Spotting and Debunking Tech Propaganda

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billionairism

Tech Propaganda: An Introduction to Critical Thinking in Technology

1. FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

  • Definition: Rushing to adopt new technologies without clear benefits
  • Examples:
    • Implementing GenAI without clear ROI just because competitors are doing it
    • Skill development driven by fear of obsolescence
    • VCs worried about missing the next big thing

2. Naive Utopianism

  • Definition: Assuming all technology is inherently good
  • Examples:
    • Believing more smartphone scrolling is always better
    • Expecting social media to lead to world peace
    • Promoting UBI or crypto as universal solutions
    • Assuming AI can completely replace teachers

3. Disruption and Technological Solutionism

  • Definition: Ignoring negative consequences of tech solutions
  • Key point: Tendency to overlook negative externalities

4. “Selling Two Day Old Fish”

  • Definition: Resisting improvements to maintain profitable but outdated products/services
  • Examples:
    • Exaggerating job market demand for outdated skills
    • Appealing to authority (big tech companies)
    • Dismissing newer technologies as unnecessary or overly complex
    • Claiming established technologies aren’t actually old/slow

5. Superficial Media

  • Definition: Promoting shallow or misleading information about technology
  • Examples:
    • Media monetizing via supplements
    • Conspiracy theory forums
    • Inexperienced podcast hosts discussing complex topics
    • Making sensational predictions about future tech with little evidence
    • Oversimplifying complex topics

6. Push to Disrupt

  • Definition: Overconfidence in technology’s ability to solve complex problems
  • Examples:
    • “Figure out the business model later” mentality
    • Pushing products to market prematurely
    • Ignoring negative externalities
    • Dismissing critics as “not understanding the vision”

7. Billionairism

  • Definition: Excessive admiration of tech billionaires and their perceived expertise
  • Examples:
    • Equating extreme wealth with universal expertise
    • Idolizing tech billionaires as infallible visionaries
    • Romanticizing the “Harvard/Stanford dropout genius” narrative
    • Ignoring the role of luck vs. skill
    • Overemphasizing individual genius over team efforts

8. Irrational Exceptionalism

  • Definition: Unrealistic beliefs about a startup’s chances of success
  • Examples:
    • “We’re different from other startups that fail”
    • “Weekends are a social construct”
    • Obsession with “changing the world”
    • Rationalizing present hardships for imagined future gains
    • Dismissing industry-wide failure rates
    • Glorifying extreme effort and sacrifice

9. Double Down

  • Definition: Making increasingly grand claims to distract from unfulfilled promises
  • Examples:
    • Promising self-driving cars “next year”, then pivoting to Mars travel
    • Deflecting from current AI model flaws with promises of future sentience

10. Trojan Source

  • Definition: Open source projects that later switch to commercial licensing
  • Examples:
    • “Rug pull” strategy in open source
    • Using community labor before pivoting to commercial model

11. “Generous Pour” Ethical Framing

  • Definition: Highlighting easy ethical actions while ignoring larger issues
  • Examples:
    • Claiming unbiased AI training sets while hiding addictive design
    • Emphasizing harm reduction in AI outputs while ignoring IP theft

12. Business Model Circular Logic

  • Definition: Exploiting legal grey areas and claiming they’re essential to the business model
  • Examples:
    • Justifying use of pirated data for AI training
    • Creating unfair competition by ignoring regulations (e.g., taxi services, hotels)

Reference

propaganda genai venture capital tech critical thinking

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