Silicon Valley

Joe Lonsdale: A Key Player in Silicon Valley’s Emerging Right-Wing

In the world of Silicon Valley, where liberal politics often dominate the landscape, Joe Lonsdale stands out as one of tech’s most influential right-wing voices. Co-founder of data analytics giant Palantir Technologies and investment firm 8VC, Lonsdale has emerged as a significant figure not just in technology and venture capital, but in right-wing political circles as well.

The Thiel Connection: Mentorship and Collaboration

Lonsdale’s career has been deeply intertwined with that of Peter Thiel, the billionaire entrepreneur and right-wing political donor. Their relationship began during Lonsdale’s college years at Stanford University, where he was editor-in-chief of The Stanford Review, a publication Thiel had co-founded years earlier. This shared intellectual foundation would prove formative for their future collaborations.

After graduating from Stanford with a computer science degree in 2004, Lonsdale joined Thiel at Clarium Capital, a global macro hedge fund. As an early executive there, Lonsdale helped grow the fund to $8 billion in assets under management, working closely with Thiel and absorbing his contrarian investment philosophy and political worldview.

The most significant product of their partnership came in 2004, when they co-founded Palantir Technologies along with Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings. Named after the all-seeing stones from “The Lord of the Rings,” Palantir focused on data analytics with applications in defense, intelligence, and corporate settings. The company received early investment from the CIA‘s venture fund, In-Q-Tel, setting it on a path to become deeply embedded in government and defense work—a connection that would later align with Lonsdale’s political activities.

Building an Empire: From Palantir to 8VC

While Lonsdale left his operational role at Palantir in 2009, he continued as an advisor while launching a series of new ventures. He founded Addepar, a wealth management platform now managing over $4 trillion in assets, and co-founded OpenGov, which provides cloud-based software for government budgeting.

In 2015, Lonsdale founded 8VC, a venture capital firm that now manages over $6 billion in capital. Through 8VC, he has invested in companies like Oculus, Guardant Health, Oscar, Wish, and Flexport, expanding his influence throughout the tech industry. The firm’s name itself reflects Lonsdale’s philosophy—the number 8 representing infinity when turned sideways, suggesting limitless potential.

Joe Lonsdale, tech billionaire and right-wing backer of Musk and Trump

Political Activities and Right-Wing Advocacy

Unlike many Silicon Valley elites, Lonsdale has been unabashedly outspoken about his right-wing political views. Following in the footsteps of his mentor Thiel, he has emerged as an active Republican donor and fundraiser, using his considerable wealth and influence to support right-wing candidates and causes.

In 2020, Lonsdale made headlines when he joined the exodus of tech leaders leaving San Francisco for more conservative locales, relocating his family and business to Austin, Texas. He publicly criticized California’s “disrepair,” citing high taxes, regulations, and progressive policies as his reasons for leaving—a move that solidified his status as a vocal critic of liberal governance.

Lonsdale’s political advocacy extends beyond campaign contributions. He co-founded the Cicero Institute, a policy think tank focused on market-oriented solutions to healthcare, housing, and criminal justice reform. The institute promotes conservative approaches to these issues, advocating for reduced regulation and private-sector solutions.

Perhaps his most ambitious political-adjacent project is the University of Austin (UATX), which he co-founded as an alternative to what he sees as the liberal orthodoxy dominating higher education. The university aims to promote so-called “intellectual diversity” and “free speech“, reflecting Lonsdale’s belief that traditional universities have become too politically homogeneous.

The New Right of Silicon Valley

Together with Thiel, Lonsdale represents a new brand of tech-enabled Republicanism. This movement combines traditional Republican values of (in this case extremely) limited government and free markets with a Silicon Valley ethos of disruption and technological optimism. It stands apart from both establishment Republicanism and populist right-wing movements, offering a vision of conservative politics infused with the language and tools of technology.

Lonsdale has used his platform to advocate for American innovation and entrepreneurship, arguing that technological advancement, not government intervention, is the solution to society’s problems. His American Optimist initiative promotes this vision through podcasts and other media, featuring conversations with entrepreneurs, scientists, and policy experts who share his techno-optimistic worldview.

Joe Lonsdale and Elon Musk

Joe Lonsdale and Elon Musk know each other, and have collaborated on various ventures. Lonsdale has been a supporter of Musk’s initiatives both politically and in business. His firm 8VC invested in Musk’s Boring Company during its Series C funding round. He also contributed $1 million to America PAC, a super PAC backing Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential campaign run by Musk. Their relationship extends to political endeavors, with Lonsdale described as a friend and “political confidant” of Musk. ​

In a recent interview, Lonsdale discussed Musk’s influence on various sectors, highlighting their shared perspectives on innovation and technology. Lonsdale has publicly expressed support for Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, now rebranded as X — while privately being one of the venture’s investors.

