The Dangerous Ideology of the Tech Elite

Paris Marx is joined by Phil Torres to discuss why longtermism isn’t just about long-term thinking, but provides a framework for Silicon Valley billionaires to justify ignoring the crises facing humanity so they can accumulate wealth and go after space colonization.

Phil Torres is a PhD candidate at Leibniz University Hannover and the author of the forthcoming book Human Extinction: A History of Thinking About the End of Humanity. Follow Phil on Twitter at @xriskology.

• Phil wrote about the dangers presented by longtermism and its relationship to Elon Musk.
• Paris wrote about Jeff Bezos’ vision of life in space and why Elon Musk is planning for climate catastrophe.
• Elon Musk was tweeting about birth rates again (he has some odd views on who should be having kids) and retweeted someone praising a paper by longtermist Nick Bostrom.
• After moving to Texas, its governor said Elon Musk liked the state’s “social policies” (in reference to abortion limitations) to little pushback, then Musk forced California employees to move to Texas. 

• Tech Media Needs to Do Better on Crypto and Elon Musk w/ Ed Zitron
• The Argument for Half-Earth Socialism w/ Drew Pendergrass & Troy Vettese
• We Can’t Allow Tech Solutions to Delay Climate Action w/ Molly Taft
• How Peter Thiel Wields His Power in Silicon Valley w/ Moira Weigel