JA WestenbergMarc Andreessen was right about web browsers.
But he has since been wrong about a great many things.
And he is entirely wrong about introspection.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/marc-andreessen-is-wrong-about-introspection/
felizAndreessen's view of humans is the same one which is prevalent among AI enthusiasts: for them, humans are a black box, just like an LLM. Inside, mechanical mysteries operate that we cannot see or understand. With this behaviouristic perspective, the illusion of genuine intelligence in an LLM can be maintained.
Patrick H. Lauke
Michael Gemar
Nicole ParsonsGamergate opened my.eyes to how techbros view people, especially women.
In their Ted Talk, they described this mechanistic attitude to relationships, seeking a cheat code where magically people do as the techbro desires.
No volition. No free will. No choice.
Those same attitudes are applied to democracy.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/23/us/gamergate-harassment-reddit-twitter-cec
https://www.poynter.org/ethics-trust/2025/what-was-gamergate-controversy-ethics-games-journalism/
How Gamergate foreshadowed the toxic hellscape that the internet has now become
Gamergate was one of the earliest indications that what happened online could have major implications offline — and that a few people who understood the mechanics of the internet could manipulate it to advance a nefarious agenda.
lin11c
Scott D. Strader 😐@Daojoan This is one of those too-much-quotable-material essays. I'll just take one: "The social media platforms built by people who believed behavioral data was a reliable substitute for understanding human psychology produced a decade of engagement metrics while user wellbeing declined and our entire social order decayed. ... Goodhart's Law exacted its toll." We forget what catastrophe can result from a forced and incorrect model of the world, pushed on us by the powerful.
DecaturNature@sstrader @Daojoan Thanks for the essay and comment. These make me think of Thoreau, both about aiming for what's important (engagement or mental health), and an example of living an introspective life before Freud.
“In the long run men only hit what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.”
Matthias Krämer@Daojoan Thank you for that essay! I would like to mention that declaring Freud and the Vienna circle responsible for manufacturing something that helps manipulating and controlling people is a well known antisemitic trope. It's right next to blaming cultural Marxism (Kulturmarxismus) for the decline of the nation or for the impurity of the master race.
Further, that "zero-introspection mindset" is not new, but (as you hint mentioning Futurism) part of the anti-intellectual ideology of fascism.
Further, that "zero-introspection mindset" is not new, but (as you hint mentioning Futurism) part of the anti-intellectual ideology of fascism.
@Kraemer_HB oh this is an excellent pickup thank you!
Neil Gall@Daojoan Oh no, I bought this to read on holiday. Will it turn me I to Marc Andreessen?
Aunty
Awkward Turing@Daojoan First thing that came to mind: Freud didnt bring "listening to ones self" into mainstream, but actually "listening to others". Back then doctors weren't supposed to listen to the psychotic fantasies of their patients. Freud and the Viennese circle made that mainstream.
So maybe .. that's the underlying issue for Mr. Andreessen?
Introspection is not something that necessarily costs energy. Listening to others and being compassionate about it does however and could be perceived as something holding one back. Then again that wouldn't sound like something one could willingly relate to, does it?
canning jars@Daojoan great piece, great analysis. I love it when oligarchs put a philosophical veneer on “I should have more money and no guilt regarding how I got it”
Mim54