Personal Life and Legacy

On a personal level, Lonsdale married Tayler Cox in 2016, and they have five children together. Their family life, now based in Austin, reflects the traditional values that inform his political perspective.

With an estimated net worth of $425 million, Lonsdale uses his wealth not just for political activities but also for philanthropy, often directed toward causes aligned with his conservative values. He and his wife are active donors in various philanthropic pursuits, though these typically reflect his market-oriented approach to solving social problems.

The Future of Right-Wing Tech

At just 42 years old, Lonsdale’s influence in both technology and politics continues to grow. As one of the youngest members ever to appear on Forbes’ Midas List, his investment decisions shape the future of technology, while his political advocacy helps define a new strain of tech right-wing forces.

Following Thiel’s playbook but developing his own distinctive voice, Lonsdale represents a generation of tech leaders who are attacking Silicon Valley’s liberal consensus. And with fellow tech titan buddy Elon Musk now Chief Buddy, these energetically right-wing tech oligarchs with enormous power over our daily lives already are unsettlingly close to the White House.

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The sharing economy is a socio-economic system that enables consumers to share in the creation, production, distribution, trade, and consumption of goods and services through digital platforms. It leverages information technology, particularly the Internet, to facilitate the distribution, sharing, and reuse of excess capacity in goods and services.

History

The concept of sharing resources for mutual benefit has roots in early human civilization, with barter systems being one of the earliest examples. However, the modern sharing economy emerged in the late 20th century as a response to the impersonal nature and waste associated with mass production and consumption. The term “sharing economy” gained prominence around the time of the Great Recession of 2008-09, driven by social technologies, global population growth concerns, and resource depletion.

Key milestones in the sharing economy’s history include:

  • 1978: Marcus Felson and Joe L. Spaeth coin the term “economy of sharing” in an academic article.
  • 2008: Lawrence Lessig possibly first uses the term “sharing economy”.
  • 2010s: Rapid growth of sharing economy platforms like Airbnb and Uber.

Major Players

The sharing economy encompasses various sectors, including transportation, accommodation, professional services, and personal space. Some of the leading companies include:

  1. Airbnb: Founded in 2008 by Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia (now a controversial member of Elon Musk‘s DOGE power grab), Airbnb is a global online marketplace for lodging and tourism experiences. It operates in nearly every country and region worldwide, with a significant presence in large geographies.
  2. Uber: Launched in 2010, Uber is a comprehensive logistics and mobility leader, offering ride-sharing, food delivery, and freight services. It operates in approximately 70 countries and 15,000 cities worldwide.
  3. Lyft: Founded in 2012, Lyft is the second-largest ride-sharing company in the United States, offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, bicycle-sharing systems, and rental cars.
  4. Fiverr: Established in 2010, Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelance services, connecting freelancers with businesses and individuals seeking various digital services.
  5. Lime: Founded in 2017, Lime offers electric bikes and scooters for rent in urban areas, providing an alternative to traditional transportation methods.
  6. BlaBlaCar: Launched in 2006, BlaBlaCar is a long-distance carpooling platform that connects drivers with empty seats to passengers heading in the same direction.
  7. Zipcar: Founded in 2000, Zipcar is a car-sharing company that provides vehicle reservations to its members, billable by the minute, hour, or day.
  8. JustPark: Established in 2006, JustPark is an online platform for peer-to-peer driveway rental, enabling the renting out of parking and electric vehicle charging spaces.

These companies have significantly contributed to the growth of the sharing economy, which is estimated to expand from $14 billion in 2014 to $335 billion by 2025.

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Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia turns right-wing after decades of Democratic support

Joe Gebbia: A Silicon Valley Success Story’s Troubling Turn

Joe Gebbia’s journey from innovative designer to billionaire entrepreneur, and his subsequent embrace of authoritarian politics, illustrates how wealth and power can fundamentally reshape values and allegiances.

Origins in Innovation

Born in 1981, Gebbia’s early career showed genuine promise in merging design thinking with social good. His education at the Rhode Island School of Design, combined with business studies at Brown University and MIT, suggested someone who might bridge the gap between creativity and commerce for positive change.

