In the last
essay we wrote, we touched on some of the hubris of President Trump’s
inaugural address. After reading Big
Tech leader Marc Andreessen’s ‘The Techno-Optimist
Manifesto’, it seems likely that he is a powerful force directing Trump’s
vision for the States (especially given the reports
of Andreessen meeting with Trump multiple times).
A quick comparison between
the inaugural address and the Manifesto shows some striking similarities:
Trump:
So, as we liberate our nation, we will lead it to new heights
of victory and success. We will not be deterred. . . . The United States will
once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth,
expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries
our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our manifest
destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and
Stripes on the planet Mars.
Andreessen:
Techno-Optimists believe that societies, like sharks, grow or
die.
We believe growth is progress – leading to vitality, expansion
of life, increasing knowledge, higher well being.
We believe we are poised for an intelligence takeoff that will
expand our capabilities to unimagined heights.
We believe the global population can quite easily expand to 50
billion people or more, and then far beyond that as we ultimately settle other
planets.
We believe the ultimate mission of technology is to advance
life both on Earth and in the stars.
Trump:
And it’s the lifeblood of a great nation. And, right now, our
nation is more ambitious than any other. There’s no nation like our nation.
Americans are explorers, builders, innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers. The
spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great
adventure resounds from within our souls. Our American ancestors turned a small
group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the
most extraordinary citizens on Earth. No one comes close. Americans pushed
thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness. They crossed
deserts, scaled mountains, braved untold dangers, won the Wild West, ended
slavery, rescued millions from tyranny, lifted millions from poverty, harnessed
electricity, split the atom, launched mankind into the heavens and put the
universe of human knowledge into the palm of the human hand. If we work
together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve.
Andreessen:
Economists measure technological progress as productivity
growth: How much more we can produce each year with fewer inputs, fewer raw
materials. Productivity growth, powered by technology, is the main driver of
economic growth, wage growth, and the creation of new industries and new jobs,
as people and capital are continuously freed to do more important, valuable
things than in the past. Productivity growth causes prices to fall, supply to
rise, and demand to expand, improving the material well being of the entire
population.
We believe this is the story of the material development of
our civilization; this is why we are not still living in mud huts, eking out a
meager survival and waiting for nature to kill us.
We believe this is why our descendents will live in the stars.
We believe that there is no material problem – whether created
by nature or by technology – that cannot be solved with more technology.
Give us a real world problem, and we can invent technology
that will solve it.
We believe that out of all of these people will come
scientists, technologists, artists, and visionaries beyond our wildest dreams.
This is unsettling. Mr Andreessen makes numerous statements in
his Manifesto that are anti-Christian, yet he has the ear of the president. First is his view of religion, which he views
negatively in contrast to the free market, etc.:
We believe the ultimate moral defense of markets is that they
divert people who otherwise would raise armies and start religions into
peacefully productive pursuits.
The universalism of the
Orthodox Church, where all humanity becomes one in Christ Jesus, where all
divisions are transcended (Galatians 3:28), is transferred to his preferred
community, the ‘church’ of technology:
We believe technology is universalist. Technology doesn’t care
about your ethnicity, race, religion, national origin, gender, sexuality,
political views, height, weight, hair or lack thereof. Technology is built by a
virtual United Nations of talent from all over the world. Anyone with a
positive attitude and a cheap laptop can contribute. Technology is the ultimate
open society.
Then we have overt occult
references, made with positive connotations:
. . .
The rest is at https://orthodoxreflections.com/saint-brigid-vs-the-tech-bros/.
--
Holy
Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema
to the Union!