Tech Moguls Like Musk, Bezos or Zuckerberg Are Not Innovators

On the contrary Big Tech has completely destroyed the chance for true innovation

Nikolai Tesla source freepik

Many of us are confused. Why are Musk and his child soldiers allowed to trash critical federal institutions? Why is he allowed to (metaphorically) shit on people who’ve dedicated their lives to keep the USA running?

And what has his incel posse found in those once hallowed halls that justifies Musk's gleeful jeering about alleged waste and inefficiency? He’s not really telling anyone, is he?

Online, there are heated discussions about whether or not it is safe to give Musk access to all your private data and/or finances.

His fan club of cellar dwellers thinks it's safe because, duh, “Musk has enough money and has no interest in stealing yours” - as if Musk hasn’t made all his money doing just that on a grand scale. Their opponents try in vain to remind them that no one, absolutely no one, should be given such incredible power. Unless, of course, you want to live in a feudal society ruled by an all-powerful overlord.

The discussion is doomed, of course, because what Musk fans and all those who worship tech bros get wrong is that they confuse having made a lot of money with innovative genius.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

In reality, there is little to no connection between the two things. In truth, those who make the most money usually have the least interest in true innovation.

But they do have the most interest in money.

Big Tech Isn’t Interested in True Innovation

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to speak on a panel at the Vienna Innovation Conference. The topic was cybersecurity, but it immediately moved to AI, like all current tech discussions. ‘Cause why not? It is the new bully on the block.

The audience was allowed to ask questions, and one of them was whether we didn’t feel that all the EU data regulations were getting in the way of innovation.

All the other experts on the panel immediately jumped in to explain how data protection was an important topic for Europe and why regulation and data privacy are important.

I, on the other hand, said that I think we need to have a discussion as a society about what we believe innovation is. I’m convinced that data regulation isn’t getting in the way of innovation at all, but it does get in the way of making money for some people.

Sure, a society that feels that making as much money as possible in the shortest possible time might think that regulations are stifling “innovation.” But that society is not driven by innovation. All that money that is made doesn't advance humanity, nor do the tech tools that are pushed on the market make our lives better.

How many social media AI comment bots does the world need?

Silicon Valley Tech has made the world believe that money is the valuation of genius and innovation. They keep trying to find new “unicorns” that will make them rich(er).

The race to the Tech Olymp doesn’t involve discussing how to improve the world for everyone or what the planet needs to heal. Instead, it involves business plans and marketing strategies that make people want things they don’t need.

Because tech bros who misunderstood the science fiction they read as kids want to make them happen. Or how do you explain the flop that is the Metaverse (yes it still exists), Virtual Reality glasses, Google Glasses or Amazon Alexa that, after all these years, is barely more useful than a blinking brick?

Or, more recently, the shitshow that is the Humane AI Pin. Never heard of it? Not surprised.

Humane promised that the AI Pin would be a revolutionary wearable device offering seamless voice-controlled interactions, acting as a digital assistant that could handle tasks like sending messages, making calls, and providing information—all while fitting into daily life seamlessly.

They received over 200 million dollars of VC funding from stable tech geniuses like Sam Altman and Marc Benioff. All to produce an AI device so useless that, according to SFGate, it has now gone into history as the first high-profile startup flop of the artificial intelligence era.

Influential gadget YouTuber Marques Brownlee said in a video that the pin was “bad at almost everything it does, basically all the time.” The video, titled, “The Worst Product I’ve Ever Reviewed… For Now,” now has about 8.5 million views.

In true Silicon Valley form, this piece of crap had been hyped up as the innovation of the year, the next big thing, and trotted out by media outlets like the New York Times when it was launched in November.

Now, Humane’s intellectual property is being sold to HP. The device will become a brick on February 26th, and any poor sod who got duped into buying it more than 90 days ago can’t even get his (or her) money back.

Why did this happen? Because these people aren’t all that intelligent. But they have money, and they’re fucking greedy for even more money. So the louder you scream AI and “innovation,” the more money they will throw at you while their nipples stiffen in anticipation of all the sweet, sweet profit they’ll be making.

The “Current Wars” and Free Medicine

There used to be a time when true innovators built things because they wanted to make the world a better place. Innovation to them meant something completely different.

Tesla - not the car brand that now builds cars that look like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. No, the OG Tesla, Nikolai, was obsessed with finding a way to make wireless energy transmission possible.

