Techno-optimism

[phkrause]

Behind the Curtain: A new political force

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

A new, powerful, well-funded political movement is rising fast in America: the techno-optimists, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write. Why it matters: This group — mostly rich, white, middle-aged men with tech jobs, companies or investment funds — is building impressive, if unorganized, political muscle through social media, podcasts, new journalism projects, and political donations and activism. 🔎 Between the lines: Techno-optimism is an imperfect name for the movement. But it captures an animating spirit of an emerging ideology. It's a general philosophy, not a political party — though some of the billionaire tech investors funding and fueling it talk privately of one day soon starting one. An actual political party is probably fantasy: The egos are enormous, interests diverse and attention spans short. What's happening: For now, think of it as a loose affiliation of very powerful people with big followings who share platforms, ideas, styles and beliefs. These moguls have a social media platform: Elon Musk's X. The site has shifted from a hotbed for mainstream media groupthink in 2020, to a hotbed of tech/anti-establishment groupthink for this election. They high-five each other with retweets and X-only interviews. They have a fairly common ideology: unfettered free speech, pro-artificial intelligence, anti-mainstream media, and deep skepticism of DEI, political correctness and elite consensus. They have provocative philosophical manifestos, most notably investor Marc Andreessen's "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto," which declares: "Technology is the glory of human ambition and achievement, the spearhead of progress, and the realization of our potential." They have a growing media ecosystem that operates online and gets heavy engagement on X. These writers — including Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwald — often promote each other and get boosts on big-audience podcasts such as Joe Rogan's. Weiss, founder of The Free Press, told us this ecosystem is growing by treating listeners, viewers and readers "like adults who can handle complexity," and by taking a posture on tech that's "more curiosity than knee-jerk criticism." "We articulate the things that people talk about in private but are hesitant to openly discuss or debate in public," said Weiss, who's based in California. "We give people language to describe things that they are noticing and are maybe wary of, but don't yet have the vocabulary to explain or articulate." Kara Swisher — who'll be out Feb. 27 with "Burn Book," a memoir that's tough on Silicon Valley — is critical of this crowd and their taunting tactics. She chalks it up to billionaire boredom and the need to be relevant: "It's a false dichotomy — an if-you-are-not-with-us-you-are-against-us argument by someone who cannot think clearly anymore. You can be bullish on many new innovations and still be worried about its implications." But the tech bros' combined influence on politics is real — and growing. You saw it when Ron DeSantis chose to announce his campaign not on Fox News, but on X (where he suffered a glitch-tastrophe). And he did it in an interview with David Sacks, a tech investor and co-star of the widely downloaded "All-In Podcast." Sacks has grown increasingly political on X and his podcast. He's far from alone. Musk, Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Bill Ackman and many other techno-optimist allies are inserting themselves into the politics of everything. Horowitz, co-founder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, announced in a December blog post that partners at the venture capital firm will for the first time give money to support candidates who "align with our vision and values specifically for technology." Horowitz told us AI will revolutionize warfare, financial systems and consumers' daily lives. So tech — beyond the behemoths of Microsoft, Google, et al. — needs clout. But "nobody represents 'little tech,'" he said: "[T]he regulation of things like AI and crypto may seem small, but getting them right is actually existential for our nation." 🔮 What's next: If the techno-optimists have a presidential candidate, it's RFK Jr.. But if they decide a third-party candidate isn't viable, they seem much more likely to turn to former President Trump than President Biden. They're universally proud free-market capitalists who find Biden, 81, too old and too approving of thought- and word-policing. The bottom line: It's not clear how many votes they can move. But tens of millions of Americans — especially white men outside of big cities — listen to, read or follow them. Read the full column.