The origin story of Airbnb – born from Gebbia and Brian Chesky’s inability to afford rising rent – once seemed to exemplify Silicon Valley‘s democratic potential. Their solution of renting air mattresses to conference attendees appeared to embody the sharing economy’s promise of democratizing access to travel and income. With technical co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk, they built Airbnb into a platform that transformed travel — though critics would later note its role in driving up housing costs in many cities, and the many regulatory battles that have ensued.

The Price of Success

Their bootstrapping story of selling custom cereal boxes during the 2008 election to raise funds became startup lore. Yet ironically, the economic desperation that inspired Airbnb’s creation stands in stark contrast to Gebbia’s current alignment with policies that often exacerbate income inequality and wealth inequality.

While Gebbia’s commitment to philanthropy through the Giving Pledge appeared commendable, his recent political evolution raises questions about the coherence between his charitable giving and his support for policies that often undermine social safety nets.

A Troubling Political Transformation

Gebbia’s political journey from Democratic donor to Trump supporter represents more than just a change in voting patterns – it reflects a broader pattern of tech billionaires embracing authoritarian politics. After contributing over $200,000 to Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden’s campaigns, Gebbia’s sudden shift rightward in the 2024 election coincided with his increasing proximity to power in the form of Elon Musk and the Trump administration.

His public support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and defense of various right-wing positions on social media marked a dramatic departure from his previous support for progressive causes. This transformation mirrors a troubling trend among tech elites who, after accumulating vast wealth, appear to abandon democratic principles in favor of authoritarian solutions.

DOGE: The Final Step

Continue reading Who is Joe Gebbia?
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AI accelerationism Dictionary illustration

Accelerationism Dictionary: A Complete Terminology and Lexicon

AI accelerationism, or “e/acc,” is one of the most radical and controversial ideologies emerging from Silicon Valley today. At its core, it champions the rapid and unrestricted development of artificial intelligence, rejecting calls for regulation and safety measures in favor of unchecked innovation. Proponents argue that AI holds the key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges—climate change, poverty, disease—and even envision a post-human future where intelligence transcends biological limits.

With strong libertarian leanings, the movement prioritizes market-driven progress, believing that government intervention would stifle AI’s transformative potential. Tech billionaires like legendary venture capitalist Marc Andreessen have embraced these ideas, elevating what was once a fringe philosophy into a driving force in the AI industry.

However, AI accelerationism faces fierce criticism for its disregard of ethical considerations, social consequences, and potential existential risks. Detractors warn that unregulated AI development could exacerbate inequality, destabilize economies, and lead to dangerous technological outcomes without proper safeguards.

The movement stands in stark opposition to cautious, ethical AI development advocated by groups like the effective altruism community, setting up a high-stakes ideological battle over the future of artificial intelligence. Whether one sees AI accelerationism as a path to utopia or a reckless gamble, its growing influence makes it a defining force in the ongoing debate over technology’s role in shaping humanity’s future.

This accelerationism dictionary should help get anyone up to speed on this emerging and dangerous ideology. We’ll keep adding to it over time as the field continues to evolve at breakneck pace.

A dystopian AI hellscape -- one of many potential outcomes of AI accelerationism ideology

Accelerationism Dictionary

A

Accelerate or die: A common slogan in the e/acc movement expressing the belief that technological acceleration is necessary for survival.

Accelerationism: A philosophical and political movement advocating for the acceleration of technological, social, and economic progress. Can exist in left-wing, right-wing, and politically neutral forms.

AGI (Artificial General Intelligence): An artificial intelligence system capable of performing any intellectual task that a human can do.

AI supremacy: The belief or fear that artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence and capabilities, potentially dominating society, economies, and geopolitical power structures. It is often discussed in the context of global competition for technological dominance.

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Tech bros at Trump's inauguration

Dave Karpf absolutely shreds Balaji Srinivasan’s book “The Network State” as the ravings of a rich delusional megalomaniac preening to his Silicon Valley peers who fancy themselves in Galt’s Gulch. These guys appear almost completely ignorant about the actual functions of a nation-state. If they want to declare themselves sovereign and secede from the United States, we ought to cut their sewage, water, and electric supply to give them a dose of the factual reality they so disdain.

What happens to these guys’ nerdy little crypto-enclaves when a much larger power (say, Russia…) decides to invade them and take their enormous stores of value they’ve bragged about removing from state protection? Especially after they’ve just ushered in the destruction of the post-WWII global order in which it was generally frowned upon for giant nations to gobble up their neighbors just because they could? 🤔

Moreover, what if that invader nation is simply the United States itself, once an administration comes to power that decides it is tired of dealing with its collection of ornery Confederate enclaves? Some might knuckle under peacefully, but there might also be some Waco events — except this time, with a lethal military strike justified by a president completely immune from prosecution and beyond the power of legislative or judicial oversight.

