You end with '...Resisting this dehumanising vision requires not only defending democratic institutions but revitalising them...' and that seems to me like suggesting the shareholders will hold the CEO to account. When BT was privatised lots of us became shareholders, it was like post-Soviet coupon privatisation... but we all sold for a modest profit to a few who aggregated our votes into the big funds, all run by people like the CEOs. We with our little pots in the big funds have no influence on how our aggregated power is used. Of course democracy works, but only for the CEO and cronies. Silicon valley seems to me like a latter day Shangri-la believing its paradise of beliefs and hierarchical power will not be challenged by the peasants beyond the mountains. But, CEOs have a finite life-span as do empires. Their rapacious policies may have worked in the USA so far - but China and India, just two corporatist states with growing economies containing nearly 30% of global population, might be an irresistible challenge...
Thank-you for your comment. We totally agree with what you're saying.
We perhaps could have been stronger when we said about 'revitalising institutions' because what we were actually getting at was that many instutions need to be radically overhauled. Generally, privatised business don't work for the public good, because their imperative is to be profit-driven to benefit those at the top. As a society, we ought to stop pretending otherwise.
What you said about BT is a case in point: workers get thrown the crumbs, and those at the top make off like bandits. Researching Silicon Valley for our articles has been an eye-opener for us over the last few months. Initially, we had intended to just write a piece about Curtis Yarvin (which is Part 1 in the series) but then all this other stuff became apparent, and we could see that it was all interlinked.
Obviously, we knew about Peter Thiel having read 'The Contrarian' by Max Chafkin (highly recommend if you haven't read it already); his name is linked to everything. We found it as depressing as it was fascinating. As we said in the article, is it Thiel's ultimate goal to be that CEO leader? It's important to get the word out to make sense of all that is happening, because we need to be prepared.
As a sneak-peek, we are currently working on a full article about the concept of 'hyperstition,' with Trump as the Hyperstition President. We touched upon hyperstion in the Nick Land piece, but think it deserves it's own examination. Hopefully it'll be ready over the next few days.
Thanks so much for your support on Buy Me a Coffee - that was really kind of you, and we really appreciate it.
You end with '...Resisting this dehumanising vision requires not only defending democratic institutions but revitalising them...' and that seems to me like suggesting the shareholders will hold the CEO to account. When BT was privatised lots of us became shareholders, it was like post-Soviet coupon privatisation... but we all sold for a modest profit to a few who aggregated our votes into the big funds, all run by people like the CEOs. We with our little pots in the big funds have no influence on how our aggregated power is used. Of course democracy works, but only for the CEO and cronies. Silicon valley seems to me like a latter day Shangri-la believing its paradise of beliefs and hierarchical power will not be challenged by the peasants beyond the mountains. But, CEOs have a finite life-span as do empires. Their rapacious policies may have worked in the USA so far - but China and India, just two corporatist states with growing economies containing nearly 30% of global population, might be an irresistible challenge...
Thank-you for your comment. We totally agree with what you're saying.
We perhaps could have been stronger when we said about 'revitalising institutions' because what we were actually getting at was that many instutions need to be radically overhauled. Generally, privatised business don't work for the public good, because their imperative is to be profit-driven to benefit those at the top. As a society, we ought to stop pretending otherwise.
What you said about BT is a case in point: workers get thrown the crumbs, and those at the top make off like bandits. Researching Silicon Valley for our articles has been an eye-opener for us over the last few months. Initially, we had intended to just write a piece about Curtis Yarvin (which is Part 1 in the series) but then all this other stuff became apparent, and we could see that it was all interlinked.
Obviously, we knew about Peter Thiel having read 'The Contrarian' by Max Chafkin (highly recommend if you haven't read it already); his name is linked to everything. We found it as depressing as it was fascinating. As we said in the article, is it Thiel's ultimate goal to be that CEO leader? It's important to get the word out to make sense of all that is happening, because we need to be prepared.
As a sneak-peek, we are currently working on a full article about the concept of 'hyperstition,' with Trump as the Hyperstition President. We touched upon hyperstion in the Nick Land piece, but think it deserves it's own examination. Hopefully it'll be ready over the next few days.
Thanks so much for your support on Buy Me a Coffee - that was really kind of you, and we really appreciate it.