An Optimism of Steel

Techno-Optimism, Effective Accelerationism and Libertarian Fascism

“We have the will. It is time, once again, to raise the technology flag. It is time to be Techno-Optimists.”

“I feel the matter of my heart being transformed, metallized, in an optimism of steel.”

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti would have a flourishing YouTube career today. He abandoned his legal training to become a content creator at the dawn of the 20th century. He glorified technology, speed, war, and sex. Alongside the Futurist manifesto, he wrote a book called “How to seduce women”. I have been unable to confirm if he sold bitcoin trading strategies.

Unlike most modern-day keyboard warriors, he enthusiastically signed up for physical combat, joining the Italian army in World War 1 - first on a bicycle and later in a tank (“the steel alcove”). He also co-wrote the original manifesto of Fascism and supported Benito Mussolini. Although from Marinetti’s perspective, Mussolini was too wedded to existing institutions, insufficiently futurist.

The only war that Marc Andreessen has fought in were the browser wars of the 1990s. Wars that he both lost and won. Yes, Microsoft eventually annihilated Netscape. But Netscape’s IPO in 1995 made Andreessen wealthy and formed the foundation for his Venture Capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is one of the most powerful men in Silicon Valley, and thus the world. He is also (like Peter Thiel) not happy.

Andreessen is upset that some people seem to be down on technology and has written a manifesto to correct this. Not a Futurist or Fascist manifesto (well, more of that later) but a Techno Optimist manifesto. Technology is an unalloyed good. Those who build are the Forces of Light. And those who oppose technology are the Enemy. The manifesto literally has a chapter called “The Enemy”. While Andreessen is carefully to say: “Our enemies are not bad people – but rather bad ideas”, that is in no way reassuring. Ideas don’t exist outside human beings. And a quick way of describing the common characteristics of “The Enemy” is “Anyone who might say ‘No’ to Marc Andreessen”. This is less a titan of industry forging a new future than a toddler screaming at anyone who might take his toy.

The manifesto is useful not because of what is says but how it says it. There is no pretense at reasonableness or restraint. The quiet part is bellowed from the rooftops with a bullhorn. It has the unintended consequence of making you sympathetic to Xi Jinping’s treatment of Jack Ma. Of course, Andreessen identifies Marinetti as a patron saint of Techno-Optimism.

Similarly beatified is Nick Land. I encountered Nick Land and the rest of CCRU in dingy performance space in Vauxhall in 1999. They were running a series of events that about 3 people turned up to. Land’s work has always been transgressive to the point of parody*. When he was writing drug-addled prose-poetry about the internet and cyberpunk and Nietzsche and numerology in an office somewhere on the outskirts of Coventry, he was charming. Then he moved to Shanghai and went a bit Nazi. The thought of Land being a direct inspiration for some of the most powerful people on the planet is both hilarious and terrifying.

Naturally, Andreessen is not the only purveyor of this creed of minimal political restraint and maximal pursuit of profit through technology.

A fourth patron saint is Guillaume Verdon (aka @BasedBeffJezos**), an ex-Googler and AI startup founder, who wants no shackles whatsoever on AI tech development. He advocates for “Effective Accelerationism” - which wields together two points of view that are popular in Silicon Valley.

Effective Altruism (EA) initially emerged as a nerdy, quantitative approach to philanthropy which attempted to optimize the outcomes of giving for good. At its most benign, it led to rich nerds spending a lot of money on malaria nets - as they calculated these gave the best bang for the donor dollar in terms of lives saved. Made famous (and then infamous) by Sam “Orange Jumpsuit Cargo Pants” Bankman-Fried, some variants of EA encouraged adherents to make as much money as possible in order to donate it later. It’s not clear if SBF actually believes this, but it certainly gave his sketchy behaviour and greed the sheen of righteousness.

However, because Silicon Valley is full of nerds who have read too much science fiction as children and never suffered from TB or malnutrition***, the EA movement quickly focused on the risks of runaway AI development as a major concern. If a malevolent AI could wipe out humanity in the future then the million people a year who die of diarrhea are small potatoes. So EA people have been at the forefront of trying to regulate AI (and, in the case of OpenAI, failing spectacularly).

On the other hand, accelerationists believe that the only way over our current predicaments is through. Drawing on Ray Kurzweil’s notion of the Singularity and some of Nick Land’s pre-Nazi work, the accelerationists believe in a world fundamentally transformed by technology. These beliefs often verge on the mystical - a technorapture where our machines free us from conflict, ageing and death. The need for eschatology persists even in the absence of established religion.

So Effective Accelerationists (e/acc) agree with the EAs that AI might replace humanity. But for them, that’s a feature not a bug. Technology will solve all our problems. No sweat.

I suspect that the e/acc do not fear a SuperIntelligence because they see it as one of them. The SupAI will be just another tech bro - only smarter and more ruthless. They certainly relate more to this potential AI overlord than the lowly masses of humanity who can’t even code. After all, the tech bros are the training data that this system will be built on.

Which brings us to the final part of this subtitle: Why do I think these ideologies risk collapsing into something truly evil? Surely Andreessen is explicitly against authoritarian states? Isn’t his manifesto a paean to Markets? Isn’t it impossible for Libertarians to be Fascists?

Lets start with the importance of markets to Silicon Valley. While many technologists and venture capitalists say they believe in markets, this faith exists more in word than deed. Many of the companies that Andreessen has invested in have actively sort to dominate and monopolize the markets that they operate in. Sure, competition is a virtue but it’s a virtue for other people. As Braudel noted many years ago, capitalism is best thought of as a series of anti-markets. And when push comes to shove, Andreessen will back capitalism over markets. He is not a Venture Marketist.

Libertarianism has many flavours however it contains a persistent strain that valorizes the Strong Man over the weak masses. Ayn Rand’s work is full of figures like John Gault - great men who mould the world into their own image. Aristocrats of technology who must nobly bear the ignorance of the rest of us. This glorification of individual power uncontrolled by collective values legitimates the power of the strong over the weak. Limits are for pussies.

Andreesen aspires to be such a “Technological Superman”. He might say: “And we believe in humanity – individually and collectively.” But I don’t believe a word of it. Andreessen believes in himself. And humanity is a weakness to be overcome. A soft, vulnerable body to be encased in AI armour. Andreessen seeks untrammelled power. Unconstrained by governments, academics, experts, boards. And history shows us that giving anyone power like this ends badly. Especially if he thinks that he is sole repository of wisdom and virtue in the world.

I don’t want to wholly dismiss his manifesto. I like technology. I like engineers. Some of them are not as clever as they think they are but that’s not uncommon. What I resent is being cast as Luddite because I am reluctant to enthrone Marc Andreessen as a God-Emperor of Technological Progress.

I am also an optimist but a different kind of optimist. My optimism is not in the strengths of great individuals but in the collective creativity of human weaknesses.

Marc, the water is warm. But it’s also yellow. Someone must of got over-excited and had an accident in the pool.

*He’s not the Accelerationist Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy.

**Yes, yes, I know.

***The risks of a diet centred on pizza and ramen excepted.