r/technology • u/Vucea • Sep 01 '26
Society We Are Living in the Fantasy World of 13-Year-Old Boys: Many of the tech billionaires who built our world have taken the wrong lessons from their favorite science fiction.
https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/08/silicon-valley-science-fiction-jill-lepore-book-review/688467/1.3k
u/TheAngryCrusader Sep 01 '26
Let’s not make this sound any better than it is. These are controlling delusional psychopaths who think a strong arm on society is the best path forward. The issue is, their value and belief systems are so far removed from reality it’s impossible to work.
643
u/PatchyWhiskers Sep 01 '26
It’s just fascism with a sci-fi theme. Fascism is a weak philosophy, taking over quickly and crumbling even quicker, but always leaving devastation and death in its wake.
271
u/pgm123 Sep 01 '26
I've seen others call it "techno-fascism."
92
u/floatablepie Sep 01 '26
In the 20s and 30s, fascism was seen as the political system of the future to the same kind of people. The techbros of the day loved it then, too.
46
u/pgm123 Sep 01 '26
Yeah. Fascism (especially the Italian version, in contrast to German Naziism) was absolutely a modernist ideology. Though much of the "science" it embraced was race science and other junk. Fascists liked modern art and even sometimes jazz music (even if that was officially considered bourgeoise decadence).
56
34
u/ServesBestDepressed Sep 01 '26
"The Nerd Reich"
→ More replies (3)23
u/PatchyWhiskers Sep 01 '26
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nerd-Reich/Gil-Duran/9781668221402
Available at all good libraries!
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)8
u/axl3ros3 Sep 01 '26
I've seen it called "Nerd Reich" which is a disparagement of nerds I am not in love with
→ More replies (26)6
u/AnAncientBog Sep 01 '26
Really, that's just regular fascism. Pretty much ever fascist movement of the 20th century has been focused on a fictional notion of how it would address the concerns of "the future".
→ More replies (14)27
u/History-Buff-2222 Sep 01 '26
Their strong arm in society, not anyone else’s. Anytime anyone else’s strong arm is proposed like in the form of strict regulations they start crying about how the free market should work
→ More replies (1)
826
u/Senor_Wah Sep 01 '26
Peter Thiel has openly stated that Sauron was the good guy in Lord of the Rings. And that is far from the craziest thing he believes.
I am so tired of the dumbest, craziest, evilest motherfuckers on planet earth making life hell for the rest of us because their daddy issues demand it.
317
Sep 01 '26
[deleted]
143
u/lofgren777 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I've been binging the podcast Behind the Bastards recently, and the most consistent trope in the lives of megalomaniacs is 1. a bad relationship with a parent and 2. some kind of shame over that.
Sometimes it isn't even the parent's fault, but the kid has shame over their parents for some other reason. Sometimes the parent is just absent. Sometimes they have their own issues they are dealing with like alcoholism. Sometimes the parent makes the kid ashamed through cruelty. Sometimes they are just abusive and the kid is ashamed they can't stand up to their own parent.
It's clearly not an if-then clause. Plenty of people have a bad relationship with their parents and don't become megalomaniacs. But growing up feeling personal shame over the faults, real or perceived, of their own parents seems to be a throughline that contributes to a person having a bottomless need for approval/attention/money/control and also viewing other humans as not worth a damn thing unless they are profitable in some way.
→ More replies (2)77
Sep 01 '26
[deleted]
55
u/socialmediaignorant Sep 01 '26
Dump’s dad also openly hated him and it was known he was a disappointment. He only received his father’s attention after his brother refused to have anything to do with the family business and then they switched their target of hatred to Fred Jr.
31
u/superxpro12 Sep 01 '26
dont forget that he's only selecting male embryos. just in case we werent clear enough that he hates women. and its all done via artificial insemination too...
also explains why he's ultra big mad about his one MtF son/daughter.
→ More replies (6)17
u/Norwegian__Blue Sep 01 '26
And then stop the hug. I do think more direct abuse is likely than just neglect. Errol Musk is particularly heinous.
