gypsyveganRE: https://researchbuzz.masto.host/@researchbuzz/115542438061252486
Starve the billionaires -- remove yourself, including your data and your privacy, from their portfolios in every way you possibly can.
relianceschoolBill Gates's stunted political vision
Bill Gates's stunted political vision - Lemmy.World
There is a stunted type of political vision [https://www.wired.com/story/the-10000-year-clock-is-a-waste-of-time/] that can only ever imagine the world getting better through the cognitive largesse of the power elite. This vision begins from the bedrock beliefs that (a) there is a social hierarchy, (b) it is basically meritocratic, and © it produces a rising tide that lifts all boats. The cognitive largesse can take two forms. (1) Geniuses can innovate, gifting us with new technologies or business ideas, or (2) Geniuses can make large, magnanimous gifts to the less-fortunate. If one buys into this political vision, then it stands to reason that you should never do anything to make the rich and powerful uncomfortable. Taxes and legal restraints and unions just slow them down and make them feel less generous. The path to building a better world necessarily runs through the better angels of their nature. (I wrote about all this in my 2020 essay about the Clock of the Long Now [https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/07/tim-cook-trump-gift/85555805007/]. It’ll also be in the forthcoming book.) In 2021, Bill Gates wrote an entire book titled How To Avoid a Climate Disaster. He took seriously that climate change was a generational threat. The better angels of his nature were up to the challenge. And he indicated in the book that he knew this would be a long, hard slog. It has only been four years. By some measures, we have seen remarkable progress. The cost of renewable energy has plummeted. If we just have the political will to prevent fossil fuel companies from extracting market-bending favors, the trajectory of the energy sectors would look pretty damn promising right now. But the politics of 2025 couldn’t be much farther from the politics of 2021, particularly in the United States. The Trump Administration has declared climate change a hoax. They are defunding scientific research and canceling already-existing clean energy projects. They are weaponizing the IRS to pursue political enemies, a list which includes the climate movement. And meanwhile, centrist pundits from the “popularist” school of thought have decided that climate is a bummer of an issue, and are telling Democratic elected officials that the electoral cost of taking the climate crisis seriously outweigh the benefits. This is a time when your fair-weather-friends flee to the hills. And now it seems that Bill Gates has gone full Llomborg [https://www.gatesnotes.com/home/home-page-topic/reader/three-tough-truths-about-climate]. Bjorn Llomborg has been a mini-celebrity for around 25 years. His schtick, in a nutshell, is as follows: - Climate change is real, but it won’t be all that bad. - There is a finite and fixed pool of resources that humanity can spend making things better. - So the responsible thing to do is to apply cost-benefit analysis and make sure our money does the greatest good for the greatest number. Aw shucks. It turns out that we can do way more good by focusing on mosquito nets and world hunger! Inaction on climate change is downright responsible, when you think about it! Think of this as proto-effective altruism. Llomborg has been banging this drum since before William MacAskill hit puberty. He figured out long ago that there is money and fame in telling the rich and powerful, “everything will be just fine.” It’s pathetic, but it isn’t the least bit surprising. The fight against climate change was always going to require technologies and markets and a social movement with the political will to make inconvenient demands upon the powerful. This was never going to be easy, nor was it ever going to be quick. Bill Gates and his pals were never going to be anything but fair-weather-friends to the climate movement, because they lack the political vision to imagine that the problems of global climate change are also problems of the global social hierarchy that they sit comfortably atop.
Peter Thiel, Nazi Philosophy, and Lord of the Rings
Peter Thiel, Nazi Philosophy, and Lord of the Rings - Lemmy.World
“The strange thing is that, if you look at any of these narratives—science fiction, Lord of the Rings, The Bible—the tech billionaires are obviously the villains in all of those books. Right? But they have such bad comprehension of reading—or maybe it’s a willful misinterpretation—that they somehow think they’re the heroes. But the tech bros are “transhumanists.” Well, in the Lord of the Rings, Saruman is the one who is creating orcs, pulling them out of his factories. That’s them—creating artificial intelligence and promising us a future with no jobs and lots of killer robots.” That’s an excerpt from my interview with Matt Lech and David Griscom of the Left Reckoning podcast. We discuss Peter Thiel, tech fascism, the Lord of the Rings, and various other problematic subjects (such as, um, the Antichrist). Any questions? We’ll soon be taping an episode of the Nerd Reich podcast with Adam Becker and Dr. Brooke Harrington. Ask us anything!
𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘽𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙞𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙚𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙢𝙥
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮: 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦
by #FrancescaFiorentini
"Someday Donald Trump and the movement that got him elected will be gone. And the billionaires who back him won't care. Because they have other plans.
This is the story of how deeply un-American the billionaires who buy our politicians are, from their disregard for democracy, their freak-outs over equality, or the fact that they want to secede from the United States altogether.
The #broligarchy has no regard for this country.
And now, their dystopian plans for it have come out of the shadows and into the light."
#TheBitchuationRoom #TheNerdReich #techbros #technoligarchy #technofascism #TheNetworkState #PeterThiel #MarcAndreesen #DavidSacks #JDVance #ElonMusk #BryanArmstrong #BalajiSrinivasan #DonaldTrump #CurtisYarvin #Palantir
𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙄𝙨 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙊𝙗𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙇𝙤𝙧𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙍𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨?
