> I've seen too many tech people who genuinely believe that their tech will save the world.
I briefly was like that too. All high on TED talks and startup economy propaganda. Then, over the years, I saw all those promises fail, and I saw how and why they failed, and what we got instead.
And even earlier than that, I learned how to craft this kind of bullshit myself - how far a good story can take your worthless university project, even if at no point in telling it you were actually lying.
(I may have also spent an unreasonable amount of time pondering why technology in the real world is so shitty compared to sci-fi settings, even dystopian ones.)
So it's true that not everyone is going to trying to scam you on purpose. Some are still naive enough to believe (I say that without passing bad judgement - it would be nice if things were so simple, but they just aren't). But some are absolutely out there to get you - the regular Joe, or the regular Joe & Jane Inc. Not because they hate you, or the society you live in, but because there is monetary value that can be extracted from you, which they can put to some other use.
And yes, there are also those messiahs you mention, the people insisting their stuff can save the day, "Only if people could see how, behave in 'the right way' etc.". They are a danger to regular people too, but for the entrepreneurial/investor class, they're useful fools. They're tools that can be employed very cheaply, because they already believe the bullshit they're selling.
One does not preclude another. More often than not I've seen that it's a money that causes messianism. You are lucky at some point of the time to hit jackpot with some company, it makes you a lot of money and it makes you feel smarter than other mortals and special. So special that you think you have the right to teach everyone else how to live their lives, how to think etc.
I briefly was like that too. All high on TED talks and startup economy propaganda. Then, over the years, I saw all those promises fail, and I saw how and why they failed, and what we got instead.
And even earlier than that, I learned how to craft this kind of bullshit myself - how far a good story can take your worthless university project, even if at no point in telling it you were actually lying.
(I may have also spent an unreasonable amount of time pondering why technology in the real world is so shitty compared to sci-fi settings, even dystopian ones.)
So it's true that not everyone is going to trying to scam you on purpose. Some are still naive enough to believe (I say that without passing bad judgement - it would be nice if things were so simple, but they just aren't). But some are absolutely out there to get you - the regular Joe, or the regular Joe & Jane Inc. Not because they hate you, or the society you live in, but because there is monetary value that can be extracted from you, which they can put to some other use.
And yes, there are also those messiahs you mention, the people insisting their stuff can save the day, "Only if people could see how, behave in 'the right way' etc.". They are a danger to regular people too, but for the entrepreneurial/investor class, they're useful fools. They're tools that can be employed very cheaply, because they already believe the bullshit they're selling.