21
64
u/lurkervidyaenjoyer Sep 01 '26
It's also the weirdest way to interpret Tolkien I've ever seen. I've seen arguments from both sides of the fence on it. On the left-side hand, LOTR has pretty obvious parallels to the world wars, and it's a story involving people from a diverse array of cultures coming together to fight against an authoritarian force, and even the geography kind of tracks to WW2 if you squint. Literally fighting against a fascist hellscape.
On the right-wing other hand, Tolkien explicitly denies the WW2 connection, he's been described occasionally as a type of monarchist (I've heard "anarcho-monarchist thrown around, if such a thing can be believed), all of his works are littered with Germanic Pagan theology and references and there's a set within the right wing that loves that stuff or even follows it as a religion, and in the source material and all adaptations minus Rings of Power, all good characters are fair-skinned, fighting against a horde of dark-skinned creatures from the desert.
...However, at least both of those interpretations are in alignment on who the protagonists are. How do you manage to fuck up so badly at reading comprehension that you don't get that?
80
u/tobygeneral Sep 01 '26
Thiel's take feels purposely contrarian just because he's a dweeb who wants to be edgy about Lord of the Rings and feel so special because he's different. Reminds me of people who admire the Sith/Empire in Star Wars, but if pushed on it they just say they like the aesthetics more, totally not the politics or over-the-top displays of raw power against innocents.
30
u/indoninjah Sep 01 '26
I think Vader's (initial) perspective tracks with a lot of right wingers. Basically "authoritarianism is most efficient - but you need the right person in charge"
→ More replies (1)27
u/tobygeneral Sep 01 '26
Right, and coincidentally the right person happens to be the one suggesting how it will totally work this time.
21
u/Gravitationalrainbow Sep 01 '26
Thiel has given multiple lectures on how "The Antichrist" is anyone influential that opposes unfettered AI development. Greed thoroughly cooked his brain.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (3)10
u/burtoncummings Sep 01 '26
..., From my point of view the Jedi are evil...
ugh..
→ More replies (1)33
u/TheoreticalZombie Sep 01 '26
Aesthetics of power. These people are deeply unserious and latch on to surface level messaging. Sauron is portrayed as terrifying dark lord commanding hordes as well a terrible lieutenants. They want to be that, but also want to be the hero wielding "The Flame of the West" (not very subtle). It doesn't matter if it is contradictory to the source material (or even itself) because none of it is in good faith.
Just fascism 2.0.
29
u/HoldingForGenova Sep 01 '26 edited 28d ago
Ten roll vase plate ten pebble
This post was anonymized with Redact
→ More replies (1)23
u/peon2 Sep 01 '26
Yeah considering he actually fought in WWI, wrote the hobbit before WWII happened, and started writing LOTR 2 years before WWII started I'd wager there was a lot more WWI influence than WWII
→ More replies (3)6
u/Sugioh Sep 01 '26
He's not interpreting Tolkien. He loves Russian fan fiction where LotR was propaganda written primarily by elves.
The concept is kind of interesting, but the book itself isn't very good IMO. It was enormously popular in Russia for a time, however.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (6)7
u/tractiontiresadvised Sep 01 '26
Tolkien explicitly denies the WW2 connection
From what I've read it's not that he wouldn't admit they were related, it's that he didn't want people to interpret his stories as allegories for the real-world wars (or as allegories for anything else, for that matter). Like, Sauron is not a stand-in for Hitler even if they were both evil guys set on world domination.
→ More replies (18)27
u/wongo Sep 01 '26
You can kind of make a case, in a grand, detached, theological sense, for Melkor.
Sauron was always just an asshole
8
u/Prozaki Sep 01 '26
I think it would be the opposite? Melkor was jealous that he couldn't create life or overly influence the song, so he threw a bunch of tantrums.
Sauron (from his POV) wanted to bring order and stability to middle earth, in fascist ways.
