Marc Andreessen is wrong about introspection

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Westenberg.

Is the 1 percenters getting dumber or acting like it?

Like 10 years ago, I felt like Andreesen and Elon were thought leaders. Now they sound like idiots.

Did I or did they change?

Did I grow up and they changed to a younger audience and what I used to enjoy was just a different kind of stupid?

In the late 1990s I went to a RealNetworks developer conference and Andreesen, then at Netscape, was a keynote speaker. I was curious and open to his insights, but his talk was so vapid (I remember he kept giggling) and arrogant that I eventually walked out. I remember he kept bragging about Netscape's next big project (something after Netscape 5 maybe?) and how it was going to wipe Microsoft out permanently. Only a few years later did I realize whatever it was never shipped, it turned out to be vaporware.

Fair enough. But the software eats the world essay did change the world. Maybe he was lucky, but I still think he managed to position himself in order to be heard with that essay.

Maybe I am naive.

It coined a catchy phrase but the essay just described a change that was happening, I don't think it effected any change itself.