https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/
"
Techno-optimism is the belief that rapid technological progress is the main driver of human prosperity and should be pursued as a moral imperative. It argues that:
Growth = Good: Innovation creates abundance, longer lives, and better living standards.
Barriers = Bad: Regulation, caution, and pessimism slow down progress and should be resisted.
Technology as Solution: Challenges like poverty, disease, and climate change are best solved by accelerating science and technology rather than restricting them.
In short: Techno-optimism sees faster innovation as the surest path to human flourishing — and treats resistance to technological progress as harmful.
"
Here’s a structured overview of the major schools of economic thought, mapped across time, followed by an estimate of which views dominate public and policy thinking today.
📜 Timeline of Major Economic Schools
1. Mercantilism (1500s–1700s)
Core idea: National wealth measured by gold/silver; exports > imports; heavy state control.
Influence: Guided colonial empires, trade monopolies, and tariffs.
2. Classical Economics (1776–1870)
Key figures: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill.
Core idea: Free markets, division of labour, “invisible hand”; emphasis on production and growth.
Impact: Industrial Revolution policy, laissez-faire capitalism.
3. Marxism & Socialist Economics (mid-1800s–present)
Key figure: Karl Marx.
Core idea: Critique of capitalism, labour theory of value, class struggle, state ownership.
Impact: Inspired communist revolutions, socialist policies, labour movements.
4. Marginalism & Neoclassical Economics (1870s–present)
Key figures: Jevons, Walras, Marshall.
Core idea: Value determined by marginal utility; equilibrium analysis; rational individuals.
Impact: Foundation of modern mainstream economics, microeconomics.
5. Keynesian Economics (1930s–present)
Key figure: John Maynard Keynes.
Core idea: Markets can fail (esp. in depressions); governments should manage demand using fiscal & monetary policy.
Impact: Guided post–WWII Western economies, welfare state expansion.
6. Monetarism & Chicago School (1950s–1980s)
Key figure: Milton Friedman.
Core idea: Control money supply to manage inflation; limit government intervention.
Impact: Reaganomics, Thatcherism, central bank independence.
7. Austrian School (late 1800s–present, revived 1970s)
Key figures: Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek.
Core idea: Importance of entrepreneurship, spontaneous order, critique of central planning.
Impact: Free-market think tanks, libertarian movements.
8. Development Economics (1940s–present)
Core idea: Structural transformation, role of institutions, tackling poverty in Global South.
Impact: World Bank, UN development policy, debates on aid.
9. New Keynesian & New Classical Synthesis (1980s–present)
Core idea: Rational expectations (New Classical) + sticky wages/prices (New Keynesian).
Impact: Dominant academic framework; forms the basis of central bank models today.
10. Modern Schools (1990s–present)
Behavioural Economics: Psychology meets economics (Kahneman, Thaler).
Post-Keynesian / MMT (Modern Monetary Theory): Governments with sovereign currencies can run large deficits to ensure employment.
Ecological Economics: Sustainability, climate change, “beyond GDP”.
Techno-Optimist / Data-driven Economics: Big data, market design, platform economies.
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https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/
"
Techno-optimism is the belief that rapid technological progress is the main driver of human prosperity and should be pursued as a moral imperative. It argues that:
Growth = Good: Innovation creates abundance, longer lives, and better living standards.
Barriers = Bad: Regulation, caution, and pessimism slow down progress and should be resisted.
Technology as Solution: Challenges like poverty, disease, and climate change are best solved by accelerating science and technology rather than restricting them.
In short: Techno-optimism sees faster innovation as the surest path to human flourishing — and treats resistance to technological progress as harmful.
"
Here’s a structured overview of the major schools of economic thought, mapped across time, followed by an estimate of which views dominate public and policy thinking today.
📜 Timeline of Major Economic Schools
1. Mercantilism (1500s–1700s)
Core idea: National wealth measured by gold/silver; exports > imports; heavy state control.
Influence: Guided colonial empires, trade monopolies, and tariffs.
2. Classical Economics (1776–1870)
Key figures: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill.
Core idea: Free markets, division of labour, “invisible hand”; emphasis on production and growth.
Impact: Industrial Revolution policy, laissez-faire capitalism.
3. Marxism & Socialist Economics (mid-1800s–present)
Key figure: Karl Marx.
Core idea: Critique of capitalism, labour theory of value, class struggle, state ownership.
Impact: Inspired communist revolutions, socialist policies, labour movements.
4. Marginalism & Neoclassical Economics (1870s–present)
Key figures: Jevons, Walras, Marshall.
Core idea: Value determined by marginal utility; equilibrium analysis; rational individuals.
Impact: Foundation of modern mainstream economics, microeconomics.
5. Keynesian Economics (1930s–present)
Key figure: John Maynard Keynes.
Core idea: Markets can fail (esp. in depressions); governments should manage demand using fiscal & monetary policy.
Impact: Guided post–WWII Western economies, welfare state expansion.
6. Monetarism & Chicago School (1950s–1980s)
Key figure: Milton Friedman.
Core idea: Control money supply to manage inflation; limit government intervention.
Impact: Reaganomics, Thatcherism, central bank independence.
7. Austrian School (late 1800s–present, revived 1970s)
Key figures: Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek.
Core idea: Importance of entrepreneurship, spontaneous order, critique of central planning.
Impact: Free-market think tanks, libertarian movements.
8. Development Economics (1940s–present)
Core idea: Structural transformation, role of institutions, tackling poverty in Global South.