Please go away

What is stopping these guys from starting their start-up utopias right now? They are squintillionaires and could certainly buy land and start a community organized around whatever value system they want to run up the flagpole (arguably that seems to be the idea behind California Forever). Why isn’t Peter Thiel seasteading already and leaving us the fuck alone? Why does California Forever take Forever to operationalize when the entire premise of these techbro elites for decades has been that government (and specifically democracy) is too slow and they could totally build everything much faster and better if only given the chance?

Continue reading The tech bros have no clothes
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AI woman with superintelligence

Understanding AI Accelerationism: Silicon Valley’s Radical Vision for the Future

What is AI accelerationism? AI accelerationism, or “e/acc” as it’s known in tech circles, has emerged as one of Silicon Valley‘s most influential and controversial ideological movements. At its core, it represents a radical optimism about artificial intelligence and its potential to reshape human civilization as we know it.

What is AI Accelerationism?

At its most basic, AI accelerationism advocates for the rapid and unrestricted development of artificial intelligence. Unlike those who call for careful regulation and safety measures, accelerationists believe that faster AI development is not just beneficial but crucial for humanity’s future. They reject what they see as excessive caution, often dismissing AI safety advocates as “doomers.”

The Core Beliefs

Technological Solutions to Global Problems

Accelerationists believe that unrestricted technological progress, particularly in AI, holds the key to solving humanity’s greatest challenges. From their perspective, issues like climate change, poverty, and disease are problems that advanced AI could potentially solve if we develop it quickly enough.

Post-Human Future

Perhaps most ambitiously, many e/acc proponents envision a future where the line between human and machine blurs. They embrace the possibility of human-AI integration and the emergence of new forms of consciousness and intelligence.

an AI accelerationism vision of the future

Market-Driven Innovation

The movement has strong libertarian leanings, advocating for minimal government intervention in AI development. They believe that market forces, not regulation, should guide technological progress.

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survival of the richest -- they intend to escape somewhere pre-planned as the planet burns

Douglas Rushkoff’s “Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires” delves into the unsettling strategies of the ultra-wealthy broligarchs as they prepare for global catastrophes of their own making. Drawing from personal encounters with tech magnates, Rushkoff unveils a mindset fixated on personal survival over collective well-being running rampant in Silicon Valley.

The Mindset

At the heart of Rushkoff’s critique is “The Mindset,” a belief system among tech billionaires from Peter Thiel to Elon Musk and beyond characterized by:

  • Extreme Wealth and Privilege: Leveraging vast resources to insulate themselves from societal collapse.
  • Escape Over Prevention: Prioritizing personal exit strategies rather than addressing systemic issues.
  • Technological Transcendence: Aiming to surpass human limitations through advanced technologies.

This worldview drives investments in elaborate escape plans, sidelining efforts to resolve the crises they anticipate. It is almost as if they are in a low-key doomsday cult, albeit one that lacks a singular leader and isn’t holed up in a compound (…yet).

A tech billionaire's private island escape plan -- how the rich will survive the coming catastrophes they've created

The Event

The term “The Event” encapsulates potential disasters such as environmental collapse — particularly from climate change, social unrest, pandemics, and cyberattacks. They believe we should expect more bitter divisiveness, more covid-19s, and more hostile hacking in our future. The elite perceive these scenarios as unavoidable, focusing on personal survival rather than prevention.

Escape Strategies

Rushkoff examines the lengths to which the ultra-rich go to secure their futures, including:

  • Luxury Bunkers: Constructing fortified shelters to withstand various apocalyptic events.
  • Seasteading Communities: Developing autonomous, floating societies beyond governmental reach.
  • Space Colonies: Investing in extraterrestrial habitats as ultimate escape routes.
  • Life Extension Technologies: Pursuing methods to prolong life, aiming to outlast earthly crises.
  • Artificial Intelligence: Exploring consciousness uploading to achieve digital immortality.

These measures reflect a desire to detach from societal responsibilities and the broader human community.

The Insulation Equation

Rushkoff introduces the “insulation equation,” illustrating how billionaires calculate the wealth required to shield themselves from the fallout of their own actions. This cycle perpetuates reckless behavior and further wealth accumulation, exacerbating the very problems they seek to escape.

