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- cross-posted to:
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- [email protected]
- technology
Balaji, a 43-year-old Long Island native who goes by his first name, has a solid Valley pedigree: He earned multiple degrees from Stanford University, founded multiple startups, became a partner at Andreessen-Horowitz and then served as chief technology officer at Coinbase. He is also the leader of a cultish and increasingly strident neo-reactionary tech political movement that sees American democracy as an enemy. In 2013, a New York Times story headlined āSilicon Valley Roused by Secession Callā described a speech in which he ātold a group of young entrepreneurs that the United States had become āthe Microsoft of nationsā: outdated and obsolescent.ā
āThe speech won roars from the audience at Y Combinator, a leading start-up incubator,ā reported the Times. Balaji paints a bleak picture of a dystopian future in a U.S. in chaos and decline, but his prophecies sometimes fall short. Last year, he lost one million dollars in a public bet after wrongly predicting a massive surge in the price of Bitcoin.
Still, his appetite for autocracy is bottomless. Last October, Balaji hosted the first-ever Network State Conference. Garry Tanāthe current Y Combinator CEO whoās attempting to spearhead a political takeover of San Franciscoāparticipated in an interview with Balaji and cast the effort as part of the Network State movement. Tan, who made headlines in January after tweeting ādie slow motherfuckersā at local progressive politicians, frames his campaign as an experiment in āmoderateā politics. But in a podcast interview one month before the conference, Balaji laid out a more disturbing and extreme vision.
What Iām really calling for is something like tech Zionism,ā he said, after comparing his movement to those started by the biblical Abraham, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism), Theodor Herzl (āspiritual fatherā of the state of Israel), and Lee Kuan Yew (former authoritarian ruler of Singapore). Balaji then revealed his shocking ideas for a tech-governed city where citizens loyal to tech companies would form a new political tribe clad in gray t-shirts. āAnd if you see another Gray on the streetā¦you do the nod,ā he said, during a four-hour talk on the Moment of Zen podcast. āYouāre a fellow Gray.ā
The Graysā shirts would feature āBitcoin or Elon or other kinds of logos ā¦ Y Combinator is a good one for the city of San Francisco in particular.ā Grays would also receive special ID cards providing access to exclusive, Gray-controlled sectors of the city. In addition, the Grays would make an alliance with the police department, funding weekly āpolicemanās banquetsā to win them over.
āGrays should embrace the police, okay? All-in on the police,ā said Srinivasan. āWhat does that mean? Thatās, as I said, banquets. That means every policemanās son, daughter, wife, cousin, you know, sibling, whatever, should get a job at a tech company in security.ā
In exchange for extra food and jobs, cops would pledge loyalty to the Grays. Srinivasan recommends asking officers a series of questions to ascertain their political leanings. For example: āDid you want to take the sign off of Elonās building?ā
This refers to the August 2023 incident in which Elon Musk illegally installed a large flashing X logo atop Twitter headquarters, in violation of building safety codes. City inspectors forced him to remove it. This was the second time Musk had run afoul of the city in his desire to refurbish his headquarters: In July, police briefly halted his attempt to pry the āTwitterā signage from the buildingās exterior. But in Balajiās dystopia, he implies that officers loyal to the Grays would let Musk do as he pleases (democratically-inclined officers, he suggests, can be paid to retire).
Simply put, there is a ton of fascist-chic cosplay involved. Once an officer joins the Grays, they get a special uniform designed by their tech overlords. The Grays will also donate heavily to police charities and āmerge the Gray and police social networks.ā Then, in a show of force, theyāll march through the city together.
Its even more than that. Itās like an edgy teenagerās view of what a powerful group is. Instead of seeing adult versions of authoritarianism like:
āWeāll change zoning and lending laws to preclude anyone but our group from owning property in our chosen city. Without inclusion in our group education opportunities will be restricted. Healthcare will be rationed for all except usā
ā¦we getā¦
āWeāll hold banquets for police.ā āIn exchange for extra food and jobs, cops would pledge loyalty to the Graysā (Iāll buy pizza for the group and theyāll be my friend forever!)
āAnd if you see another Gray on the streetā¦you do the nodā (like a secret handshake you need to perform before you enter the clubhouse!)
Its such an oddly childish approach. Is the guy this silly or is he intentionally putting out a childish version to attract those that think this that is what power is and how human motivations work?
Itās hard to know, these tech guys are pretty cloistered in their lives in many cases. Many also start that way at private schools and in higher Ed. This is a Stanford dude, which might not be quite as bad as a Harvard dude, but still messed up in subtly different ways.
I have a bit of experience with the east coast elite, living and working with many in Boston for 15 years. They go to a big private high school, like Philips Exeter. Itās got amenities and educational opportunities that are hard to believe, and basically ingrains how much better and special their rich students are than the rest of society (us plebes).
There are seriously fucked up things going on in those places that are teaching these CEOās kids that they will control and profit from the world, at the expense of everyone who isnāt in their in-group.
Itās really hard to imagine how weāre going to get out of the economic and power structures that got us where we are. Voting reform and real progressives that arenāt part of the existing elite and are willing to do the tough work that wonāt set them up in the oligarchy class (or the as the oligarchyās lackeys) are probably the best chance we have to do it peacefully.