e.w. niedermeyer: You know you're gonna see some weird shit when you peer through the fences surrounding the Balaji Srinivasin Brain Worms Preserve, and yet somehow I'm still genuinely shocked every time

You know you're gonna see some weird shit when you peer through the fences surrounding the Balaji Srinivasin Brain Worms Preserve, and yet somehow I'm still genuinely shocked every time

Cool Gray City of Tech Authoritarians: Balaji's dark vision for San Franciscowww.parallelmirror.com Maybe you can literally have like the sovereign city of San Francisco and secede effectively ... if you have total control of the city ... maybe it's possible. – B.S. The Point: Like some mustache-tw...

I usually feel pretty inured to tech-brain hot takes just through ambient exposure, but then I see Balaji talking about a totalitarian takeover of San Francisco in which "Gray Tribe" secessionists pay off the police and create exclusion zones for people who are insufficiently "pro tech" and like

My favorite part is that he thinks Musk's takeover of Twitter is a good parallel to what he is trying to achieve. Like, who cares that it's been an unmitigated and utterly foreseeable disaster, the important thing is that we owned the libs! Imagine how owned they'll be if make the Torment Nexus!

“He took away the Blue Checks!” Funny thing to bring up when Musk is foisting Blur Checks on the former “elect”

Has this whole Y-Combinator/Andreessen Horowitz crowd always been this loonie, or did it take them a while to become flexible enough to shove their heads up their own asses like this?

Also I love “let’s call him BS for short.”

wonder what he thinks of yesterdays’ blue check change… “checkmate libs!”

It reads like the script for a low-budget cyberpunk movie from 1992, in which Jean-Claude Van Damme shows the Grays where they went wrong by kicking them in the face. 😀

Totally. All the moral and political nuance (not to mention self-awareness) of an 80s action film villain.

"He's a heterodox thinker with bold ideas about humanity's future and big game hunting"

The thing is, none of these people have any relevant tech qualifications or experience. Musk is notorious for not having an engineering degree and his programming chops are basically Visual Basic circa 1995. The people who are really into tech spend their time debunking all this faux tech shit.

For sure, "tech as affinity group" vs you know, having actual technical expertise.

they'd just end up serving the small cadre of super facist cops they installed, their lives would be non stop wedgies and watching 1000/hr police play on their phones all day

atlas shrugged for those who don't microdose well

and Balaji's scheme has been publicly endorsed by Garry Tan, who's on the board of GrowSF, one of the most prominent backers of our current mayor. This can't be written off.

This literally happened in Star Trek. In 2024!

I was promised a second transbay tube.

If they’re going to do the fascist dystopia they should have to do the trains, too.

I feel like this guy’s properties should be placed in conservatorship and anyone who reads this with any reaction other than the Selina Meyer “What the fuck” meme should go on some sort of watchlist.

Never heard of him, found his Wikipedia, know everything about him.

What I'm seeing is a rich tech guy authoritarian who wants a caste system to keep all the little people out of his way. Explain to me which tech bros aren't total sociopaths, because I don't see a single one.

The fact that his initials are BS seems… appropriate.

That was a nice touch by the author

Jfc revolting At least this dolt comes out amd says that is about capturing MORE wealth (specifically, the public wealth) than they have yet devised ways to steal

Crom's balls, that was weird...does this Tan guy have an actual shot at political power?

Over at that place, @Emily_sf has been absolutely on him. He thinks he does - and he and his accelerationist collaborators believe SF (and Forever California) are their beachhead.

Emily Mills on X: "What does he want to take over the whole nation with? His effective accelerationist flavored Network State ideology based on fear. https://t.co/Dt6MAcyxbt" / Xx.com What does he want to take over the whole nation with? His effective accelerationist flavored Network State ideology based on fear. https://t.co/Dt6MAcyxbt

[FWIW these techbro fash have deep links with the YIMBY extremists pushing destruction of displacement of extat housing for replacement with far more expensive market rate housing: "social cleansing" wrapped in a false promise of solving housing affordability. SF is their Ground Zero for this.]

Emily Mills on X: "Here’s more info if you’re new to the Network State:" / Xx.com Here’s more info if you’re new to the Network State:

"The New Republic published Michael Friedrich’s “The Case Against Yimbyism.” Friedrich homes in on “the policy that unites Yimbys,” upzoning—permitting increased heights and densities. Moreover, “[Yimbys] are…explicit that deregulation won’t help those at the bottom of the market.” "

The Yimbys think they rule—but there are some serious signs to the contrary - 48 hills48hills.org The case against the case against

"Referencing Cameron Murray’s deconstruction of “the Auckland myth,” Kevin Erdmann’s debunking of “the Minneapolis miracle,” and a 2023 study from the Urban Institute, Friedrich argues that “the evidence is weak” that upzoning will lower housing costs and generate housing production."

Vancouver BC has seen a huge increase in housing supply. Prices exploded: the Vancouver Model [see @scoopercooper at that place] is the global model for money laundering via real estate. UBC Prof Patrick Condon documents how increased density (RE funded YIMBY's "solution") only explodes land costs.

Patrick Condon on X: "Its to weep. The problem is not the price of the building. The problem is the ever inflating price of urban land. Opinion: Flawed Broadway Plan prioritizes density—not affordability https://t.co/HG99xUhXVD via @BIVnews" / Xx.com Its to weep. The problem is not the price of the building. The problem is the ever inflating price of urban land. Opinion: Flawed Broadway Plan prioritizes density—not affordability https://t.co/HG99xUhXVD via @BIVnews

Also Balaji: who needs media training?

I hear the wi-fi in prison is better than it used to be, so BS will be able to use his prison-issued tablet to engage in "video visits" with... I'm not sure who would want to visit him, but he'll figure it out.. anyway, only $10/minute.

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