1.6k
u/The_Big_Daddy Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I've been saying MAGA is just immature boy politics for a while:
- I don't want to eat my vegetables
- I don't want to get a shot
- I don't want to do my homework
- I don't want to share
- Guns and bombs are cool
If you're big and strong you are the coolest
E: Girls are yucky
Etc etc
233
u/gabbertr0n Sep 01 '26
and on some level they know how cringe it is to simply admit that, so they are ready to believe literally anything that gets them off the hook (microchips in the vaccine; vegetables are poison; violent misogyny is the ‘natural order’…)
63
88
u/ikilledholofernes Sep 01 '26
The vegetables thing is especially weird to me. My sister and her husband are maga and “carnivores” and she told me with a straight face that vegetables make you fat.
I’m a vegan. Is she calling me fat?
65
u/MelpomeneAndCalliope Sep 01 '26
Probably. But it’s not like she’s in touch with reality, so don’t be bothered by it.
31
u/ikilledholofernes Sep 01 '26
Definitely not in touch with reality. She’s actually obese, I guess I should have mentioned that. So vegetables can’t be the only thing that makes you fat lol
→ More replies (3)23
u/WestCoastBestCoast01 Sep 01 '26
Oh I get it. She's fat and knows it, so she's insulting you to make her feel better about her poor choices.
→ More replies (2)8
u/Yum_Mario Sep 01 '26
I've heard that one something like 30 years ago. The bit goes like this: vegetables are good for you but in general lack some kinds of nutrition you can more easily get from meat, so vegetarians sometimes will eat more in order to get those nutrients. But any more, humans should understand vegetables enough to diversify their salad to get all the required vitamins and whatnot. (many meat eaters also eat too much and are also fat) But I don't know any details of your personal life so whether this affects you I don't know
→ More replies (1)10
u/ikilledholofernes Sep 01 '26
I am actually not fat (ok, I could lose a few pounds, it’s hard after having kids!) and she’s obese. So something’s not adding up with her imaginary math.
I think it’s definitely possible to eat an unhealthy diet as a vegan. French fries are vegan, after all! But if you stick to vegetables, legumes, grains, seeds, and nuts, then it’s super easy to get all your daily nutrients without overeating.
But my sister eats nothing but meat, sugar, and processed foods. And then she wonders why she can’t lose weight or take a normal shit.
50
u/canada432 Sep 01 '26
Look at the cybertruck. That is THE car that every 11 year old boy drew when they were stuck inside for recess or bored during lessons. It just doesn't have the oil slicks and rocket launchers. Except elon was too stupid to realize the reason 11 year old boys draw THAT car, is because 11 year old boys suck at drawing, not because it's cool.
321
u/A-Halfpound Sep 01 '26
Yes and the algorithms are TUNED to continue to spoon feed this level of of stupidity to a targeted demographic.
Let’s not forget this one: WOMAN BAD!
Like the He-man Woman Haters from Little Rascals but 1000x more deranged.
→ More replies (7)58
u/chaucer345 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
Ironically, He-Man from the Masters of the Universe series is much more humble and chill with ladies.
→ More replies (2)79
u/troub Sep 01 '26
Exactly. Remember Married With Children...? Al was always whining about some stupid thing or another. A big one was low-flow toilets, not enough bow-woosh to flush down his giant manly dumps. Complaining about wimpy modern cars. etc.
I guess it wasn't clear enough for some people that being a perpetually-aggrieved whiner despite literally living the dream is not something one should aspire to be, or to look for in a "leader." It's been a million years but I'm sure there's an episode where for some reason or another Al actually gets what he says he wants and turns out it's awful.
Anyway, these folks remind me of Al Bundy. Have everything, whine about everything, brag about petty unimportant "achievements," women are awful amirite, somehow cry and whine all the time about how manly you are. Pathetic.
→ More replies (4)67
16
u/indoninjah Sep 01 '26
It's a feedback loop that's very childish as well. If you take the "girls are bad" example it's just a spiral going around and around between having misogynistic thoughts, being a terrible person to women, and then wondering why none of them will sleep with you. An adult should be able to introspect and break out of that but I guess not everyone
→ More replies (3)11
u/Ghostronic Sep 01 '26
And now the men are getting brainwashed that they all need more testosterone. I foresee the problem getting worse before it gets any better.
