Tech Billionaire Brains and Crypto Politics
“This is an extremist ideological movement that sees democracy as outdated, and it’s amazing how much they talk about it.”
That’s one of my quotes from a recent Rolling Stone piece by Alex Morris headlined “What You’ve Suspected is True: The Billionaires Are Not Like Us.”
Click below to read (paywall is possible but someone will probably put a free link in the comments):
Morris’s commentary examines how extreme wealth fundamentally alters brain function and behavior.
Spoiler Alert: Research shows that billionaires become less empathetic, more narcissistic, and increasingly disconnected from reality as their wealth grows.
This is crucial to understand at a moment when tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and others have used their fortunes to essentially capture American government institutions — all while pursuing grandiose sci-fi fantasies like Mars colonization, eternal life and AI superintelligence, rather than addressing pressing earthbound problems they might actually solve.
Morris also quotes Dartmouth Prof. Brooke Harrington and astrophysicist Adam Becker — two recents guests of the Nerd Reich podcast.
By the way: Our podcast episode with Adam Becker is headed toward 90,000 views. It really struck a nerve! Also: The Nerd Reich YouTube channel now has 12,000 subscribers — making it even bigger than the Nerd Reich newsletter. Please make sure to subscribe for exclusive features like video shorts, etc.
Questions About Crypto?
With the crypto industry poised to get a big win with the Evil Genius Act in Congress, it’s time for a deeper look at crypto politics. On Thursday, I will interview two experts on the subject: Dave Troy of America 2.0 and Molly White of Citation Needed.
We would love to hear listener questions! Put them in the comments below or drop me a line at g (at) gilduran.com.
Back in 2022, Troy wrote this analysis of how crypto politics mirror right-wing political movements of the past:
Last week, White wrote this analysis of the Evil Genius Act, which passed the U.S. Senate with support from 18 Democrats. From Citation Needed:
The 68–30 vote followed shortly after Lever News published leaked messages from a secret group chat of Democratic strategists and cryptocurrency industry advocates, where the political operatives opined that Democratic Congresspeople could “not afford to alienate a very vocal and wealthy group of donors” by opposing the bill. One such donor, Avichal Garg from Electric Capital, was very explicit: “If Dems bail on this [bill], they will get 0 dollars going forward.”
Read White’s full piece here:
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