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮: 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦
by #FrancescaFiorentini
"Every fantasy franchise has an insufferable part of its fan base... but this one takes the cake.
Powerful conservatives are obsessed with The Lord of The Rings. We know this because they name their military tech companies, surveillance companies, and venture capital firms after objects in Middle Earth.
They believe they’re in a fight against dark forces, and that they’re heroic men of Gondor, or Elves of Rivendell. What’s worse is that they believe that Tolkien’s Catholicism means he would agree with their world view that immigrants, feminists, and global cooperation are the enemy.
Francesca digs deep into 'The Nerd Reich’s' misreading of Lord of the Rings, and how they took all the wrong lessons from the story."
#TheBitchuationRoom #thenerdreich #techbros #technoligarchy #thenetworkstate #PeterThiel #technofascism #LotR
Are tech magnates trying to replace Trump?
Are tech magnates trying to replace Trump? - Lemmy.World
As Trump’s poll numbers sink due to his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, a new conspiracy theory has emerged. It holds that Silicon Valley overlords are plotting to overthrow Trump and replace him with JD Vance. In fact, perhaps they are the ones orchestrating the entire Epstein debacle for this exact purpose! And, with Trump out of the way, Peter Thiel would be the new president, since Vance is almost entirely a creation of Thiel, his benefactor and employer for most of his adult life. Reality check: While I don’t put anything past these Silicon Valley authoritarians, there are some big problems with this theory. First, the MAGA base follows Trump, not Vance. MAGA is a cult based on the personality of one man. As I’ve said in recent interviews, it’s not clear what happens to MAGA after Trump. There is no heir apparent, and the deeply unpopular Vance lacks the charisma to capture the base. This poses an existential problem for the fascist alliance as we head into the future. There’s no one like Trump, who has built his public persona over decades as a celebrity and media phenomenon. Even amid the Epstein Files firestorm, a CNN poll found that 88% of the MAGA base remains supportive of him. If Vance is perceived as betraying Trump, his poll numbers will dive even further. He would become reviled by MAGA as a living Judas, providing the opportunity for some Trump loyalist to emerge and capture the base. This would tear the Republican Party apart and provide the ever-feckless Democratic establishment with a chance to regain power.
Why tech billionaires want a ‘corporate dictatorship’
Why tech billionaires want a ‘corporate dictatorship’ - Lemmy.World
Today, I’m talking with a very special guest: Gil Duran, an old friend, journalist, and author of The Nerd Reich, a newsletter and forthcoming book about the shifting politics of Silicon Valley and the rise of tech authoritarianism. The “Nerd Reich,” as Gil sees it, is a web of powerful, ultrawealthy tech billionaires. People like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, and others, whose politics and influence now see them pushing the country further and further away from democracy and toward something resembling a kind of cross between unrestrained capitalism and monarchy. This idea has been kicking around for quite a while now. You’ll hear Gil refer to it as the Dark Enlightenment, or as some refer to it, the neo-reactionary movement. Some central characters here include Curtis Yarvin — an influential, anti-democracy blogger whose ideas once stood far outside mainstream acceptability, but who recently has captured the attention of politicians like Vice President JD Vance. And that’s Gil’s central thesis: while these ideas are not new, their embrace by some of the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet is a relatively recent phenomenon — one that’s been supercharged by President Donald Trump’s reelection.
𝙏𝙝𝙚 5 𝙈𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙋𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙂𝙖𝙯𝙖
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘙𝘰𝘰𝘮: 𝘋𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦
by #FrancescaFiorentini
"As Israel shows no sign of slowing down its assault on the people of Gaza, cretinous opportunists are laying out plans for its future. None of these future plans involve Palestinians living with dignity or autonomy or in their homes.
Francesca lays out five of the most diabolical and outlandish plans for Gaza, which include things like the 'Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing' free trade zone, and highways named after Mohammad bin-Salman of Saudi Arabia."
Russia Looks to Musk's America Party for Leverage
Russia Looks to Musk's America Party for Leverage - Lemmy.World
Elon Musk recently announced the formation of the America Party, and online commentators have been quick to share hot takes about its meaning and prospects. Rather than join that chorus, and following up on our prior coverage of the ongoing Musk-Trump schism within MAGA, we’ve prepared a more comprehensive overview, addressing angles other outlets have missed. Here’s what we know so far.
⚯ Michel de Cryptadamus ⚯i guess "god's wrath will throw fire upon the sodomites" is what passes for a #libertarian take in 2025, because this is one of the main guys trying to build the #NetworkState.
(he's the CEO of #Praxis, "the world's first digital nation" that's funded by a lot of the crypto bros including Peter Thiel, #Balaji, Joe Lonsdale, the #Winklevoss twins, #Paradigm (big crypto fund), a #Worldcoin guy, and a bunch of others). cc: @gilduran.com @gilduran
* the tweet: https://x.com/drydenwtbrown/status/1939412375871836384
* more on Dryden Brown: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/09/praxis-society-city-dryden-brown-peter-thiel/
#pride #lgbt #Thiel #Pronomos #PeterThiel #crypto #cryptocurrency #NetworkState #broligarchy #Broligarchs #JoeLonsdale #TheNetworkState #gay #christianNationalism #DrydenBrown #a16z #nerdreich #thenerdreich