→ More replies (5)→ More replies (24)7
53
u/calebmke Sep 01 '26
They did not “build our world”. They had a hand in building some highly lucrative businesses. And with their ill gotten lucre, had a large hand in destroying many things that many people hold dear and rely upon. A plague on all their houses
→ More replies (1)
149
u/2dTom Sep 01 '26
Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.
→ More replies (1)52
u/manocheese Sep 01 '26
It's been taken down now, but someone posted in the SciFi sub and the post included this line:
Claude recommended The Culture series and based on how it's described it sounds really interesting. It also recommended Firefall and Neuromancer.
They asked the Torment Nexus for a book and it recommended Don't Build the Torment Nexus. Absolutely wild.
→ More replies (6)28
u/chaosfire235 Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
Not sure how much The Culture would be a "DONT BUILD THE TORMENT NEXUS" work. More so that the techbros like Musk only see the surface level appeal (the ship names) and nothing deeper (the world is an egalitarian progressive utopia written by a left wing author)"
→ More replies (2)14
u/dasunt Sep 01 '26
"Surface Detail" literally had a torment nexus as a setting (the hells).
Perhaps that is what it is basing it on?
But overall, the Culture itself is anarchistic and post scarcity (to the point where it views money as a sign of poverty). It's generally depicted as good, although in such works as "Inversions" there is a debate if it is right for the Culture to interfere with other civilizations.
→ More replies (2)
141
u/CautionarySnail Sep 01 '26
They read the word dystopia, crossed it out, and wrote down “business plan”.
→ More replies (1)60
27
u/braunyakka Sep 01 '26
Elon Musk's entire business empire is just based on he saw Total Recall one time:
Get your ass to Mars: SpaceX
Johnny Cab: Tesla
Recall: Neurolink
Martian Tunnels: The Boring Company
12
u/FALCONX0N Sep 01 '26
I came into this thread to post my theory that Musk and a lot of these weirdos saw Moonraker at a tender age and have made it, and its weird eugenics and space nonsense, their entire personality. Honestly Total Recall makes more sense!
→ More replies (1)
25
u/bulking_on_broccoli Sep 01 '26
Palantir… the literal tool in LOTR that allows the user to be all-seeing at the cost of corrupting that user…
→ More replies (6)
436
u/l8578zlxicv Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
I was a 13 year old boy at one time and I never had psychopathic tendencies, the desire to surveil, or wanted to create a break away civilization only for the rich.
Call a spade a spade please. 13 year old boys have nothing to do with the Epstein class of tech oligarchs.
Literally all three of these men were deeply involved with Epstein and the media is blaming stories. Typical
148
u/Insert_clever Sep 01 '26
… I mean, 13 year old boys have SOMETHING to do with them. Just not what you think.
→ More replies (1)140
u/silentknight111 Sep 01 '26
I think what they're trying to say, is that a lot of people in power emotionally operate as if they're still adolescents. They never fully matured into an adult. I agree with that sentiment.
Saying "we live in the fantasy world of thirteen year old boys" is just way more engaging and click baity. Annoyingly.
→ More replies (8)49
u/ChippedHamSammich Sep 01 '26
I think the fact that there is some automatic assumption that maturity brings intelligence or integrity is a false premise though. I think this passes the buck that somehow immaturity is the basis, when it’s malice and greed.
24
u/Tryoxin Sep 01 '26
I think it's more that physical maturity doesn't guarantee emotional maturity. Because I'd say the latter doesn't bring integrity, or a lack of malice and greed, it's defined by it. The problem is that everyone assumes people will mature emotionally naturally as they age, which simply isn't the case. And to be clear, you can be very emotionally mature and still not the brightest--I don't think intelligence or academic education have anything at all to do with maturity (frankly, either physical or emotional). I've met very emotionally mature children who don't know what a polygon is, and I've met very emotionally immature adults who are generally quite smart.
11
u/shivux Sep 01 '26
I think people generally do mature emotionally naturally as they age, but certain things can stunt this, and one of those is extreme wealth. When you’re rich enough to get whatever you want, you no longer need to compromise or care about anyone else’s perspective, and so some people just don’t.