Critique of Capitalism and Technology

The book critiques the symbiotic relationship between capitalism and technology, highlighting:

  • Exponential Growth Pursuit: An obsession with endless expansion at any cost.
  • Shareholder Primacy: Prioritizing investor returns over societal or environmental considerations.
  • Erosion of Empathy: A growing disconnect between the wealthy and the rest of society.
  • Resource Exploitation: Reducing nature and human complexity to mere commodities.

Rushkoff argues that this dynamic fosters a dystopian future dominated by private technologies and monopolistic control — a very authoritarian direction.

Historical Context

Positioning today’s tech elites within a historical framework, Rushkoff contends they are not pioneers but continuations of past power structures that enriched themselves at others’ expense. Their perceived uniqueness is, in reality, a repetition of historical patterns, including colonialism.

Proposed Solutions

While primarily a critique, Rushkoff offers some ideas for pathways to counteract “The Mindset”:

  • Rejecting Doom’s Inevitability: Embracing proactive solutions over fatalistic resignation.
  • Supporting Local Economies: Fostering community resilience through localized commerce.
  • Advocating Anti-Monopoly Laws: Challenging corporate dominance to promote fair competition.
  • Redefining Identity: Moving beyond algorithmic categorizations to embrace human complexity.

Some critics argue these suggestions may not fully address the scale of the issues presented — but it’s much easier to be a critic than to come up with these solutions. We may not know all the answers yet as to how to curb these alarming trends, but I think Rushkoff’s point is well taken that we ought to involve ourselves in at least starting to work out the solutions with some urgency.

yet another glorious fantasy home of the richest and most famous who will leave the rest of us behind so they can survive

Ultimately, “Survival of the Richest” serves as a stark examination of the escapist fantasies of the tech elite, and an eye-opening look behind the curtains of the Great Oz’s who dot our landscape today. These wealthy tech elites have promised the moon (or Mars) without knowing whether they could really deliver — and all the while planning a Plan B in case their hare-brained schemes went belly-up. They are okay with sacrificing the vast majority of the people on the planet, as long as their underground bunkers (or better yet, private islands) are there for them.

By exposing their self-serving strategies, Rushkoff urges a shift from individualistic survivalism to collective action in tackling the many global challenges that face us today. We would be wise to heed the call and gather our tribes early and often.

Pick up the book
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Marc Andreessen, a prominent tech billionaire, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and one of Twitter (X)’s current investors, holds a complex and often controversial set of beliefs and ideologies. But who is Marc Andreessen, really — as in, what does he believe in? What is he using his wealth and power to achieve?

His perspectives are often polarizing, marrying an unyielding faith in the transformative power of technology with a worldview that is dismissive of societal concerns and hostile to traditional democratic values. Here are some of the key aspects of his views:

1. Techno-Optimism and Elitism

Andreessen is a strong advocate for techno-optimism, believing that technological advancements are the key to solving societal problems and driving progress. However, this optimism is often tied to an elitist worldview, where he sees technologists and wealthy entrepreneurs as the primary drivers of societal advancement.

 His “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” outlines a vision where technologists are the leaders of society, unencumbered by social responsibility, trust, safety, and ethics — particularly in the realm of AI, which he believes ought to race ahead to whatever end, risks be damned.

2. Critique of Government and Social Structures

Andreessen criticizes the U.S. government for being strangled by special interests and lobbying, yet his firm has engaged in significant lobbying efforts.

He expresses disdain for centralized systems of government, particularly communism, while advocating for technologists to play a central role in planning and governing society.

Who is Marc Andreessen? A Silicon Valley venture capitalist and tech billionaire with extreme views about society

3. Accelerationism and Right-Wing Influences

 Andreessen embraces “effective accelerationism,” a philosophy that champions technological advancement at any cost. This is influenced by thinkers like Nick Land, known for his anti-democratic and anti-egalitarian ideas.

His manifesto draws from the works of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ayn Rand, reflecting a strong right-wing libertarian influence.

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who owns twitter elon musk and others

The social network formerly known as Twitter, now known as X, has been through some things — including a rocky change of ownership 2 years ago. At the time, the person who owns Twitter on paper was known to be tech billionaire and then-world’s richest man Elon Musk — but it was not fully known who was included in the full shadowy list of Twitter investors.

