People have to realize that tycoons like the ones from big tech companies can both be rich and mediocre. They were smart enough to seize opportunities at the right time but they are not exceptional. In fact, they're even boring and spineless.

The best quote in this paper I think is: "There is nothing special about Elon Musk, Sam Altman, or Mark Zuckerberg. Accepting that requires you to also accept that the world itself is not one that rewards the remarkable, or the brilliant, or the truly incredible, but those who are able to take advantage of opportunities, which in turn leads to the horrible truth that those who often have the most opportunities are some of the most boring and privileged people alive."

The real problem is that lots of journalists can't come to term with the fairy tale and so fall prey to all their publicity stunts as if it had any hidden meaning. This is dangerous because of all the political power they try to seize for their own gains.

Meanwhile, "the most powerful companies enjoy a level of impunity, with their founders asked only the most superficial, softball of questions — and deflecting anything tougher by throwing out dead cats when the situation demands."

Now you can go and read this long piece.

Indeed, fads come and go mainly to keep the circus running. You can't have growth with something nicely working and stable, change needs to be brought up to justify selling more.

Very interesting explorations of the early days of automation and computation. This shows another face of Babbage which is often ignored. It is a cruel demonstration on how his machine were first and foremost encroached on division of labor as inspired by plantations.

Excellent opinion piece. Sure, "A.I." is a tool, but who is wielding that tool currently? Whom needs is it designed to fulfill? This is currently very much of a problem. The comparison with McKinsey although surprising is an interesting thought.

Also I appreciate the clarification on the Luddites movement... they were not anti-technology.

Definitely this. We got a bunch of rich people with a very shallow understanding of cyberpunk literature. They're focusing on the gimmicks, missing completely the big picture... all of this to not face they'd be the villains in those stories.

Some more example of surveillance capitalism as a mean to social control. Are we surprised? Not really... still they all need to be documented and known to the public.