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John Carmack endorses libertarian manifesto written by billionaire conspiracy theorist that labels "social responsibility" as "the enemy"

collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
We knew he was a libertarian, but this is some wild stuff.


View: https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1713983654790095103

For context, Marc Andreessen is the co-founder of Netscape and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He's taken to calling himself an "effective accelerationist" lately" and Andreessen Horowitz has invested several billion dollars into pushing crypto and NFTs. He's been involved with a bunch of big tech companies over the years and is also involved with Saudi Arabia's plan to build a megacity in the desert.

I'm not sure which points from the manifesto Carmack is going to defend because the entire thing is insane and repeatedly contradicts itself. Here's the full text:
a16z.com

The Techno-Optimist Manifesto | Andreessen Horowitz

We are told that technology is on the brink of ruining everything. But we are being lied to, and the truth is so much better. Marc Andreessen presents his techno-optimist vision for the future.
a16z.com a16z.com

Some highlights:
We have enemies.

Our enemies are not bad people – but rather bad ideas.

Our present society has been subjected to a mass demoralization campaign for six decades – against technology and against life – under varying names like "existential risk", "sustainability", "ESG", "Sustainable Development Goals", "social responsibility", "stakeholder capitalism", "Precautionary Principle", "trust and safety", "tech ethics", "risk management", "de-growth", "the limits of growth".
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We believe there is no inherent conflict between the techno-capital machine and the natural environment. Per-capita US carbon emissions are lower now than they were 100 years ago, even without nuclear power.
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This is basically climate change denialism.

We believe the ultimate mission of technology is to advance life both on Earth and in the stars.
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We believe this is why our descendents will live in the stars.
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I think he might have played too much Starfield.

To paraphrase a manifesto of a different time and place: "Beauty exists only in struggle. There is no masterpiece that has not an aggressive character. Technology must be a violent assault on the forces of the unknown, to force them to bow before man."
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The manifesto being paraphrased here is the Manifesto of Futurism, written in 1909 by creator of the Italian Futurist movement Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. The Manifesto of Futurism has a section that praises war as "the world's only hygiene" and Marinetti would go on also help write the manifesto of the Italian Fascist Party.

Finally, the list of "Patron Saints of Techno-Optimism" starts with the Twitter account of someone named "Based Beff Jezos".

Andreessen's points about nuclear fusion/fission being "silver bullets" are notable because Andreessen also went on Joe Rogan few months ago claiming that nuclear test videos were staged. The AP put out a press release debunking it.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUi0CsvD5Hk
 
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PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
122,970
What is with all these techno-capitalist dumbfucks who think that humanity needs to go to space?

Motherfuckers, we can't even keep our own planet alive, and you think we're gonna be able to survive in spaceships?

Your idiotic teenage sci-fi daydreams are a fever fantasy in a capitalist reality.
 
rubbish_opinions

rubbish_opinions

▲ Legend ▲
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Nov 8, 2021
525
wtf @ living in the stars. what's the point of living on a terraformed rock that we don't know where is it nor how to reach it when we clearly already have a working place that would take 99.9% effort less to be a damn paradise.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
31,107
i thought it was common knowledge that carmack was a techie bro liberal dumbass
 
Stath

Stath

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Mar 4, 2022
3,734
This moron turned out to be a real fuckwit. A shame.
 
Gestault

Gestault

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,976
Carmack really cementing how he's the worst John. Honestly, it feels like yet another cautionary tale about how isolating yourself with wealth can make (or reveal) you a horrible person, or at least how being very good at one thing has nothing to do with anything else about you.
 
SCUMMbag

SCUMMbag

Prophet of Truth - Chicken Chaser
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Oct 25, 2017
6,234
Carmack gave us a lot back in the day but he fucking suuuucks these days.

Put him in the bin with the rest of these rich nerds.
 
Hrist

Hrist

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Jun 30, 2023
370
rubbish_opinions said:
wtf @ living in the stars. what's the point of living on a terraformed rock that we don't know where is it nor how to reach it when we clearly already have a working place that would take 99.9% effort less to be a damn paradise.
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Working for hypothetical better living among the stars has the benefit that working to make the now better can be dismissed.

Effective Altruism and similar ideas have the same approach, it's entirely about future gains overriding the obvious needs of the now.

