who are not good. Therefore, it is necessary for a prince, who wishes to maintain himself, to learn how not to be good, and to use this knowledge and not use it, according to the necessity of the case" -- Niccolo Machiavelli It's a self fulfilling prophecy... while us commoners, or so called "activists" or et…

Setting ethical and moral questions aside for a second: Never pay a human again Every time I see stuff like this (along with other more serious shenanigans like wage theft, union busting etc) I only ask myself the same question again and again - what is the end game here? If much of the population is too poor to buy anything, too sick to consume much etc - who is left to buy anything at all? If all their power comes…

you just need to have a balance. - enough rich people like you so you don't feel alone - enough middle income people that buy to keep you rich and strive to become rich - enough poor people that try everything possible to become richer and throw middle income people to poor.

so you are super rich while others are busy fighting to defend their position or to rise their position.