On the narrative of 'tech geniuses' I remember an off the record comment from a Palantir exec who said he loves every article that presents the company as an ev

On the narrative of 'tech geniuses' I remember an off the record comment from a Palantir exec who said he loves every article that presents the company as an evil bond villain, because at least it makes them seem too powerful too regulate. It's much better than being looked at as a banal industry giant. That kind of strategy seems to be prevalent in the industry now, and it also explains the seemingly contradictory attitude of AI company execs to drone on about the world ending. Acting like a larger than life genius conjuring up an existential crisis disempowers the public and gets attention away from talking about labor or IP rights or stuff that actually matters. Doctorow hits an important point here. Rather than creating panic about tech the first thing that needs to go away is this historically false exceptionalism. It also reminds me of Yuval Noah Harari, who expressed surprise that tech companies still invite him, despite his criticism. But given that he elevates tech companies to demigod status and strokes their egos, it just makes sense. Whether they're evil or not, they don't care.