The tech brotherhood fully transitioned to the evil Empire - China says thanks
date
Dec 23, 2024
slug
2024-the-tech-brotherhood-fully-transitioned-to-the-evil-empire-china-says-thanks
status
Published
tags
China
capitalism
authoritarianism
US
Trump
Tech
type
Post
summary
The tech elite's shift towards authoritarianism underlines a cynical capitalism where merit is disregarded, leading to severe civil rights threats. As America faces decline, China may emerge as a more stable global partner, potentially reshaping the tech landscape.
Gone are the days when Mark Zuckerberg gleefully celebrated as social media supposedly toppled authoritarian governments during the Arab Spring, watching Middle Eastern dictatorships crumble. The tech aristocracy has matured into something far more cynical, with barely a shred of class, on a relentless process of hand-kissing of the elected president, very similar to the loyalty displays local Mafia bosses had to pay for the main family leaders. The way they brazenly donate money to Donald Trump's inauguration, with Elon Musk—that techno-icon of sycophancy—positioned as more than just a vice president. Their motivation? Pure and simple: money, flowing through bloated defence contracts, what else. Can anyone escape this dismaying portrait of corporate America? Yes, and it must be done.
Let's be clear: we could be experiencing an Ouroboros moment—where self-destruction leads to renewal and innovation—but we're not. Instead, we face dystopian capitalism where merit holds no value and the market has devolved into a winner-takes-all game where rules are bent by the ones on the top. Elon Musk joined the Trump bandwagon to feed his multi-galactic ego, yes. Yet this businessman—whom every rational person loves to hate—proves himself a chess master, outmaneuvering even better-positioned companies like Palantir, the shadowy creation of his former partner Peter Thiel.
The next U.S. presidential term threatens to be the most severe assault on civil rights in history. Privacy violations, compromised information security, and market monopolisation will become commonplace in a nation where neither the Supreme Court can be trusted to defend the law, nor Congress to legislate effectively. Data titans will finally receive their long-sought deregulation, likely boosting their 15-25% annual growth by at least another 10%. Foreign competitors will face exclusion under "opportunistic" pretexts—as TikTok discovered, demonstrating how far America has strayed from true capitalist principles. Media will weaken during the next four years - and not only in the US - because the aftershocks of America will be felt in the whole planet.
As history shows, empires typically fall due to internal divisions rather than external threats (which reveals much about today's populists using migration as a scapegoat). A fitting paradox emerges for these former innovators: they have become the antithesis of the Wise Men who visited Jesus—the tech gods will now bear witness to the decline of a nation that once served as a beacon for hard-working dreamers.
An unexpected possibility emerges, though. The next U.S. presidential term could present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for China. Despite being a dictatorship, China has become a more reliable partner than an American democracy in decline. If China moderates its rhetoric (and behavior), it could position itself as a new global leader for Europe and non-U.S. America, including in the tech sector. The Splinternet everyone feared has actually existed for some time, and Xi Jinping would do well to recall the mantra of his predecessor Deng Xiaoping, who consolidated the "one country, two systems" model. "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white," said Xiaoping when questioned about selling Chinese labor cheaply to the West. "What matters is that it catches mice." A quintessentially Machiavellian observation that Xi should carefully consider.
A special mention goes to the tech leaders who have not aligned with Trump. Tim Cook (Apple), Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Sundar Pichai (Google), and Jack Dorsey stand out by their notable absence from the sycophantic parade propelling Trump forward. While Mark Zuckerberg hasn't donated money to Trump, he remains a tech autocrat da manuale, as Italians say. Whether he can still forge a positive legacy remains uncertain—though he would need to work extraordinarily hard to achieve it.