[cmilton]

>Because the results of the last few decades of tech optimism have been so utterly dismal?

Can you expound upon this a bit? In my view, we have witnessed astonishing progress in tech over the last few decades.

>neo lib deregulation dream

What is your dream?

[ttjjtt]

I meant to specify social results. Innovation is valuable only in so far as it raises the well-being of society as a whole. All the critical measures of this are going in the wrong direction.

Technological advancement might be astonishingly fast but that gives no indication of its value.

10-15 years ago used I knew a good few tech optimists, including myself & would regularly encounter more. Now, I don’t know one, and it’s odd to encounter one. The mood has shifted. VC fuelled platform capitalism has now unfolded.

From earlier today: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35901537

Everyone’s deepest dream is an ever kinder society where everyone can thrive. It just gets distorted by short term incentives of power. Hence regulation.

[cmilton]

I believe that tech has helped solve food shortages across the world in recent decades. Tech has cured disease. Even recently it helped to develop a vaccine at record speed. Tech has provided internet connectivity for the most remote parts of the world.

That gives me optimism.