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The Tech Baron Seeking to "Ethnically Cleanse" San Francisco
https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrator
https://news.yahoo.com/tech/tech-baron-seeking-ethnically-cleanse-100000971.html
The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco
If Balaji Srinivasan is any guide, then the Silicon Valley plutocrats are definitely not okay.
Gil Duran
April 26, 2024
-snip-
“Balaji has the highest rate of output per minute of good new ideas of anybody I’ve ever met,” wrote Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the V.C. firm Andreessen-Horowitz, in a blurb for Balaji’s 2022 book, The Network State: How to Start a New Country. The book outlines a plan for tech plutocrats to exit democracy and establish new sovereign territories. I mentioned Balaji’s ideas in two previous stories about Network State–related efforts in California—a proposed tech colony called California Forever and the tech-funded campaign to capture San Francisco’s government.
-snip-
Simply put, there is a ton of fascist-chic cosplay involved. Once an officer joins the Grays, they get a special uniform designed by their tech overlords. The Grays will also donate heavily to police charities and “merge the Gray and police social networks.” Then, in a show of force, they’ll march through the city together.
-snip-
Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters he implies are responsible for the city’s problems. Blues will be banned from the Gray-controlled zones, said Balaji, unlike Republicans (“Reds”).
-snip-
Balaji goes on—and on. The Grays will rename city streets after tech figures and erect public monuments to memorialize the alleged horrors of progressive Democratic governance. Corporate logos and signs will fill the skyline to signify Gray dominance of the city. “Ethnically cleanse,” he said at one point, summing up his idea for a city purged of Blues (this, he says, will prevent Blues from ethnically cleansing the Grays first). The idea, he said, is to do to San Francisco what Musk did to Twitter.
-snip-
If Balaji Srinivasan is any guide, then the Silicon Valley plutocrats are definitely not okay.
Gil Duran
April 26, 2024
-snip-
“Balaji has the highest rate of output per minute of good new ideas of anybody I’ve ever met,” wrote Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the V.C. firm Andreessen-Horowitz, in a blurb for Balaji’s 2022 book, The Network State: How to Start a New Country. The book outlines a plan for tech plutocrats to exit democracy and establish new sovereign territories. I mentioned Balaji’s ideas in two previous stories about Network State–related efforts in California—a proposed tech colony called California Forever and the tech-funded campaign to capture San Francisco’s government.
-snip-
Simply put, there is a ton of fascist-chic cosplay involved. Once an officer joins the Grays, they get a special uniform designed by their tech overlords. The Grays will also donate heavily to police charities and “merge the Gray and police social networks.” Then, in a show of force, they’ll march through the city together.
-snip-
Everyone would be welcome at the Gray Pride march—everyone, that is, except the Blues. Srinivasan defines the Blue political tribe as the liberal voters he implies are responsible for the city’s problems. Blues will be banned from the Gray-controlled zones, said Balaji, unlike Republicans (“Reds”).
-snip-
Balaji goes on—and on. The Grays will rename city streets after tech figures and erect public monuments to memorialize the alleged horrors of progressive Democratic governance. Corporate logos and signs will fill the skyline to signify Gray dominance of the city. “Ethnically cleanse,” he said at one point, summing up his idea for a city purged of Blues (this, he says, will prevent Blues from ethnically cleansing the Grays first). The idea, he said, is to do to San Francisco what Musk did to Twitter.
-snip-
This madman has a million followers on Twitter. Podcasters Tim Ferris and Lex Fridman think highly of him. Alex Lieberman of the Morning Brew newsletter has a high opinion of him.
And he's particularly close to Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan.
If you're not familiar with Y Combinator, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Combinator .
Y Combinator Management, LLC (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm launched in March 2005[1] which has been used to launch more than 4,000 companies.[2] The accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, expanded to San Francisco in 2019, and was entirely online during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] Companies started via Y Combinator include Airbnb, Coinbase, Cruise, DoorDash, Dropbox, Instacart, Reddit, Stripe, and Twitch.[4]
-snip-
Sam Altman took part in Y Combinator's inaugural cohort in 2005 as a founder.[16] In 2014, Paul Graham appointed him as President.[17]
-snip-
Global outreach became evident in 2016 as YC partners embarked on visits to 11 countries (Nigeria, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Israel, and India) to engage with founders and learn about international startup communities.[21] That summer, Altman returned to Y Combinator as a founder and worked on OpenAI.[22]
-snip-
In January 2023, Garry Tan assumed the positions of president and CEO, succeeding Geoff Ralston.[34][35][36] Tan's leadership marked the discontinuation of the YC Continuity growth fund.[37] YC moved its headquarters from Mountain View to San Francisco in the spring of 2023.[38]
-snip-
Sam Altman took part in Y Combinator's inaugural cohort in 2005 as a founder.[16] In 2014, Paul Graham appointed him as President.[17]
-snip-
Global outreach became evident in 2016 as YC partners embarked on visits to 11 countries (Nigeria, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Israel, and India) to engage with founders and learn about international startup communities.[21] That summer, Altman returned to Y Combinator as a founder and worked on OpenAI.[22]
-snip-
In January 2023, Garry Tan assumed the positions of president and CEO, succeeding Geoff Ralston.[34][35][36] Tan's leadership marked the discontinuation of the YC Continuity growth fund.[37] YC moved its headquarters from Mountain View to San Francisco in the spring of 2023.[38]
In 2022, Garry Tan tweeted, "I legit believe YC is a prototype model for what @balajis talks about when he says the Network State."
Link to tweet
Both Balaji and Tan hate the "legacy media" - a term Musk is fond of - and applaud what Musk has done with Twitter as supposedly alternate media.
9 replies
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Balaji Srinivasan speaks during the Singapore Fintech Festival in 2022.
Garry Tan, president, chief executive officer of Y Combinator, during an interview on an episode of "The Circuit" at Y Combinator offices in Mountain View, California.
This is bananas.
I’m so glad I got to live in San Francisco back when rents were affordable and it hadn’t yet been tech-bro-ed into misery.
Like any other fascist would say?
