The “wanting to distance oneself” is an extremely pragmatic reaction: if you believe similar arguments need to be made, you have a legitimate interest in putting forth good versions of those arguments.
I’m not really sure what the purpose of publishing something like this is. It doesn’t really seem intended to convince anyone of anything? Is the controversy the point? Galvanizing some “base?”
> I’m not really sure what the purpose of publishing something like this is. It doesn’t really seem intended to convince anyone of anything? Is the controversy the point? Galvanizing some “base?”
The only thing that makes sense to me (other than he simply is that out of touch) is that he's actually trying to recruit followers to a new religion and so he actively wants to attract people with poor critical thinking skills.
Re:The Techno-Optimist Manifesto
by tlarkworthy on Tuesday October 17, 2023 @01:25AM
(#37910940)
> I’m not really sure what the purpose of publishing something like this is
He wants crypto to be cool
Hearing himself talk
The manifesto comes from a guy whose business model for the past 3 years was grifting people into the NFT hype, so either he's just another conman selling a vision or a megalomaniac completely lacking self-awareness.
Re:The Techno-Optimist Manifesto
by seanhunter on Monday October 16, 2023 @11:59PM
(#37910442)
Why not both?
This feels a bit of an extreme reaction to me, I don't try and read into gotchas in writing and use them to "run away". Instead it makes me:
1. View the writing with skepticism
2. Try to understand what Andreessen thinks makes him not one of those ivory tower figures, because I certainly think of him as one.
2 seems the more insightful one to me, but certainly 1 qualifies how I view his writing.