Thanks apparently to some terrible lawyering, the full list of Twitter investors via parent company X Corp has been unsealed during discovery for a legal case against Musk relating to non-payment of severance for employees he laid off after buying the company. In addition to the known in 2022 list below, we can now augment the Twitter investors list with more detail:

  • Bill Ackman
  • Marc Andreesen — legendary tech investor and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, known for his techno-accelerationist views
  • Joe Lonsdale — cofounder of Palantir with shadowy tech billionaire Peter Thiel, the primary financial backer of Trump’s VP pick JD Vance. Lonsdale has a right-wing streak of his own, backing Trump in 2024 via Elon Musk’s Super PAC.
  • Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
  • Jack Dorsey — one of the original founders of Twitter
  • Larry Ellison — Oracle founder and right-wing political donor
  • Ross Gerber
  • Doug Leone
  • Michael Moritz
  • Changpeng Zhao

Security analyst and intelligence professional Eric Garland notes that beyond the notable billionaires on the list, the investor sheet can be largely read as “fronts for the dictatorships of Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and others.” Tech pioneer turned investigative journalist Dave Troy’s take on the Twitter investor list reveal is that it shows “this platform is an instrument of information warfare.”

https://twitter.com/Esqueer_/status/1826457566446076085
Continue reading Who owns Twitter (X)? [2024 update]
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Wealth Cult -- rich men behaving badly, by Midjourney

A network of exceedingly wealthy individuals and organizations have channeled their vast fortunes into influencing American politics, policy, and public opinion — they’ve formed a wealth cult. And they’ve leveraged that cult and its considerable fortune to influence and in many ways dramatically transform American politics.

The term “dark money” refers to political spending meant to influence the decision-making and critical thinking of the public and lawmakers where the source of the money is not disclosed. This lack of transparency makes it challenging to trace the influence back to its origins, hence the term “dark.”

And, it is dark indeed.

Wealth cult anchors the trench coat

The Wealth Cult is one of 3 primary groups or clusters supporting the right-wing and generally, the Republican Party. It anchors the trench coat by funding the 2 cults above it: the Christian Cult, and the White Cult.

Its story is stealthy and significant.

A bunch of billionaires toast themselves to themselves, by Midjourney

The wealth cult has funded disinformation campaigns, the spread of conspiracy theories, created fake social movements through astroturfing, enabled violent extremists to attack their country’s capitol, cruelly deprived vulnerable people (especially immigrants, poor people, and women) of the kind of state aid granted generously throughout the developed world, bribed regulators, rigged elections, crashed economies, and on and on in service of their extremist free market ideology beliefs.

They believe in “makers and takers,” or Mudsill Theory, as it was once called by pedophile and racist Senator and slavery enthusiast James Henry Hammond. Some people were born to serve others, they say. Hierarchies are natural, they claim. Wealthy men should make all the decisions — because that’s what’s best for everyone, they say in paternalistic tones.

I don’t buy it. I believe all men are created equal. So did a certain Founder of our country.

Continue reading Wealth Cult: The oligarchs influencing American politics from the shadows
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The GOP is 3 cults in a trench coat

One of two major parties in our American first-past-the-post voting system of dual-party reality, the Republican Party, has evolved (or devolved…) into a full-throated authoritarian movement seeking to overthrow our democracy, The Constitution, and the rule of law in order to establish a fascist regime in the United States. It’s been a not-so-secret fever dream on the right for decades and even centuries — and the old guard reflexively senses their time is coming to an end.

The demographic changes underway in America are inexorable — by the 2024 election cycle 8 million new young voters who have turned 18 since the 2022 mid-terms, and 5 million seniors aged 65 and up will have died. The first group will vote overwhelmingly Democratic, while the second group represents the ever-dwindling base of the Republican Party. Although historically older voters have participated at much higher rates than the youth voting percentage, the rate of increase for the 18-24 group is much higher.

Faced with these realities and the census projection of a majority minority population in the United States by the year 2045, the Republican right-wing is struggling to keep piecing together a voting base that can achieve victories in electoral politics. The GOP is now 3 cults in a trenchcoat, having been hollowed out and twisted to the point of trying desperately to hold increasingly extreme factions together for another election cycle in which they can try to capture power forever through gerrymandering and other anti-democratic election engineering — or at least long enough to erase the evidence of their criminal behavior during the Trump years culminating in a coup attempt on January 6, 2021.