→ More replies (2)18
u/silentknight111 Sep 01 '26
Agreed - though intelligence isn't a problem - a lot of these people are intelligent (except a few). A lot of people lean on the term "emotional intelligence", and that's where these people are usually lacking. Low emotional intelligence often leads to self centered behavior and a lack of empathy - which people often correlate with being "immature"
32
u/MattJFarrell Sep 01 '26
That's not really the point. The point is that 13 year olds, in general, don't have a deep understanding of the world or a well-developed sense of empathy. They might have a lot of knowledge about certain subjects that interest them, but their brains and life experience aren't developed enough to have a deep understanding of things. They tend to think of things in black and white, good vs bad. Totally lacking in nuance.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (15)7
u/cone_snail Sep 01 '26
Whrn we were 13 a lot of the sci-fi fantasy my friends and I ended up reading were pretty fucked up. Looking back, some of these b-tier writers were really cringey perverts.
I think it's bc we lived on a US Navy base overseas, and a lot of stuff in our subculture was handed-down from sailors.
93
u/ilikedmatrixiv Sep 01 '26
Elon Musk is one of the best examples of someone who couldn't understand the message of a book if it hit him in the face with a brick.
He loves saying how he's a fan of the Culture series, a book series written by an avowed socialist. It tells stories from a sci-fi future where humanity has become a post-scarcity interstellar society called 'the Culture'. Its spaceships are sentient AIs, there is no money, everything is provided by the Culture, people have glands in their brains that secrete any chemicals they want, people can switch genders at will, but it's a lengthy process and some people switch between genders multiple times over their lives. Society is accepting of everyone and everyone is treated as equals.
The stories usually center around Contact. A group inside the Culture that visits planets or interplanetary societies that have not been absorbed by the culture yet. These are invariably ruled by aristocrats, oligarchs, technocrats or whatever type of authoritarian, oppressive regime you can imagine. The goal is always to either bribe the leaders into giving up their oppressive ways or removing them in less friendly ways. The only way to become part of the Culture is also to embrace their culture if you want access to their technological benefits.
Elon Musk and his ilk are always the bad guy in those stories. They get humiliated, killed or overthrown. Progress typically wins in the end.
He just thinks it's about AI and spaceships, which he thinks are cool. The entire series might as well have been a picture book and he would have been equally entertained.
38
u/Nerrien Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
This is the one that flummoxes me the most. Dune is famously misunderstood by people, to the point that arguably the sequels were the author saying "Okay, you didn't quite understand the point last time, let me make it clearer," but the Culture series is blindingly obvious by the time you've read even two books in the series.
My first thought was that maybe he was enough of an idiot to only read the first book and think the protagonist was the good guy, but he's named so many things after Culture ships, and you don't really start hearing of too many of those till after the first book, so I'd tentatively believe him when he says he's actually read the series.
So how the fuck does his brain go from saying:
"The utopian Culture where everyone is free to be who they want to the point that most citizens are said to swap genders at least once in their lives and all are provided for to find their own fulfillment in life and people are so satisfied that their government/military system is effectively staffed by volunteers and the rights of others and the intense moral debates surrounding that are held sacrosanct" is great, to:
"Trans people are the new heralds of Satan", "This Chinese sweatshop with suicide nets is brilliant, everywhere should be like this", "We'll ship people to Mars saddled with debt so their lives belong to the corporation", and other crap?
There's not even any room for saying "Those things would be great one day with more advanced technology, but aren't feasible now", he's very explicit with his praise and support of more oppressive ways of living.
I genuinely think there must be some weird mismatch in his brain, that effect where people always tend to relate with the hero even when they are blindingly obviously the villain, except to the most extreme degree I've ever seen.
23
u/RJ815 Sep 01 '26
I promise you, narcissists see and hear whatever the fuck they want to and EVERYTHING else is filtered out. Regardless of reality and quite often flying in the face of reality. It's a delusional, mentally ill way to perceive the world. Every single thing is either filtered through their ego, or discarded as irrelevant.
→ More replies (26)5
u/neherak Sep 01 '26
Pedantic um actually, the Culture is broadly pan-humanoid but it isn't the future of Earth.