The needs of the now are so blatant and screaming in your face that you need wilder and wilder future paradises to justify not fixing the now. It has a reason these ideas are being pushed so hard in the last decade. Outright climate denial is falling out of favor, so the next attempt to avoid actually doing anything is pointing at the far future. See how great that is? You wouldn't want to ruin that with pesky sustainability concerns, wouldn't you, you anti-futurist you.

That's the point, imo.
 
OP
OP
collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
PlanetSmasher said:
What is with all these techno-capitalist dumbfucks who think that humanity needs to go to space?

Motherfuckers, we can't even keep our own planet alive, and you think we're gonna be able to survive in spaceships?

Your idiotic teenage sci-fi daydreams are a fever fantasy in a capitalist reality.
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I think it's a combination of too much sci-fi and the realization that they're gonna run out of resources on earth at some point, but your guess is as good as mine.
 

Deleted member 3208

Oct 25, 2017
11,934
No surprises. Carmack may be a genius when it comes to programming, but as a person, he is a scumbag.
 
Sei

Sei

Member
Oct 28, 2017
6,182
LA
Sounds like the plot of a Deus Ex or Metal Gear game, where the villains can't understand how crazy they are.

Technological supremacy for the rich, and exploitation for everyone else.
 
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Tagyhag

Tagyhag

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,551
People shouldn't be surprised that Carmack is like this.

He gave up his cat that he had for years because it bothered him while working.
 
Shake Appeal

Shake Appeal

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Oct 27, 2017
3,947
Minor thing, but I think the manifesto writer should have spent at least a minute researching Walker Percy's political and religious views.
 
1-D_FE

1-D_FE

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,674
rubbish_opinions said:
wtf @ living in the stars. what's the point of living on a terraformed rock that we don't know where is it nor how to reach it when we clearly already have a working place that would take 99.9% effort less to be a damn paradise.
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They're delusional dipships. If terraforming was so damn easy, we could tera-form earth just a little bit to get rid of the excess carbon here on Earth. Then we wouldn't need to find a new home.

As for Carmack, Carmack is a brilliant man in some very narrow fields. Like all of these nuts, though, they're defective human beings on the most fundamental level. They don't even have the most rudimentary blocks of being human. They're specialized computer chips. Things go off the rails when they run their programs outside their field of specialization.
 
Digital Dinosaur

Digital Dinosaur

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,714
Rita Repulsa's Moon Palace
PlanetSmasher said:
What is with all these techno-capitalist dumbfucks who think that humanity needs to go to space?

Motherfuckers, we can't even keep our own planet alive, and you think we're gonna be able to survive in spaceships?

Your idiotic teenage sci-fi daydreams are a fever fantasy in a capitalist reality.
Click to expand...
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In a sense they are educated and smart enough to sense that "all of this" is not sustainable. But they're too terrified of a different kind of world which in their imagination crushes the dream of man as titan striding through the universe. Man as a creature embedded in a world like any other is offensive to them.

So they have shackled themselves to science fiction dreams and despite all their intelligence, trick themselves into believing various outcomes are realistic and obtainable within a very short timeframe.

They all think they're Stacker Pentecost shouting "We are canceling the apocalypse!" They're gonna punch climate change in the face with a giant robot.
 
Stop It

Stop It

Bad Cat
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,416
Tech, the solution to everything, and by everything, I mean absolutely nothing other than saying "fuck this place I'm off".

Fix this planet rather than fucking it up faster in the 0.1% chance we can somehow become a space traveling species.
 
Stop It

Stop It

Bad Cat
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,416
1-D_FE said:
They're delusional dipships. If terraforming was so damn easy, we could tera-form earth just a little bit to get rid of the excess carbon here on Earth. Then we wouldn't need to find a new home.

As for Carmack, Carmack is a brilliant man in some very narrow fields. Like all of these nuts, though, they're defective human beings on the most fundamental level. They don't even have the most rudimentary blocks of being human. They're specialized computer chips. Things go off the rails when they run their programs outside their field of specialization.
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This.

If terraforming was that easy we'd have sorted the Sahara desert etc by now.

We haven't, because it's fucking nuts.
 
poptire

poptire

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
11,209
After reading Masters of Doom and Doom Guy it's pretty clear that Carmack is not the best person.
 