The 3 Republican cult factions

  1. The Wealth Cult — A business lobby led by Charles Koch and a collection of dark money groups including Leonard Leo‘s Federalist Society and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), this group emerged out of the 1970s business backlash to the civil rights movement — while piggybacking on the still-simmering resentments of the anti-New Deal and pro-fascist America Firsters of the 1930s and the searing anti-Communism of the 1950s McCarthyism era turned, improbably, Russophilia in modern days.
  2. The Christian Nationalist Cult — Started by Jerry Falwell Sr. with the Moral Majority circa 1979, the politicized Evangelical movement is inexplicably led today by “sudden believers” Mike Pence, Mike Flynn, and others under the umbrella of the Council for National Policy (CNP), the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), and other religious organizations involved in politics in large part as a backlash to the Broad v. Board of Education ruling and the federal mandate to end school segregation. Masquerading as so-called “originalists,” this coalition are rather radical reactionaries participating in a long-running backlash against civil rights and the women’s rights movements of the 1960s, including the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court that legalized abortion — overturned in 2022 based on efforts by this group.
  3. The White Nationalist Cult — With roots in the 1980s white power movement stretching all the way back to the Civil War and the Lost Cause mythology that followed and long outlasted Reconstruction, today the white identity movement is led by Steve Bannon and Roger Stone, with a parallel intertwined branch led by Peter Thiel and the Dark Enlightenment neo-Reactionaries of Silicon Valley. This group includes dominant private militia groups involved in the January 6 insurrection including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers (both of whose leaders have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the coup attempt — with the Oath Keepers’ leader Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for his actions).

The Wealth Cult

Led by Charles Koch et al, the mostly aging, Boomer crowd who controls much of the US government either directly or indirectly as a donor or operative is starting to panic for one reason or another: the fear of death looming, existential worries about thwarted or unmet ambition, economic turn of the wheel starting to leave their fortunes in decline (with inflation as a common boogie man since the Wall Street Putsch of the 1930s). Much of this crowd inherited the free market ideological zeal of the Austrian School of economics (later, trickle down economics) from their fathers along with their trust fund fortunes that some have squandered (Trump), tread water with (Coors, Scaife), or grown (Koch, DeVos).

The Wealth Cult, by Midjourney
Continue reading The GOP is 3 Cults in a Trenchcoat
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republican vs. democrat cage match boxing ring

Buckle up, we’re in for a wild ride. Many of the serious scholars of political history and authoritarian regimes are sounding the alarm bells that, although it is a very very good thing that we got the Trump crime family out of the Oval Office, it is still a very very bad thing for America to have so rapidly tilted towards authoritarianism. How did we get here?! How has hyper partisanship escalated to the point of an attempted coup by 126 sitting Republican House Representatives? How has political polarization gotten this bad?

These are some of the resources that have helped me continue grappling with that question, and with the rapidly shifting landscape of information warfare. How can we understand this era of polarization, this age of tribalism? This outline is a work in progress, and I’m planning to keep adding to this list as the tape keeps rolling.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is both a personality type and a form of government — it operates at both the interpersonal and the societal level. The words authoritarian and fascist are often used interchangeably, but fascism is a more specific type of authoritarianism, and far more historically recent.

America has had flavors of authoritarianism since its founding, and when fascism came along the right-wing authoritarians ate it up — and deeply wanted the United States to be a part of it. Only after they became social pariahs did they change position to support American involvement in World War II — and some persisted even after the attack of Pearl Harbor.

With Project 2025, Trump now openly threatens fascism on America — and sadly, some are eager for it. The psychology behind both authoritarian leaders and followers is fascinating, overlooked, and misunderstood.

Scholars of authoritarianism

  • Hannah Arendt — The Origins of Totalitarianism
  • Bob Altemeyer — The Authoritarians
  • Derrida — the logic of the unconscious; performativity in the act of lying
  • ketman — Ketman is the psychological concept of concealing one’s true aims, akin to doublethink in Orwell’s 1984, that served as a central theme to Polish dissident Czesław Miłosz‘s book The Captive Mind about intellectual life under totalitarianism during the Communist post-WWII occupation.
  • Erich Fromm — coined the term “malignant narcissism” to describe the psychological character of the Nazis. He also wrote extensively about the mindset of the authoritarian follower in his seminal work, Escape from Freedom.
  • Eric Hoffer — his book The True Believers explores the mind of the authoritarian follower, and the appeal of losing oneself in a totalist movement
  • Fascism — elevation of the id as the source of truth; enthusiasm for political violence
  • Tyrants and dictators
  • John Dean — 3 types of authoritarian personality:
    • social dominators
    • authoritarian followers
    • double highs — social dominators who can “switch” to become followers in certain circumstances
  • Loyalty; hero worship
    • Freud = deeply distrustful of hero worship and worried that it indulged people’s needs for vertical authority. He found the archetype of the authoritarian primal father very troubling.
  • Ayn Rand
    • The Fountainhead (1943)
    • Atlas Shrugged (1957)
    • Objectivism ideology
  • Greatness Thinking; heroic individualism
  • Nietszche — will to power; the Uberman
  • Richard Hofstadter — The Paranoid Style
  • George Lakoff — moral framing; strict father morality
  • Neil Postman — Entertaining Ourselves to Death
  • Anti-Intellectualism
  • Can be disguised as hyper-rationalism (Communism)
  • More authoritarianism books
Continue reading Hyper Partisanship: How to understand American political polarization
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Longtermism is an extreme ideology that has gained traction in Silicon Valley and the technosphere: both Elon Musk and Peter Thiel are acolytes. In this worldview, the far future of humanity will have colonized the stars and number in the trillions — therefore making all the puny little humans alive today essentially worthless and expendable in their eyes (except themselves, of course). As long as climate change doesn’t kill *absolutely all* 7 billion of us, we’ll manage to soldier on — therefore we should focus on AI instead, they say.

