3
submitted 2 weeks ago by utopiah@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world

"I talk to young founders these days and for them, there’s no other world than the Trump world. I ask them what inspired them to go into tech and they say they read Marc Andreessen’s manifesto, they read Peter Thiel’s books, and I think, “Oh, your brain’s cooked.” They come in pre-pickled. But everyone else who could have told an alternate narrative has been hounded out of the industry."

top 13 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] Rekall_Incorporated@piefed.social 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

There is a silver lining to all this, an opportunity for the rest of the world to embrace new models (open competitive markets, truly customer-focused services) that go beyond the American cult of the pompous, regressive oligarch. Not saying it will happen tomorrow or in an utopian fairy tale manner, but history tends to be cyclical.

To get to the next peak, you have to hit bottom first.

A side note, check out Marc Andreessen's "manifesto":

https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/

This is a "teenager just discovered speed" level of sophomoric writing.

This is a good thing, it means with the right kind of pressure he will fold as he doesn't believe in what he is writing.

[-] Coolcoder360@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

We believe the ultimate moral defense of markets is that they divert people who otherwise would raise armies and start religions into peacefully productive pursuits.

Um. Hmm. Pretty sure that didn't work and those in politics are raising armies and not doing peaceful pursuits...

Also a lot of the stuff about willing buyer and seller assumes that the buyer has options, I don't think from the perspective of real people that everyone has that many options, so they end up with loans or other things which are not good, just to be able to afford vehicles to get to work or a place to live.

So a lot if this seems written by a rich person who has always been able to buy everything they needed and more, not someone who is having to go take loans or go into debt just to be able to get to work.

[-] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

It also assumes the seller has options. It's true when the field is equal but Amazon and Walmart both famously squeeze their suppliers to pain and everybody screws their laborers

[-] edible_funk@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Holy shit that reads like the kinda dumb shit I'd write in high school on drugs.

[-] Rekall_Incorporated@piefed.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

This is a “teenager just discovered speed” level of sophomoric writing.

It really is. It's almost reads like a parody of a regressive oligarch.

[-] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 1 points 2 weeks ago
[-] logicbomb@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy defines ~~the marketing devision of the Sirius Cybernetic Corporation~~ young founders as "a bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes,”

[-] prex@aussie.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago

And the 'products' they spruik:

‘it is very easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of them by the sense of achievement you get from getting them to work at all.

[-] Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 weeks ago

You would think that with all the 'expert' tech people out of jobs maybe they could band together and take the billionaires down? It would cause a depression but I think that would be more palatable than the depression that is coming regardless but in which the billionaires will still be billionaires?

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

The next great depression is going to be lit.

[-] RottenHeads@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

I don't know why, but it feels like the tipping point was back when Thiel destroyed Gawker using Hogan.

After that he was less exposed as the psycho he is, anyone else too.

Imagine reading Peter Thiel's books as anything besides a sociological analysis of the postmodern, capitalist West (I haven't, btw, I'm just assuming it's about ideology and not a cook book). Goddamn. I bet even Ayn Rand makes more sense....

I'm not a believer in Ayn Rand or objectivism, she was wrong on the fundamentals, but she's excellent brain exercise. It's vanishingly rare to find anyone who can meaningfully explain an organized, recursively-coherent single-idea philosophy for 70 pages (the Atlas Shrugged monologue) without clear contradiction if you accept her flawed premises. She truly, viscerally believed, and spent the time thinking about it to prove it (even if, again, she's wrong).

This manifesto is just someone who made some money post-facto rationalizing it with grade-school logic.

this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
3 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

79861 readers
235 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS