https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/

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Techno-optimism is the belief that rapid technological progress is the main driver of human prosperity and should be pursued as a moral imperative. It argues that:

Growth = Good: Innovation creates abundance, longer lives, and better living standards.

Barriers = Bad: Regulation, caution, and pessimism slow down progress and should be resisted.

Technology as Solution: Challenges like poverty, disease, and climate change are best solved by accelerating science and technology rather than restricting them.

In short: Techno-optimism sees faster innovation as the surest path to human flourishing — and treats resistance to technological progress as harmful.

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Here’s a structured overview of the major schools of economic thought, mapped across time, followed by an estimate of which views dominate public and policy thinking today.

📜 Timeline of Major Economic Schools

 1.⁠ ⁠Mercantilism (1500s–1700s)

Core idea: National wealth measured by gold/silver; exports > imports; heavy state control.

Influence: Guided colonial empires, trade monopolies, and tariffs.

 2.⁠ ⁠Classical Economics (1776–1870)

Key figures: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill.

Core idea: Free markets, division of labour, “invisible hand”; emphasis on production and growth.

Impact: Industrial Revolution policy, laissez-faire capitalism.

 3.⁠ ⁠Marxism & Socialist Economics (mid-1800s–present)

Key figure: Karl Marx.

Core idea: Critique of capitalism, labour theory of value, class struggle, state ownership.

Impact: Inspired communist revolutions, socialist policies, labour movements.

 4.⁠ ⁠Marginalism & Neoclassical Economics (1870s–present)

Key figures: Jevons, Walras, Marshall.

Core idea: Value determined by marginal utility; equilibrium analysis; rational individuals.

Impact: Foundation of modern mainstream economics, microeconomics.

 5.⁠ ⁠Keynesian Economics (1930s–present)

Key figure: John Maynard Keynes.

Core idea: Markets can fail (esp. in depressions); governments should manage demand using fiscal & monetary policy.

Impact: Guided post–WWII Western economies, welfare state expansion.

 6.⁠ ⁠Monetarism & Chicago School (1950s–1980s)

Key figure: Milton Friedman.

Core idea: Control money supply to manage inflation; limit government intervention.

Impact: Reaganomics, Thatcherism, central bank independence.

 7.⁠ ⁠Austrian School (late 1800s–present, revived 1970s)

Key figures: Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek.

Core idea: Importance of entrepreneurship, spontaneous order, critique of central planning.

Impact: Free-market think tanks, libertarian movements.

 8.⁠ ⁠Development Economics (1940s–present)

Core idea: Structural transformation, role of institutions, tackling poverty in Global South.

Impact: World Bank, UN development policy, debates on aid.

 9.⁠ ⁠New Keynesian & New Classical Synthesis (1980s–present)

Core idea: Rational expectations (New Classical) + sticky wages/prices (New Keynesian).

Impact: Dominant academic framework; forms the basis of central bank models today.

10.⁠ ⁠Modern Schools (1990s–present)

Behavioural Economics: Psychology meets economics (Kahneman, Thaler).

Post-Keynesian / MMT (Modern Monetary Theory): Governments with sovereign currencies can run large deficits to ensure employment.

Ecological Economics: Sustainability, climate change, “beyond GDP”.

Techno-Optimist / Data-driven Economics: Big data, market design, platform economies.

Jon Haidt three great untruths:

(1) “What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker”; (2) “Always trust your feelings”; and (3) “Life is a battle between good people and evil people.”

Possible opposites for the three untruths:

(1) “What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker” => What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Or post traumatic growth.

(2) “Always trust your feelings” => Your feelings are signals that you should always listen to, but not your boss that you must obey.

(3) “Life is a battle between good people and evil people.” => This is zero sum fallacy. The world is mainly positive sum, where people work together to get a better outcome.

Stephen Fry:

- They'd rather be right then effective.

Sam Altman:

- I believe in techno-capitalism. We should encourage people to make tons of money and then also find ways to widely distribute wealth and share the compounding magic of capitalism. One doesn’t work without the other; you cannot raise the floor and not also raise the ceiling for very long.

The world should get richer every year through science and technology, but everyone has to be in the “up elevator”. I think the government usually does a worse job than markets, and so we need to encourage our culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. I also believe that education is critically important to keeping the American edge.

I believed this when I was 20, when I was 30, and now I am 40 and still believe it. The Democratic party seemed reasonably aligned with it when I was 20, losing the plot when I was 30, and completely to have moved somewhere else at this point. So now I am politically homeless. But that’s fine; I care much, much more about being American than any political party.

I’d rather hear from candidates about how they are going to make everyone have the stuff billionaires have instead of how they are going to eliminate billionaires.

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

― Malcolm X

https://ground.news/about

https://www.readtangle.com/

Helpful Support = 1. Increased Trajectory + 2. Increase Resilience

Harmful Support = 1. No Improvement In Trajectory + 2. Lowered Resilience

Support in Different Contexts

- Workplace: Managers should focus on developing employees' skills and independence

- Parenting: The goal is to raise independent adults, not perpetually dependent children

- Friendships: There's a delicate balance between being supportive and becoming a "coach"

- Addiction and mental health: Support should aim for long-term recovery and resilience, not enabling destructive behaviors

Jon Haidt's Three Great Untruths:

- "What doesn't kill you makes you weaker" => What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

- "always trust your feelings" => Feelings should be examined, sometimes immediate responses are counter productive and one should 'think slow, not think fast'.

- "life is a battle between good people and evil people" => The world is not zero sum, most things are 'win-win'.

Defining Effective Support

- Support done well leads to independence and growth, not dependence

- The goal is to "teach someone to fish" rather than continuously "giving them fish"

- Good support maximizes the trajectory of someone's improvement over time

- Effective support may involve allowing someone to struggle or fail in order to learn and grow

Challenges in Providing Support

- It can be difficult to let someone struggle or fail, especially in personal relationships

- There's a balance between intervening and allowing natural consequences

- The recipient's mindset (growth vs. fixed) impacts the effectiveness of support

- Clear communication about the intention and reasoning behind support is crucial

Reframing Support

- Support should be viewed as increasing resilience and ability to handle future challenges

- It's about being on the same "team" and working together for mutual growth and success

- Good support acknowledges feelings without necessarily endorsing them

- Support should aim for win-win outcomes rather than reinforcing a zero-sum mentality

The main points talked about are:

- Teaching kids about the business world. For example, they could learn by trading shares.

- Understanding how to build healthy relationships with themselves and others. A way to do this is by exploring philosophy.

- Learning how to create things. Instead of focusing on music, we could emphasize entrepreneurship and building projects.

If you want to contact us please do so at [email protected]

- A16Z on why they support Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_sNclEgQZQ

- Tim Urban explaining social justice fundamentalist (wokeness): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALdi_MX3bfQ

- Nate Silver on election: https://www.natesilver.net/p/nate-silver-2024-president-election-polls-model

If you want to contact us please do so at [email protected]

Jon Haidt's main points:

- No smartphones before high school. Parents should delay children’s entry into round-the-clock internet access by giving only basic phones (phones with limited apps and no internet browser) before ninth grade (roughly age 14).

- No social media before 16. Let kids get through the most vulnerable period of brain development before connecting them to a firehose of social comparison and algorithmically chosen influencers.

- Phone-free schools. In all schools from elementary through high school, students should store their phones, smartwatches, and any other personal devices that can send or receive texts in phone lockers or locked pouches during the school day. That is the only way to free up their attention for each other and for their teachers.

- Far more unsupervised play and childhood independence. That’s the way children naturally develop social skills, overcome anxiety, and become self-governing young adults.

Arguments for and Against Banning Social Media Until 16:

Arguments For Banning Social Media for 16-Year-Olds

Mental Health Issues: Social media can cause anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem due to constant comparison and social pressure.

Cyberbullying: Teenagers are vulnerable to online bullying and harassment, leading to severe emotional distress.

Privacy Concerns: Teens might not understand privacy settings, risking exposure to personal information and online predators.

Addiction and Distraction: Excessive use can lead to addiction, reducing time for studies, physical activities, and face-to-face interactions.

Sleep Disruption: Social media use before bed can disrupt sleep patterns and lead to poor-quality sleep.

Body Image Issues: Exposure to unrealistic body standards can lead to negative body image and eating disorders.

Misinformation: Teens may be susceptible to fake news, affecting their understanding of the world.

Arguments Against Banning Social Media for 16-Year-Olds

Communication: Helps teens stay connected with friends and family, fostering social bonds.

Educational Resources: Provides access to educational tools and resources.

Skill Development: Develops digital literacy and communication skills.

Self-Expression: Offers a platform for sharing interests and creativity.

Awareness and Activism: Raises awareness about social issues and encourages civic engagement.

Support Networks: Online communities provide support and a sense of belonging.

Parental Supervision: With guidance, teens can learn to use social media responsibly.

If you want to contact us please do so at [email protected]

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/12/andrew-sullivan-americas-new-religions.html

“Religion is an attempt to find meaning in events, not a theory that tries to explain the universe.” It exists because we humans are the only species, so far as we can know, who have evolved to know explicitly that, one day in the future, we will die. And this existential fact requires some way of reconciling us to it while we are alive.

No meaning = Hopelessness.

What is wokeness? https://boghossian.substack.com/p/woke-religion-a-taxonomy

If you want to contact us please do so at [email protected]

"Free speech is the master value as it's the value that updates all othe values."

“I’m worried that as technology gets more powerful that it’ll be easier for the minorities who want to screw things up, to screw things up.”

“Today it’s possible for one person to derange the lives of million, even billions of people.” Sam Harris.

Who is worse for free speech? The hard left or the hard right?

IMO the hard left. Woke people.

“Woke mind virus is the biggest threat to the civilization”

IMO extremists on the left or the right are the problem. Extremists in general. The more annoyed they get about each other the worse. IMO wokeism is much more accepted in main stream than trumpism.

Woke: a state of awareness only achieved by those dumb enough to find injustice in everythign exepct their own behaviour.

It's interesting. This is causing the loss of free speech. And that is hard core problematic because handing power to governments who normally don't give it back.

Power corrupts, and ultimate power corrupts ultimately. People stop telling you the truth, start pandering. Then you definitely get high on your own supply. Then people start to hate you but you can't see it and think they are stupid.

If you want to contact us please do so at [email protected]

What is good parenting = 1. Like school + 2. Have good friends + 3. Good parent / child relationship + 4. Good academic outcomes (top 10%) + 5. Good extra curricula.

Eastern and Western parenting. It's important to remember that parenting styles within any culture.

1. *Education Focus*:

- Eastern: There's often a strong emphasis on academic achievement, discipline, and respect for authority.

- Western: Education may be more balanced with extracurricular activities, encouraging creativity and individual interests.

2. *Discipline*:

- Eastern: Discipline is generally more strict, with a greater emphasis on obedience and conformity to family and societal expectations.

- Western: Discipline may be more flexible, focusing on reasoning with the child and understanding their perspective.

3. *Independence*:

- Eastern: Independence is encouraged later, often after foundational values and behaviors are instilled.

- Western: There's a strong emphasis on fostering independence from an early age, including encouraging children to make their own choices.

4. *Family Structure*:

- Eastern: A greater emphasis on extended family, with respect for elders and filial piety being central values.

- Western: A focus on the nuclear family, with a more egalitarian approach to family roles.

5. *Emotional Openness*:

- Eastern: Emotional restraint is often valued, with less open verbal expression of love and affection.

- Western: There's generally more open expression of emotions and affection, both verbally and physically.

6. *Decision Making*:

- Eastern: Parents often make key decisions for their children, even into their adult lives.

- Western: Children are encouraged to participate in decision-making processes, even from a young age.

7. *Risk and Failure*:

- Eastern: There can be a high aversion to risk and failure, with a focus on avoiding loss of face and maintaining honor.

- Western: Risk-taking is often encouraged as a part of learning, and failure can be seen as an opportunity for growth.

Western parenting expectations across the 1950s, 1980s, and 2020s.

1. **Discipline**:

- 1950s: Generally strict, with corporal punishment more accepted.

- 1980s: Moving towards less physical discipline, with time-outs becoming more common.

- 2020s: Emphasis on positive discipline, understanding child psychology, and avoiding physical punishment.

2. **Education**:

- 1950s: Education was more formal, with a strong focus on foundational skills and respect for authority.

- 1980s: Increasing emphasis on holistic education, including personal development and extracurricular activities.

- 2020s: Focus on technology literacy, critical thinking, and personalized learning paths; homeschooling and alternative education models gain popularity.

3. **Gender Roles**:

- 1950s: Traditional gender roles were predominant, influencing how children were raised and what was expected of them.

- 1980s: Beginning to challenge traditional gender roles, with more encouragement for girls to pursue careers and boys to express emotions.

- 2020s: Greater acceptance of diverse gender identities and roles, with emphasis on gender-neutral parenting.

4. **Technology and Media**:

- 1950s: Limited impact, with radio and early television being the main technologies.

- 1980s: Growing influence of television, video games, and early personal computers.

- 2020s: Digital natives; heavy influence of the internet, social media, smartphones, and varied digital platforms.

5. **Parental Involvement**:

- 1950s: More authoritative parenting with less involvement in children’s play and exploration.

- 1980s: Increasing parental involvement, with a shift towards more nurturing and supportive roles.

- 2020s: Very high involvement in all aspects of children’s lives, often termed as "helicopter" or "lawnmower" parenting.