Technology as Savior
The Techno-Optimist Manifest preaches the gospel of redemption by innovation
Lies.
Truth.
The Meaning of Life.
The Enemy.
Patron Saints.
At first glance, these may seem like the topics from a “What We Believe” section of a particularly conspiracy-prone church. However, these are just a selection of headers from the recently published “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto.”
This manifesto is not just the ramblings of an obscure over-zealous blogger, but rather, it is now being promoted as the guiding philosophy of billionaire Marc Andreessen. Released just this past week, the proclamation currently takes up the entire homepage of the Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z) website. For those unfamiliar, a16z represents one of the biggest venture capital firms in the game, with over “$35B in assets in management across multiple funds.” Techno-optimism is not new or original to Andreessen. It has been a favorite defense and inspiration of the Silicon Valley set for decades to justify scale and innovation at any cost.
I have long been intrigued by how Silicon Valley positions tech as a salvific force. I figured it would be an eventual topic of this very newsletter if I scrounged together enough compelling examples.
Then, like manna from heaven, “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” descends onto the desert of my Twitter/X timeline. So, Marc, I’d like to thank you for making my entire point so explicit that you have essentially done my work for me.
As many suspicious declarations do, the manifesto begins with the statement, “We are being lied to.” The general rhetorical flow stems from the premise that we are being lied to about the potential harms of technology and taught to be afraid of progress. This, Andreessen claims, is the core problem with the world and we must conquer this pessimism and fear and instead embrace a radically positive outlook on technology’s potential. Now, although he states this is a “material philosophy” and not a “political” one, the entire statement clearly brings a very particular political mindset to the table. He laments that things like “social responsibility” and “tech ethics” are part of a tragic “demoralization campaign” that has been “derived from Communism.” He also names some enemies including but not limited to “socialism” and the “ivory tower, the know-it-all credentialed expert worldview” and he states Universal Basic Income would turn people into “zoo animals.” There is much to say about his insular, narrow perspective and just how politically charged it actually is, but for now, I’ll leave that angle to other writers.
Throughout, the manifesto is dripping in religious rhetoric. The phrase “we believe” is used 113 times to instill collective faith in everything from the power of “free markets” to “material abundance.” Below are some of the religious tropes permeating this attempt to codify a belief system around technology as the savior of humankind.
Depiction of a Cosmic Battleground
“We believe in adventure. Undertaking the Hero’s Journey, rebelling against the status quo, mapping uncharted territory, conquering dragons, and bringing home the spoils for our community.”
“We believe Artificial Intelligence is our alchemy, our Philosopher’s Stone – we are literally making sand think.”
“We believe that we are, have been, and will always be the masters of technology, not mastered by technology…We are not victims, we are conquerors.”
“We believe in nature, but we also believe in overcoming nature. We are not primitives, cowering in fear of the lightning bolt. We are the apex predator; the lightning works for us.”
“We believe any deceleration of AI will cost lives. Deaths that were preventable by the AI that was prevented from existing is a form of murder.”
Mystical language permeates this manifesto to lend a feeling of heroic, mythic importance to the belief system. This repetition of being “conquerers” facing a dark, unruly world echoes what evangelicals often call “spiritual warfare.” In the cosmology defended here, unblinking, rapid advancement of AI is not a selfish, profit-motivated move, but rather part of a heroic battle. Within this lofty framing, techno-optimism is elevated to an organizing worldview about the purpose of life, rather than just a general perspective on tech’s potential.
Manifest Destiny, Space Edition
“We believe the ultimate mission of technology is to advance life both on Earth and in the stars.”
“We believe that while the physical frontier, at least here on Earth, is closed, the technological frontier is wide open.”
“We believe this is why our descendents will live in the stars.”
That’s it y’all. The show is over. Pack up your things. The physical frontier is closed and only the descendents of Techno-Optimists will survive as colonizers of the stars. The manifesto has clear sights on the celestial realm as a solution to earthly problems. As Dr. Mary-Jane Rubenstein argues in her book Astrotopia, tech billionaires (like Bezos, Musk, and now clearly Andreessen) are repurposing old “promised land” myths from centuries of religiously framed European colonialism to make a case for conquering space as quickly as possible.
Insisting on Converting the Lost
“We will explain to people captured by these zombie ideas that their fears are unwarranted and the future is bright.
We believe these captured people are suffering from ressentiment – a witches’ brew of resentment, bitterness, and rage that is causing them to hold mistaken values, values that are damaging to both themselves and the people they care about.
We believe we must help them find their way out of their self-imposed labyrinth of pain.”
You can almost feel the fire and brimstone in this passage. I like to imagine him delivering this like a sweaty Pentecostal televangelist, but at a conference table instead of a pulpit. The argument here is that those who don’t embrace techno-optimism are akin to zombies and witches trapped in an underground labyrinth. These lost souls are in desperate need of committed techno-optimists to evangelize to them and free them from pain. Only conversion can rescue them from damaging “mistaken values.” Techno-optimism is the one true way to salvation. Patronizing and grandiose, this argument follows a well-established approach to evangelism that suggests any divergent beliefs are not only wrong but also shrouded in darkness and evil.
Technology as Savior of Humankind
“We believe the techno-capital machine is not anti-human – in fact, it may be the most pro-human thing there is.”
“We believe technology is liberatory. Liberatory of human potential. Liberatory of the human soul, the human spirit. Expanding what it can mean to be free, to be fulfilled, to be alive.
“We believe technology opens the space of what it can mean to be human.”
As the above quotes demonstrate, Andreessen believes that techno-optimism does not only operate on the level of physical, digital, or electronic advancement, it operates on the level of our very souls. To him, it is a movement of spiritual liberation that has the power to fundamentally change what it means to be human. At another point in the manifesto, he even states that it represents the “best fallen humanity can do.”
This religious rhetoric attempts to distract from the fundamental purpose of the VC fund (to make lots of money by advancing tech at any cost) and twist it into a zealous belief system that claims moral superiority. It demonizes those with valid concerns about what certain technology can do to people and the planet. In this worldview, it is technology (and those who fund it and create it) that will save our souls—anything else is a distraction.
Preaching to the Comment Section Choir
Although some techno-optimists disavow Andreeseen’s specific take on the viewpoint, at the end of the day, the fund embodying this worldview is currently in charge of over 35 billion dollars and the enthusiastic replies to Andreessen on Twitter/X are still wonders to behold. But here is my favorite response from a reader of the manifesto:
Getting a statement of belief to be absorbed by the masses through parables or allegorical narratives? Sounds like this guy is pitching a new Bible. Let’s get him on Shark Tank.
With love and a “witches’ brew of resentment,”
Sara
P.S. I also rediscovered that for some reason, Marc Andreessen has been following me on Twitter since 2017. I DMed him just in case he will respond.
Thought provoking. One thing to add. The religion only knows evil and seeks to overcome it or avoid it. To the question why is this future good, they can only explain how its limiting or overcoming whats naively taken to be evil.