Shake Appeal

Shake Appeal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,947
It's telling these people always want to build new capitalist hellscapes on Mars or the middle of the desert and never once consult with anyone who isn't a fellow venture capitalist about which pressing human problems they could actually help tackle with their ill-gotten slop dollars.

People don't take issue with "technology" in the abstract; they take issue with your blinkered, narc-ass schoolboy definition of it: cockamamie space rockets, disintermediation apps, and brand new ways to extract rent.
 
The Albatross

The Albatross

Member
Oct 25, 2017
40,383
Carmack has always been whacked out, so this isn't really surprising to me. His insane personal "work ethic" that he also expects everybody on his team to adhere too, like, that's great, it turned you into a millionaire at the perfect time, but that sort of investment and opportunity isn't available today, get over it.

It's so weird to me that Andreesen-Horowitz publishes these bizarre screeds on their website. I get that Marc Andreesen does whatever he wants, it's still just odd that there isn't anybody there being like "Hey, this is great and all, but like, let's focus on making money."

I am perfectly happy for these chuds to go colonize space, fund it yourselfs and gtfo.
 
OP
OP
collige

collige

Member
Oct 31, 2017
12,772
Hrist said:
Working for hypothetical better living among the stars has the benefit that working to make the now better can be dismissed.

Effective Altruism and similar ideas have the same approach, it's entirely about future gains overriding the obvious needs of the now.

The needs of the now are so blatant and screaming in your face that you need wilder and wilder future paradises to justify not fixing the now. It has a reason these ideas are being pushed so hard in the last decade. Outright climate denial is falling out of favor, so the next attempt to avoid actually doing anything is pointing at the far future. See how great that is? You wouldn't want to ruin that with pesky sustainability concerns, wouldn't you, you anti-futurist you.

That's the point, imo.
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The "effective accelerationism" Andreessen is pushing is a variant on effective altruism, if you've seen people with "e/acc" in their handles, that's what it means.

www.businessinsider.com

Get the lowdown on 'e/acc' — Silicon Valley's favorite obscure theory about progress at all costs, which has been embraced by Marc Andreessen

The fringe philosophy is gaining traction in certain quarters of Silicon Valley as leaders push for AI's development to pick up pace.
www.businessinsider.com www.businessinsider.com

They had an IRL meetup recently where one of the invited guests was Martin Shkreli.

Red Kong XIX said:
Not the first time John Carmack proved he sucks.

www.resetera.com

Doom, Quake creator John Carmack promotes anti-woke scifi convention

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1658683239513436167?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet From BasedCon's about page:
www.resetera.com www.resetera.com
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I had totally forgotten about the whole BasedCon thing, what a long year it's been.
 
Foffy

Foffy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,817
The richer you are, the more of a sociopath you are. This tracks.

Let's listen to the doofus who wrote a manifesto against de-growth while not emphasizing his unserious nature when he backed fucking Carly Fiorina in the 2016 Republican primaries. He clearly has his eyes on the prize and not up his ass.

Every single one of these rich people are just like Donald Trump and Elon Musk. These should be the last people on earth using social media, because all it will do is expose them as merely fools with money.
 

Deleted member 23094

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,217
I didn't want to read the whole thing so I got Claude to summarize it:
  • The article argues that despite all the negativity and dystopian narratives about technology today, there are still many reasons to be optimistic about the future.
  • Technological progress has improved lives tremendously over the past century in areas like health, education, communication, transportation, and entertainment. We should not lose sight of these benefits.
  • While new technologies always have downsides and risks, we have shown we can adapt and learn to manage them over time. The benefits often outweigh the costs in the long run.
  • Exponential trends in computing, networks, AI, and biotech will continue to drive innovations we can barely imagine today. This offers huge opportunities to improve lives.
  • To maximize the benefits, we need to shape technology proactively with wisdom, ethics, foresight and caution. But we should avoid preemptively clamping down on progress and possibility.
  • With the right public policies and norms, technology can empower more people, reduce inequality, and make the world more efficient, fair, inclusive and sustainable.
In summary, the article makes an upbeat case for staying optimistic about the potential of technology to improve the human condition, while being thoughtful about managing its risks and downsides. It argues we should shape progress, not block it.

Nothing here sounds bad to me. I've always liked John and enjoyed hearing him give his long talks. I'm also an optimist and see technology as a positive force in the world.
 
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