→ More replies (1)
42
u/totalkpolitics Sep 01 '26
If I could read the article, I'm guessing I'd agree with the premise. It does seem guys like Musk constantly talk about a utopian Star Trek like society and claim their money won't matter.
One issue is....these guys think only an AI can get us there instead of realizing we can already start moving towards that world. We already have enough of everything to support all human life, it's a distribution and logistics problem not a resource problem.
The other really crazy issue is...you need a democratically based socialist hierarchy to get any of the utopian futures predicted. You have to have food, healthcare, education, and opportunity equally distributed across humanity to gain any kind of utopia.
Unfortunately these guys are dead set on an authoritarian based heirarchy, which is only found in dystopian future predictions. They'll never build what they claim to want unless they embrace the concept of giving up their power and putting it in the hands of the people.
So....it's highly likely we're all fucked.
→ More replies (21)9
u/lilB0bbyTables Sep 01 '26
The big issue is in reaching that democratically based socialist hierarchy - even with AI/AGI in there. Naturally the AI systems could be great at managing the resource planning and services distributions and accesses fairly and efficiently. However, that AI systems must be either overseen by people, or put into place after having been trained, tested, and tuned by people.
Therein lies the crux of the issue - who gets the trust to build and configure that system? The human greed and lust for power would corrupt the project from day 1; governments would regulate it while some private company or collection of private companies would collectively build it. The same types of individuals with all the power and money right now who are destroying our current system would be just as likely to do the same to that system. Sure, we could try to open-source the entire thing, have it all transparent and public … I would anticipate that being a facade with hidden fuckery injected during the deployment stages or thereafter.
→ More replies (11)
135
u/ejp1082 Sep 01 '26
They're a case study for why education in the humanities is important and shouldn't be neglected in favor of exclusively teaching STEM subjects.
I don't care if you can sleep through discrete math and DSA and still have a perfect 4.0 GPA for your comp sci degree. You shouldn't get to graduate without demonstrating some serious media literacy and critical thinking skills.
19
u/Sakuromp Sep 01 '26
I get the sentiment, but I mean come on, the level of ethics we're talking about here should have been instilled in people well before reaching higher education...
12
u/dimechimes Sep 01 '26 edited Sep 01 '26
Zuckerberg, Gates,
Musk, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, all college dropouts. They didn't get educated about anything, they're just sociopaths who broke rules that others wouldn't.→ More replies (4)12
u/Galle_ Sep 01 '26
Peter Thiel majored in philosophy. Don't blame STEM for this shit.
→ More replies (1)48
u/ArcticSphinx Sep 01 '26
Passing at least one ethics course should also be mandatory. Ideally for enrollment, as well as graduation.
→ More replies (8)→ More replies (19)15
u/amoral_panic Sep 01 '26
In 2024, 34% of American 12th graders had a “below basic” literacy rating. In elementary I think the number was 40%.
How can a teacher send a student home with a history book or a piece of classic literature when the kids can’t sound out new words?
I have no solutions. I’m just here to tell you it’s worse than you think.
→ More replies (4)
12
33
u/thecatandthependulum Sep 01 '26
I don't like this idea that being fascinated with future tech is the problem. It's their personalities.
→ More replies (7)
99
u/GGsafterdark Sep 01 '26
It’s because they have zero media literacy and actively think reading into a movies messages and themes is stupid. Real “The curtains are blue/it’s not that deep” type mindset. They’re the kind of people who watch Starship Troopers and just think it’s a fun movie about killing alien bugs with nothing else to say.
40
u/Dat_Boi_Henke Sep 01 '26
No no no, they think they get the meaning behind Starship Troopers.
They just think it isn't satirical and that it is awesome, and that society should be modelled after it.
→ More replies (1)35
u/PatchyWhiskers Sep 01 '26
They watch the Hunger Games and want to be President Snow.
31
21
u/decrpt Sep 01 '26
There's an actual example coming out soon.
“In other adaptations, Scrooge is kind of an asshole, and then the rest of the characters are benevolent, perfect people. And it was really our goal to try to balance that out to say that there’s much more of a gray area in the story,” he says. “We want to give Scrooge logic and a good argument, so when he is making an argument about something, he’s not wrong.”