Their breezy tossing aside of morality on anything with effects less than 100 years is also chilling. By use of the frame-shifting device of the far far future, longtermism is able to render basically anything a rounding error of no importance, from the Holocaust to the dropping of atomic bombs to the famines of Stalin and Mao. That is just not going to sit well with most people who have empathy — which is most people.

Related terms:

  • existential risk
  • effective altruism
  • non-linear climate change
  • “vast and glorious potential”
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Surveillance Capitalism Dictionary

They were inspired by hippies, but Orwell would fear them. The giants of Silicon Valley started out trying to outsmart The Man, and in the process became him. And so, surveillance capitalism got born. Such is the story of corruption since time immemorial.

This surveillance capitalism dictionary of surveillance is a work in progress! Check back for further updates!

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speak, sistah!

see also: Shoshanna Zuboff (who wrote the seminal work on surveillance capitalism), Don Norman, Dystopia vs. Utopia Book List: A Fight to the Finish, surveillance capitalism dictionary

Some takeaways:

  • surveillance won’t be obvious and overt like in Orwell’s classic totalitarian novel 1984 — it’ll be covert and subtle (“more like a spider’s web”)
  • social networks use persuasion architecture — the same cloying design aesthetic that puts gum at the eye level of children in the grocery aisle

Example:

AI modeling of potential Las Vegas ticket buyers

The machine learning algorithms can classify people into two buckets, “likely to buy tickets to Vegas” and “unlikely to” based on exposure to lots and lots of data patterns. Problem being, it’s a black box and no one — not even the computer scientists — know how it works or what it’s doing exactly.

So the AI may have discovered that bipolar individuals just about to go into mania are more susceptible to buying tickets to Vegas — and that is the segment of the population they are targeting: a vulnerable set of people prone to overspending and gambling addictions. The ethical implications of unleashing this on the world — and routinely using and optimizing it relentlessly — are staggering.

Profiting from extremism

“You’re never hardcore enough for YouTube” — YouTube gives you content recommendations that are increasingly polarized and polarizing, because it turns out that preying on your reptilian brain makes you keep clicking around in the YouTube hamster wheel.

The amorality of AI — “algorithms don’t care if they’re selling shoes, or politics.” Our social, political, and cultural flows are being organized by these persuasion architectures — organized for profit; not for the collective good, not for public interests, not subject to our political will anymore. These powerful surveillance capitalism tools are running mostly unchecked, with little oversight and with few people minding the ethics of the stores of essentially a cadre of Silicon Valley billionaires.

Intent doesn’t matter — good intentions aren’t enough; it’s the structure and business models that matter. Facebook isn’t a half trillion dollar con: its value is in its highly effective persuasion power, which is highly troubling and concerning in a supposedly democratic society. Mark Zuckerberg may even ultimately mean well (…debatable), but it doesn’t excuse the railroading over numerous obviously negative externalities resulting from the unchecked power of Facebook in not only the U.S., but in countries around the world including highly volatile domains.

Extremism benefits demagogues — Oppressive regimes both come to power by and benefit from political extremism; from whipping up citizens into a frenzy, often against each other as much as against perceived external or internal enemies. Our data and attention are now for sale to the highest bidding authoritarians and demagogues around the world — enabling them to use AI against us in election after election and PR campaign after PR campaign. We gave foreign dictators even greater powers to influence and persuade us in ways that benefit them at the expense of our own self-interest.

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