John Fanning writes: Earlier this year I saw the film Mountainhead, the new Jesse Armstrong production continuing his exposure of the rich and powerful following the success of the Murdoch family saga Succession. The four characters featured are all filthy rich tech bros, some easily identified: Musk is there, possibly Sam Altman and possibly Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen. They are holed up in a spectacular dwelling atop an American mountain all set for a weekend of poker, champagne and competitive banter discussing how many billions they’re worth. As you might expect their conversations are never enough to prevent them from continually checking their mobile phones which suddenly start to broadcast panic news stories from all over the world about political and economic chaos caused by deepfakes maliciously spreading stories which set of communal riots and war across the globe, resulting in death, destruction and economic collapse. The stories are being broadcast on a new platform, Tramms, controlled by the Musk-like character, who casually brushes off criticism of the chaos he’s causing as the share price of his platform continues to rise. In the midst of the chaos the bros amuse themselves by imagining what bargains they could pick up: ‘We could buy Haiti and transfer the people to South America or somewhere. Or maybe we could take over a few countries and show them how to run them efficiently.’
The whole thing runs out of steam after about half-way through, becoming too implausible to be taken seriously. Or so I thought until I read Adam Becker’s account of the real-life tech bros, More Everything Forever. Becker is a young US science writer with a PhD in Aastrophysics and a BA in philosophy. His book is a damning and well-researched critique of the practices and pretentions of the US tech barons, or the technopoly – because in spite of their professed belief in libertarian capitalism they don’t actually believe in competition. But they now control the digital platforms that have, whether we like it or not, become part and parcel of our daily lives. They give the impression that their operations are based on rigorous science and are designed to make life easier and more harmonious for humanity. Becker shows that the science is dubious and the outcome is often deeply divisive and irresponsible.
The most irresponsible of their beliefs and actions is their disregard for democracy and their egregious attempts to undermine it, especially in Europe. The engineering philosophy at the heart of the tech revolution is to always seeking perfection, which democracy cannot provide. Regarding it as a messy and ponderous process, they try to discredit it wherever they can, either by providing financial help to far-right candidates and parties or by facilitating misleading online material like the deepfake videos which wrought such havoc in Mountainhead. Various alternatives range from dividing countries into smaller units governed by successful businessmen to a return to the monarchy. This bizarre suggestion comes from Curtis Yervan, an influential behind the scenes philosopher to the whole movement. All of these manoeuvrings are driven by a single goal; to weaken and ultimately crush any attempt by whatever power to regulate the tech platforms. By capitulating so cravenly to Trump they have removed any threat from that quarter, so the enemy now is Europe. They share a visceral hatred of the EU and work actively to undermine its authority and institutions.
A second theme running through the book is the absolute faith among the technopoly in the power and necessity of continuous advance: ‘let no man stop the march of tech’. The main evangelist here is Marc Andreessen, who with his partner Ben Horowitz founded one of the most successful venture capital funds in Silicon Valley. In 2023 he posted a ‘Techno- Optimist Manifesto’ outlining his beliefs. The following extract will show how messianic he is: ‘Technology is the glory of human ambition and advancement, the spearhead of progress and the realisation of our potential.’ Andreessen claims that slowing down developments in AI would be a form of murder and that not growing leads to ‘zero-sum thinking, internal fighting, degradation, collapse and ultimately death’. He thinks that we are not using enough energy and that the environment will be fine because technology is an environmental panacea. He then outlines his ‘enemy list’: sustainability, risk management, tech ethics and trust and safety.
A third, even more disturbing, train of thought that runs through the technopoly like a rash is an unhealthy sympathy with racism end eugenics. Two of the tech elite, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, were born in South Africa and appear sympathetic to apartheid. It’s hardly surprising that the search for perfection also includes people and they regularly comment on improving the genetic quality of the population. Musk has done his bit by fathering more children than Boris Johnson. The following chilling quote from Curtis Yervan exemplifies the thinking: ‘I have no doubt that a good human breeder could turn Australian aboriginals into Ashkenazi Jews in twenty or thirty generations.’
Given the degree of power attributed to tech it comes as no surprise that Becker devotes considerable attention to the singularity, AI and living forever. The singularity will occur when technological growth expands beyond human capability with unpredictable changes in human evolution. Timing predictions vary but Ray Kurzweil, a computer scientist and futurist, reputedly takes 100 pills a day believing it will enable him to reach the singularity and then live forever. Other members of the gang favour drinking the blood of teenagers, but they’re all convinced they can defeat death. There is also a peculiar fascination with space travel and emigrating to Mars. Becker pricks this little balloon by pointing out that conditions on Mars are unlikely to accommodate even digitally enhanced earthlings for very long. AI pops up regularly, with predictable differences emerging between the techno-optimists who want to accelerate immediately and those who urge caution. The latter argue that the most pressing challenge will be how to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) will have goals and desires that are compatible with those of humanity. Becker shows that many experts are dubious that this outcome can be achieved and points to the example of the distinguished computer scientist Geoffery Hinton who left Google in 2023 to warn about the potential dangers of AI.
Becker concludes the book with some radical proposals that should be considered in relation to the wider issues involving the main themes that have been discussed. Arguably the two major issues facing the world are climate change and the growing levels of inequality in the leading democracies, which are fuelling a level of discontent that is undermining democracy. The technopoly couldn’t care less about climate change and blithely assume that technology will solve any problems that occur. Their obsession with stock price, stock options and bonuses means that they are oblivious to widening income disparities and they have no understanding or interest in how most of the population live.
Becker concludes the book with a proposal for a severe wealth tax on incomes over half a billion, reminding us that no one earns their wealth alone: ‘A functioning and stable market is something that can only exist within a society that has a working infrastructure, health care, education and everything else it take to have a modern thriving economy.’ I don’t see this proposal having any real effect. The technopoly always have ways of protecting their wealth and avoiding tax. Their only Achilles heel is regulation. That’s not going to happen in the US where they have effectively bought the president, but Europe has a history of effective market legislation. Despite our compromised position because of our exposure to US tech investment in Ireland we should be seen to be enthusiastic backers of whatever measures the EU wishes to deploy.
After all that, it is with a huge sense of relief when one comes to Becker’s last word on the technopoly, in the last sentence of his book: ‘We must remember that, in truth, their visions aren’t inevitable – they’re all but impossible. There are other tomorrows, lush and desolate, gorgeous, and harrowing, all at hand if we wish. The future is open.’
16/12/2025