Impact: World Bank, UN development policy, debates on aid.
9. New Keynesian & New Classical Synthesis (1980s–present)
Core idea: Rational expectations (New Classical) + sticky wages/prices (New Keynesian).
Impact: Dominant academic framework; forms the basis of central bank models today.
10. Modern Schools (1990s–present)
Behavioural Economics: Psychology meets economics (Kahneman, Thaler).
Post-Keynesian / MMT (Modern Monetary Theory): Governments with sovereign currencies can run large deficits to ensure employment.
Ecological Economics: Sustainability, climate change, “beyond GDP”.
Techno-Optimist / Data-driven Economics: Big data, market design, platform economies.
90. Is excess empathy a big problem? Mentioning Jon Haight, Nassim Taleb, Sam Altman & more
Cloud Streaks
59 minutes 55 seconds
4 months ago
90. Is excess empathy a big problem? Mentioning Jon Haight, Nassim Taleb, Sam Altman & more
Jon Haidt three great untruths:
(1) “What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker”; (2) “Always trust your feelings”; and (3) “Life is a battle between good people and evil people.”
Possible opposites for the three untruths:
(1) “What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker” => What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Or post traumatic growth.
(2) “Always trust your feelings” => Your feelings are signals that you should always listen to, but not your boss that you must obey.
(3) “Life is a battle between good people and evil people.” => This is zero sum fallacy. The world is mainly positive sum, where people work together to get a better outcome.
Stephen Fry:
- They'd rather be right then effective.
Sam Altman:
- I believe in techno-capitalism. We should encourage people to make tons of money and then also find ways to widely distribute wealth and share the compounding magic of capitalism. One doesn’t work without the other; you cannot raise the floor and not also raise the ceiling for very long.
The world should get richer every year through science and technology, but everyone has to be in the “up elevator”. I think the government usually does a worse job than markets, and so we need to encourage our culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. I also believe that education is critically important to keeping the American edge.
I believed this when I was 20, when I was 30, and now I am 40 and still believe it. The Democratic party seemed reasonably aligned with it when I was 20, losing the plot when I was 30, and completely to have moved somewhere else at this point. So now I am politically homeless. But that’s fine; I care much, much more about being American than any political party.
I’d rather hear from candidates about how they are going to make everyone have the stuff billionaires have instead of how they are going to eliminate billionaires.
Cloud Streaks
https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/
"
Techno-optimism is the belief that rapid technological progress is the main driver of human prosperity and should be pursued as a moral imperative. It argues that:
Growth = Good: Innovation creates abundance, longer lives, and better living standards.
Barriers = Bad: Regulation, caution, and pessimism slow down progress and should be resisted.
Technology as Solution: Challenges like poverty, disease, and climate change are best solved by accelerating science and technology rather than restricting them.
In short: Techno-optimism sees faster innovation as the surest path to human flourishing — and treats resistance to technological progress as harmful.
"
Here’s a structured overview of the major schools of economic thought, mapped across time, followed by an estimate of which views dominate public and policy thinking today.
📜 Timeline of Major Economic Schools
1. Mercantilism (1500s–1700s)
Core idea: National wealth measured by gold/silver; exports > imports; heavy state control.
Influence: Guided colonial empires, trade monopolies, and tariffs.
2. Classical Economics (1776–1870)
Key figures: Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill.
Core idea: Free markets, division of labour, “invisible hand”; emphasis on production and growth.
Impact: Industrial Revolution policy, laissez-faire capitalism.
3. Marxism & Socialist Economics (mid-1800s–present)
Key figure: Karl Marx.
Core idea: Critique of capitalism, labour theory of value, class struggle, state ownership.
Impact: Inspired communist revolutions, socialist policies, labour movements.
4. Marginalism & Neoclassical Economics (1870s–present)
Key figures: Jevons, Walras, Marshall.
Core idea: Value determined by marginal utility; equilibrium analysis; rational individuals.
Impact: Foundation of modern mainstream economics, microeconomics.
5. Keynesian Economics (1930s–present)
Key figure: John Maynard Keynes.
Core idea: Markets can fail (esp. in depressions); governments should manage demand using fiscal & monetary policy.
Impact: Guided post–WWII Western economies, welfare state expansion.
6. Monetarism & Chicago School (1950s–1980s)
Key figure: Milton Friedman.
Core idea: Control money supply to manage inflation; limit government intervention.
Impact: Reaganomics, Thatcherism, central bank independence.
7. Austrian School (late 1800s–present, revived 1970s)
Key figures: Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek.
Core idea: Importance of entrepreneurship, spontaneous order, critique of central planning.
Impact: Free-market think tanks, libertarian movements.
8. Development Economics (1940s–present)
Core idea: Structural transformation, role of institutions, tackling poverty in Global South.
Impact: World Bank, UN development policy, debates on aid.
9. New Keynesian & New Classical Synthesis (1980s–present)
Core idea: Rational expectations (New Classical) + sticky wages/prices (New Keynesian).
Impact: Dominant academic framework; forms the basis of central bank models today.
10. Modern Schools (1990s–present)
Behavioural Economics: Psychology meets economics (Kahneman, Thaler).
Post-Keynesian / MMT (Modern Monetary Theory): Governments with sovereign currencies can run large deficits to ensure employment.
Ecological Economics: Sustainability, climate change, “beyond GDP”.
Techno-Optimist / Data-driven Economics: Big data, market design, platform economies.
