>That said, there seems to be a bizarre tendency to give 'technologists' a free pass on ideas and actions that are quite obviously negative for free society and

>That said, there seems to be a bizarre tendency to give 'technologists' a free pass on ideas and actions that are quite obviously negative for free society and human rights. I think tech billionaires occupy the position of the "new, cool rich". I don't know if it's our (Western? US?) culture or humanity in general that likes seeing underdogs (or, more often, people who can paint themselves as underdogs successfully) win, but there seems to be a long history of the powerful becoming out of touch and against the interests of the many (Either by ignorance, indifference, or very occasionally deliberate malice), new powerful people emerging (Sometimes but not always replacing the old powerful people), and people thinking of them as heroes who "made it" for a while before they've been around long enough that it's clear they've become out of touch and against the interests of the many, if they weren't in the first place. The free pass is the sheen of new power, rather than entrenched power, and it wears off quickly.