He had already revolutionized AC (Alternate Current) energy transmission, which allowed energy transmission over long distances. But that wasn’t enough, he wanted more for humanity. He tried to find a way to harness energy from natural sources and transmit it wirelessly so people could have access to free energy. He didn’t give a shit about money, and not surprisingly, he died poor.

Do you know who made a lot of money from electricity? Edison. The dude who invented and tried to push the less practical and efficient dumb kind of energy transmission first. To stop people from using Tesla’s invention and make the DC (Direct Current) system happen, he and his fanboy Brown publicly and gruelingly electrocuted cats, dogs and even a calf to deter people from using Tesla’s AC system.

When Edison lost the “current wars” against Westinghouse, the company that had adopted Tesla and his AC system, he simply switched to the more lucrative business opportunity, AC.

Eventually, Edison’s team would kill 44 dogs, six calves, and two horses in their quest to discredit alternating current. But none of these deaths did any good — Westinghouse continued to crush Edison in the marketplace. By the end of 1888, Edison’s company was building and selling enough equipment to power 44,000 lightbulbs per year.

I’m convinced the flashy Edison would have made a great Silicon Valley tech bro. Tesla, on the other hand, wouldn’t even have a chance or the resources to invent anything these days because he had a mission for humanity, not profit and didn’t have the personality to get past the first round of a VC funding presentation.

Great inventions that helped humanity were made by people who believed in innovating for the good of society instead of profit.

Dr. Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine. He chose not to patent the vaccine and gave it away for free. He believed it belonged to the people and wanted it to be widely available to eradicate the disease.

Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and their colleagues invented Insulin. They sold the patent to the University of Toronto for just $1 each, making the treatment widely available and affordable. They prioritized public health over profit. Makes you wonder why there are people in the US today who die because they can’t afford to pay for their Insulin.

Tech was not always the abyss of greed.

Even the godfather of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, made the basic technologies of the web royalty-free. He laid the foundation of the technology we all depend on today. Or Linus Torvald. He invented Linux, a free OS, and derivatives of this OS still power our servers and clouds.

Making Money off Other People’s Ideas

All this ended with the rise of the power and money-hungry tech bro. Sure, Bezos had the idea to sell books online at a time when few people were willing to trust this new medium. But that’s not what made him rich.

His wealth comes from the exploitation of his workforce, controlling the quasi-monopoly platform that allows the people who truly create things to sell their goods, and, of course, not paying his fair share of taxes like most people who are part of the uber-rich clique that is steamrolling democracies at this moment.

Musk neither invented the Tesla nor X, aka Twitter; He bought them, and then he proceeded to make the companies shittier and shittier. Yes, he founded Space X but never built or invented a rocket.

One might think he did since they keep dropping out of the sky, but no, he just funds things because he’s always had too much ill-gotten money to begin with. Blood money his racist family made off the backs of oppressed Africans during the apartheid era of South Africa. So all this supposed genius people equip Musk with never existed. It’s a marketing brand, a fake one as such.

Zuckerberg, the man who morphed from looking like a naked mole rat to looking like a naked mole rat with glasses, says he invented Facebook, but his classmates claimed otherwise. Since the court settlement remains confidential, we’ll never know the whole story. But the relentless flopping of every idea he’s pushed at Facebook - Metaverse, Quest Glasses, etc. gives us a good idea of what the truth might look like.

All these people have in common is that they’re greedy, willing to do anything if it makes them a profit and a disregard for the wellbeing of anyone else who isn’t rich and part of their circle.

Doesn’t matter if it destroys society as we know it or hurts its consumers’ mental health like Facebook knowingly does. All is well if a quick buck is made.

They call what they’re doing innovation and ramble about the need for new social contracts because the ones we have get in the way of their profit. But don’t be deceived. Nobody needs this flavor of innovation. It adds nothing and detracts from everyone’s well-being.

Call me old-fashioned, but I remember when Scrooge McDuck was considered a villain, not an innovator. And he was way nicer than the people we’re currently letting destroy the world for yet another AI tech toy that writes bad poetry but can’t even do my laundry for me.

I feel I should end this piece by telling you more about how China handles innovation or how it has executed 14 billionaires during the past eight years. But this is the internet. Attention spans are limited, so let me end by saying today has been another disappointing day in obituaries.

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