West believes Depp brought that balance between grumpiness and sympathy. “As his Scrooge cuts someone down verbally or as he makes a financial point or withdraws, you do understand why he’s doing it,” he says. “You kind of agree with him even though you shouldn’t. That’s, I think, what makes this special. You find yourself liking a character that you’re not supposed to on paper, which then brings you as the audience into the movie more because you’re experiencing the movie subjectively as he is, rather than just seeing it as a play.”
Can't wait to see Scrooge destroy Tiny Tim with facts and logic. The moral of the story is, of course, that Tiny Tim just needed to work harder.
8
7
u/Matthias720 Sep 01 '26
On the one hand, there's something to be said for reexamining classic literature from another angle. On the other hand, there's something to be said for not ignoring the central thesis of said literature being that the "bad guy" is "bad" not simply "misunderstood". Ebeneezer Scrooge is a miserly curmudgeon who has to learn that times of celebration and giving are better than hoarding like Smaug. Certainly, explore why he's a miser, but don't undercut the fact that his miserly ways are wrong.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (20)15
u/gearstars Sep 01 '26
Media literacy was murdered years ago and it's dessicated corpse is being dragged through a wasteland by a cybertruck. The amount of matter-of-fact, literal description of intentions and motivations expository dialog in modern media demonstrates how any understanding of context, subtext and nuance is long dead
→ More replies (2)
11
10
u/Loki-L Sep 01 '26
Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale.
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus.
But really, nothing can be more tone deaf than Musk naming his barges after Ian Bank Culture novel ships (You know the ones with the Fully Automated Luxury Space Communism).
Zuckerberg naming his company after the thing from Snowcrash comes close though.
8
16
56
Sep 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (5)39
u/ByEthanFox Sep 01 '26
In fairness though, that's kinda the problem. All my fantasies were the same; I wanted to be a weird mix of Ryu from Streetfighter, Goku and a samurai, with a bionic arm, and to save the planet from the aliens from Macross with my giant robot. But in retrospect, all my fantasies were juvenile not because they involved the Power Rangers but because, in all of them, I was the undisputed, godlike hero that everyone wanted to fawn over.
I think, when it comes down to it, a lot of people in tech were lonely as children and teens. We were probably not the best-looking (even if some of us fortunately did pretty well out of puberty), maybe socially awkward, maybe not talented in a showmanship-sorta-way.
A mature person kinda grows out of that fantasy of wanting to be a rockstar with a crowd of 50k people screaming their name, because even the genuine rockstars that end up in that scenario are in it for their music, for their craft, not just for the audience. And while we might imagine accepting an Oscar in the shower using a shampoo bottle as a prop, it's a fantasy we have for a sec, then get on with our day.
I think some of the tech billionaires are stunted, emotionally. They never grew out of that phase. They just want to be seen as a polymath, genius and luminary, and the tech is just a means to that end. I know of one very prominent, very wealthy example that I feel represents this extremely well.
Fact of the matter is, no matter how rich you might be, how far you might go, how many "followers" a website tells you that you have, how many sports cars you keep in a garage or how many miles you might fly in your private planes... In the middle of the night, when you wake up and stare at the ceiling, you're alone with just yourself. And all of the gold in the world won't help if, in that moment, you can't face that you're a fucking loser.
→ More replies (2)8
u/veggiesama Sep 01 '26
I'm pretty sure my Robotech/Macross fantasy was just to get trapped on a ship with Lynn Minmei and be forced to eat giant space tuna.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/timeshifter_ Sep 01 '26
They read about oppression and chose to become the oppressors.
→ More replies (1)
6
u/HunnySThompson Sep 01 '26
People should read The Nerd Reich. A lot of the tech community basically believes they're messiahs and want to create a utopian hierarchical society free from the constraints of democracy.
5
u/kev11n Sep 01 '26
I read a lot of scifi and fantasy and I honestly can’t wrap my brain around their misunderstandings and misinterpretations
→ More replies (1)
3.8k
u/callmebaiken Sep 01 '26
It actually can't be overstated the degree to which AI investment is being shaped by 20th-century science fiction