“We’ve heard this tone before. It’s the sound of a very rich man, made rich in one particular domain, pounding the dinner table as he bemoans broad currents in a society that he does not, mystifyingly, control. It is the rhetoric of the world-is-going-to-hell pessimism.”
You say more in this passage than you may have intended. Thiel is one of a whole class of billionaires who think they alone “could do it better” when it comes to running a country or, as in Musk’s case, our entire civilization and it’s future (via long-termism’s focus on distributing humanity across the galaxy, including Mars colonization in the “short-run,” etc.). It’s hard to find many of these elites who believe anything close to what our current president has prioritized, which is that, in order to flourish as a CIVILization, we need to make the space (referent intended) to continually grow our economy and the welfare of our people “from the middle, out.”
The fact that we don’t have flying planes is trivial and understandable from many directions. The fact that we’ve had broadband for decades and yet tens of millions of American’s don’t have access to it, is disgraceful. And that’s just one example of the maldistribution of what are basic resources (like access to health care, decent schools, safe communities -- I could go on all day) that are fundamental to a land of opportunity -- and that we could have enabled by now if it weren’t for so many perverse economic and political incentives largely created and sustained (through selective investment, the creation of enormous propagandistic media organizations, lobbying, etc., by the super wealthy.
I know this might come across as strident. But the “Great Man” Ayn Randian, technological determinism philosophy of Thiel and his ilk is blindered and its implementation is substantially undemocratic -- not to mention generally inhumane. Thiel feels comfortable making his uber-elitist case because Trump and decades of the development of related reactionary forces have suddenly managed to unleash and to mainstream authoritarian ideas and aspirations.
A great thing about our country is our capacity for innovation and wealth/wellbeing creation. Innovation is critical, but so is this:
“If American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land.” -- Franklin D Roosevelt
Thiel cares greatly about enabling the flight of his car but very little about bettering the plight of our citizens. There’s nothing innovative in such thought. It’s merely plutocratic.
Thanks for this, Tim. Oh, and Happy New Year. Hoping you and yours are thriving.
Same to you, John!
“We’ve heard this tone before. It’s the sound of a very rich man, made rich in one particular domain, pounding the dinner table as he bemoans broad currents in a society that he does not, mystifyingly, control. It is the rhetoric of the world-is-going-to-hell pessimism.”
You say more in this passage than you may have intended. Thiel is one of a whole class of billionaires who think they alone “could do it better” when it comes to running a country or, as in Musk’s case, our entire civilization and it’s future (via long-termism’s focus on distributing humanity across the galaxy, including Mars colonization in the “short-run,” etc.). It’s hard to find many of these elites who believe anything close to what our current president has prioritized, which is that, in order to flourish as a CIVILization, we need to make the space (referent intended) to continually grow our economy and the welfare of our people “from the middle, out.”
The fact that we don’t have flying planes is trivial and understandable from many directions. The fact that we’ve had broadband for decades and yet tens of millions of American’s don’t have access to it, is disgraceful. And that’s just one example of the maldistribution of what are basic resources (like access to health care, decent schools, safe communities -- I could go on all day) that are fundamental to a land of opportunity -- and that we could have enabled by now if it weren’t for so many perverse economic and political incentives largely created and sustained (through selective investment, the creation of enormous propagandistic media organizations, lobbying, etc., by the super wealthy.
I know this might come across as strident. But the “Great Man” Ayn Randian, technological determinism philosophy of Thiel and his ilk is blindered and its implementation is substantially undemocratic -- not to mention generally inhumane. Thiel feels comfortable making his uber-elitist case because Trump and decades of the development of related reactionary forces have suddenly managed to unleash and to mainstream authoritarian ideas and aspirations.
A great thing about our country is our capacity for innovation and wealth/wellbeing creation. Innovation is critical, but so is this:
“If American democracy ceases to move forward as a living force, seeking day and night by peaceful means to better the lot of our citizens, fascism will grow in strength in our land.” -- Franklin D Roosevelt
Thiel cares greatly about enabling the flight of his car but very little about bettering the plight of our citizens. There’s nothing innovative in such thought. It’s merely plutocratic.
Excellent article.
good column