In response to Waldman's other post today. The destroy a village to save a village writ large. The end point will be, after the global village is destroyed,
the US will be a rump state Oceania, hated and vilified even more than it already is.
Technogarchs are okay with that. The rich are different from you and me.
The question I always want to ask these tech bros is, when your precious AI destroys the majority of jobs, who will be left to pay for your crap? The problem with UBI is that ultimately, humans need a purpose.
Exactly, when millions are stripped of their ability to earn a comfortable living, with no path for alternatives, who will their customers be? I guess that's the blind spot of extreme solipsism.
I suggest listening to (Heather Cox Richardson recently interviewed Vanessa Williamson), or reading Vanessa Williamson who has researched and written about the connection between anti-tax movements and democracy. Taxation is a fundamental element of democracy and these billionaires are being anti-democratic when they fight against taxation. As was pointed out in the article, it isn't about the money; it's about how the tax revenue is being spent.
Among the biggest mega-million-dollar political donors are tech, FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate), fossil fuels and, ironically, health. Alas, they all will be tsunamied with the rest of us when Nature dumps its own kind of donation in retribution.
This is why it’s important to understand/study history. There’s a king, his underlings and the rest of us are peasants, serfs. "Peter, Don’t you call me, ‘cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store."
So, after destroying anything that benefits “everyone”, Elon Musk, of all people, says they will suddenly provide “everyone” with the “best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else”? Who is “they”? Who is “everyone”?
Excellent piece today, especially dissecting the joke that is UBI. Should the worst predictions come to pass I suspect we'll quickly see domestic unrest on a level we've never experienced. Andreesen, Musk et al will need to build themselves private armies.
I hope that dems recall the word antitrust when they return to power, since most big tech needs to be crushed into smaller pieces so it doesn't have the outsize power and destructiveness it has now. As the recent wastebook verdict shows, people are tired of big tech destroying childhood, using algorithms to addict teens to their shaming platforms and spreading so much garbage that it scrambles brains to the point where they believe nonsense and conspiracies that could only be created by science fiction or in a mad scientist's lab. While trump is a danger to democracy, big tech is a danger to the world, and it needs to be held accountable for its past and future actions. Google was once a company that promised Do No Evil and now it thrives on evil actions and is ready to destroy the minds of children and adults in order to reap grotesque profits that help no one. They live by extraction and subtly, but purposely, damage minds and harm us all.
I think about the repulsive musk each time the tech bros are mentioned. musk is single-handedly responsible for destroying USAID, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children of starvation. It is estimated that 14 million people could die because musk,in his drug addled ways, carrying his deadly chainsaw decided infants and children were expendable in order to save a few dollars of government spending. As musk extracts billions in taxpayer funds by exploding his rockets and pilfering billions with govt contracts. As the tech bros heap golden gifts at the cankled legs of the mad king, musk and many of his tech bro counterparts make Satan blush.
Are they going to spend that money on ads praising the fine qualities of this administration and the current Congress? Doesn't seem right now that will do much. Or are they just going to smear those running against their preferred candidates?
This sounds a lot like Curtis Yarvin’s Dark Enlightenment Movement & Patchwork cities philosophy. Scary as hell when elite tech bros think Democracy is a sham, government should be run like a tech driven corporation and CEO’s will act as the president.
In response to Waldman's other post today. The destroy a village to save a village writ large. The end point will be, after the global village is destroyed,
the US will be a rump state Oceania, hated and vilified even more than it already is.
Technogarchs are okay with that. The rich are different from you and me.
Tech bros are competing with the Christo-fascists inside the administration. Can The People rid America of both of these ideologies in November?
not a chance
The question I always want to ask these tech bros is, when your precious AI destroys the majority of jobs, who will be left to pay for your crap? The problem with UBI is that ultimately, humans need a purpose.
Exactly, when millions are stripped of their ability to earn a comfortable living, with no path for alternatives, who will their customers be? I guess that's the blind spot of extreme solipsism.
I suggest listening to (Heather Cox Richardson recently interviewed Vanessa Williamson), or reading Vanessa Williamson who has researched and written about the connection between anti-tax movements and democracy. Taxation is a fundamental element of democracy and these billionaires are being anti-democratic when they fight against taxation. As was pointed out in the article, it isn't about the money; it's about how the tax revenue is being spent.
I agree. It is an excellent interview.
Among the biggest mega-million-dollar political donors are tech, FIRE (finance, insurance, real estate), fossil fuels and, ironically, health. Alas, they all will be tsunamied with the rest of us when Nature dumps its own kind of donation in retribution.
The SCOTUS set the trajectory in 1976 with Buckley v. Valeo. I presented the analysis in 2015 at a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
https://youtu.be/GcxYBfYO03I
This is why it’s important to understand/study history. There’s a king, his underlings and the rest of us are peasants, serfs. "Peter, Don’t you call me, ‘cause I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store."
So, after destroying anything that benefits “everyone”, Elon Musk, of all people, says they will suddenly provide “everyone” with the “best medical care, food, home, transport and everything else”? Who is “they”? Who is “everyone”?
Excellent piece today, especially dissecting the joke that is UBI. Should the worst predictions come to pass I suspect we'll quickly see domestic unrest on a level we've never experienced. Andreesen, Musk et al will need to build themselves private armies.
hasn't that already been done?
I guess they did buy the US military...
and don't forget ICE, their heavily-armed, lawless paramilitary.
I hope that dems recall the word antitrust when they return to power, since most big tech needs to be crushed into smaller pieces so it doesn't have the outsize power and destructiveness it has now. As the recent wastebook verdict shows, people are tired of big tech destroying childhood, using algorithms to addict teens to their shaming platforms and spreading so much garbage that it scrambles brains to the point where they believe nonsense and conspiracies that could only be created by science fiction or in a mad scientist's lab. While trump is a danger to democracy, big tech is a danger to the world, and it needs to be held accountable for its past and future actions. Google was once a company that promised Do No Evil and now it thrives on evil actions and is ready to destroy the minds of children and adults in order to reap grotesque profits that help no one. They live by extraction and subtly, but purposely, damage minds and harm us all.
I think about the repulsive musk each time the tech bros are mentioned. musk is single-handedly responsible for destroying USAID, which has led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of children of starvation. It is estimated that 14 million people could die because musk,in his drug addled ways, carrying his deadly chainsaw decided infants and children were expendable in order to save a few dollars of government spending. As musk extracts billions in taxpayer funds by exploding his rockets and pilfering billions with govt contracts. As the tech bros heap golden gifts at the cankled legs of the mad king, musk and many of his tech bro counterparts make Satan blush.
Are they going to spend that money on ads praising the fine qualities of this administration and the current Congress? Doesn't seem right now that will do much. Or are they just going to smear those running against their preferred candidates?
This sounds a lot like Curtis Yarvin’s Dark Enlightenment Movement & Patchwork cities philosophy. Scary as hell when elite tech bros think Democracy is a sham, government should be run like a tech driven corporation and CEO’s will act as the president.