For that reason, I prefer Chamath Palihapitiya's 2019 annual letter [1] over pmarca's essay. It's not merely descriptive of societal problems at large, but calls out actor and makes prescriptions. Two lines from the letter
> Governments can do a lot to make it more expensive for Big Tech to hoard human capital and allow this talent to flow more naturally to small businesses and startups so that they can more effectively compete and create vibrant ecosystems.
> The intellectual lobotomization of smart, young STEM talent has been an explicit strategy by Big Tech fueled by unseemly profitability and hi flying stock prices.
I think the reason why pmarca's essay is so tame in comparison, is that pmarca believes you can have the best of both worlds: high venture returns and non-tech societal progress that doesn't necessitate government.
This is excellent and I enjoyed it deeply. Thank you for linking it. I didn’t agree with everything but I especially liked his focus on friends, family, health, and being true with oneself over the opinion of others. This VC seems very respectable.
> Governments can do a lot to make it more expensive for Big Tech to hoard human capital and allow this talent to flow more naturally to small businesses and startups so that they can more effectively compete and create vibrant ecosystems.
> The intellectual lobotomization of smart, young STEM talent has been an explicit strategy by Big Tech fueled by unseemly profitability and hi flying stock prices.
I think the reason why pmarca's essay is so tame in comparison, is that pmarca believes you can have the best of both worlds: high venture returns and non-tech societal progress that doesn't necessitate government.
[1] https://www.socialcapital.com/annual-letters/2019