Tim Dillon said summarized it pretty well - can't remember or find the exact quote. Something to the effect of:

"Look around at all these things I have - how could I be wrong when I have so much?"

And that's how you get the Andreessen's and Musk's of the world stating these nonsensical things as truth. In their minds, financial success is the ultimate yardstick. The fact that they have so much wealth is a testament that their way of thinking is always right.

You don't need to look very hard to see this is what they really believe. Elon has done extremely silly things like claiming he was the best Path of Exile player in the world because he paid several people grind his account to a high-level. Having enough money to pay someone to play the game for you, is the same as being good at the game, in his mind.

The reason he and Musk are anti-introspection is that when they do it, it hurts. Because they are terrible people.

Better to just not think about it.

I've taken the position that anything the ultra-wealthy say is likely wrong, and every decision they take will negatively affect society, unless and until its corroborated by an unbiased source with expertise in the subject matter.

I really like the way you put it: “It’s okay to be wrong. We’re all wrong from time to time. What’s not okay is not having a way to be corrected by the outside world for a specific reason: being at the top of the political pyramid, being ultra-wealthy and surrounded by flattery, etc"

I think you have put this in a correct, concise manner which I agree with entirely.

The smaller version of same phenomena I see in enterprises where musings of non/barely technical leadership of a tech org is not only considered as go-to strategy but also why previous plans and implementations which were so obviously crappy not totally replaced yet.

You're correcting him by commenting on a popular article arguing he's wrong. So it appears he has been "corrected" rather broadly and vocally

He's free to choose what to believe. He's not "insulated from his negative world view". If you're correct and introspection is to his benefit and he chooses to forgo it, it's his loss.

So I don't know what you're upset about.

I think his broader point is that people are too introspective in modern times and its paralyzing. For instance, I remember reading a blog that argues that argues PTSD doesn't exist historically. People saw terrible things, buried their children and suffered unimaginable pain but there were no concept of PTSD. He argues that its not because it was taboo (virtually every other topic that was taboo was extensively documented), so perhaps there was less introspection.

https://acoup.blog/2020/04/24/fireside-friday-april-24-2020/

To put it another way, the problem is not what this idiot is saying on some podcast, the problem is that people are listening to it. For example, in the case of this blogger, listening and then taking the time to publish a web page about what was said, hoping to make money from readers

Immense wealth or power should be difficult to hold on to. Until our policymakers understand that we'll have to occasionally resort to the Luigi method.

We now live in a courtier world where flattery and politics determine successful outcomes.

> it’s that we have elevated the wealthy into a status where they can be wrong, have no correction,

If a poor person had the same view, would anything different happen? I suppose nobody would pay attention.

People having nutty views is a fact of life. Its not related to wealth. It happens among all classes.

Not just elevated them, but effectively given them a free pass for anything they do.

Musk slanders a cave diver trying to rescue trapped children as a paedo? No problem! The courts said it's fine. It's just a joke bro, you should be laughing.

Andreeson frontruns pump and dump shitcoins on retail investors via coinbase et al? Don't worry about it! Conning and scamming is fine now. The dog either eats or gets eaten.

We are far too kind to people being visibily obnoxious people because they are rich.

We've entered the "Emperor has no Clothes; but if I just prend he does, I'll be elevated higher than anyone who says otherwise" or "Lets all try to keep ourselves out of the permanent underclass"

YUP

He is wrong about almost everything, and especially about introspection.

But he got lucky and wrote a good-enough-for-the-time browser at just the right time.

Now, he mistakes his luck and his F_U_Money for skill and intelligence. And why wouldn't he? He can simply walk away from any situation that makes it seem he is wrong.

And the broader problem in society is nearly the entire populace has been conditioned to ignore the factors of luck and mistake monetary success with hard work and wisdom, when in fact those people are often no more than massively amplified fools.

The massive follies of most these current robber barons makes the case for taxing them out of existence. Once someone has enough money that they and their family cannot spend it in multiple lifetimes of excessive luxury, the only reason to have more is power. We should ramp up tax rates so those people cannot accumulate that power.

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely. A society that fails to manage that fact of human nature dooms itself.

Yes. I mean calling them out and people take personal offense as if they are receiving handouts from them or they are that rich. They don't give a damn about anyone or anything for that matter

and what do you think his punishment should be?

I have not elevated this person, and very much despise much of what he does and says. For the record.

Tech still broadly respects edgy, hot take contrarianism, even if they think Andreessen is stupid in this instance.

And lots of wealthy people like hanging out at Davos giving policymakers bad ideas…

The penultimate sentence of this fantastic 1997 interview with Trump has stayed with me since I read it: "Trump, who had aspired to and achieved the ultimate luxury, an existence unmolested by the rumbling of a soul."

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/05/19/trump-solo

A salient comment on the current times. But I'll extend it beyond just wealthy people. We have given every soul a platform. At first glance, that seems like a good thing. But we've given everyone a platform where they can accumulate large followings and express a great many opinions completely unchallenged. In reality, we've built force multiplier tools that enable the dissemination of all takes, good and bad, at a rather alarming rate. And, I would argue, the average joe is a bit gullible and easy to indoctrinate. Society, largely speaking, does not receive enough education and protections against these types of indoctrination platforms that we've made. That celebrities, ultra wealthy individuals, bad actors, and random dumbasses can all use and abuse to sell some physical or cognitive junk.

Marc "Invest in Crypto" Andreessen can't afford self-reflection? Color me surprised.

It’s really heartening to see that “eat the rich” is finally becoming a consistent message on HN

Technology truly can be used by the dispossessed in order to reclaim power from the billionaire psychopath class

But it requires those of us who know how to wield technology to stop looking to rich people to fund us, and start organizing from the ground up in order to take them down

Step one is that all of us blue collar technologists need to get organized

I’ve tried it and failed, but maybe now is the time

To quote the right honourable sire Elon of the Musk house: "True".