Quote of the Day (Jacob Silverman, on the New ‘Authoritarian-Curious’ Tech Elite)

“The tech elite once limited themselves mostly to preaching crypto, artificial intelligence, and life extension to a public that mostly wants messaging apps, free health care, and cheap rent. But now, they seem to be possessed by a grievance-driven groupthink, intolerant of criticism. Living the cloistered, easy lives of the Burning Man set, microdosing on ego worship, this authoritarian-curious crew has helped frame the online discourse around—and lead the backlash against—criminal justice reform, urban homelessness, immigration policies, and transgender rights.”— American journalist and author Jacob Silverman, “The Tech Elite Swerve Right,” The New Republic, October 2024

The image accompanying this post, showing the tech entrepreneur, investor, engineer, and all-around nuisance Elon Musk, was taken July 13, 2018, by Duncan Hull and comes from The Royal Society.

Quote of the Day (Ian Bremmer, on How Big Tech Companies Resemble States)

"It is time to start thinking of the biggest technology companies as similar to states. These companies exercise a form of sovereignty over a rapidly expanding realm that extends beyond the reach of regulators: digital space. They bring resources to geopolitical competition but face constraints on their power to act.”— Ian Bremmer, founder and president of Eurasia Group, “The Technopolar Moment: How Digital Powers Will Reshape the Global Order,” Foreign Affairs, November/December 2021

Let's see how much longer those "constraints on their power" last.

The accompanying photo of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook (or Meta, or whatever the heck he’s calling it these days to disguise its malodorous ways) and one of the pillars of Big Tech, was taken at the F8 2018 Keynote on Apr. 3, 2018, by Anthony Quintano from Honolulu, HI.)