Remember when Bill Gates became tech’s enemy number one? How about when Google was not going to be evil? How about when Steve Jobs convinced us that “it just w

Remember when Bill Gates became tech’s enemy number one? How about when Google was not going to be evil? How about when Steve Jobs convinced us that “it just works”? Or when Elon Musk was going to save the world? We want to blame these highly-capitalized cults of personality for our human cultish tendencies — often exacerbated by chatterers who are incentivized by media access to cult leaders (that lead to clicks and views). But the truth is most people are unwilling to make tradeoffs that favor principle over convenience & security. So it’s very hard to take them seriously when they cry for the Nanny State or the collective shaming mobs to bend the world to their will. Liberty and innovation become ossified when people defer moral action to some regulatory authority or mob collective.