Toxic "tech bros" - where do they come from? Many of them are "nerds" who got bullied when younger, still holding onto a grudge even well into adulthood - so when they get put into position of power, they often seek to destroy the lives of the (usually middle-class) bullies who traumatized them during their childhoods. A lot of the decisions they make has less to do with politics but with revenge - reclaiming the control that was once lost, and the mentality of "I'll show them ✊" by being seen as "successful".
There is some aspects of that can be seen in artist and intellectuals, too - you see some of these types of behaviors in celebrities that seek that type of redemption in glory and glamour. Most people eventually learn to forgive past behaviors and move on with their lives, but some don't - which leads to the type of "man-child" behavior that frustrates as much as it confuses the world at large. It is, unfortunately, part of what makes social cohesion difficult in modern societies - especially in American culture, where being educated is looked upon with suspicion, rather than respect.
As a whole, this pattern as gotten worse in recent years, not better. Forgiveness is much easier to achieve if you put your smarts to good use and carve a decent living for yourself - in an economy where intellectual labor is valued, this is entirely possible. But when it becomes difficult to survive even with multiple degrees, a bigger problem emerges - the emergence of an underclass who are smart but believe they don't deserve to be there. Nazism in its original form rose to power due to the combination of economic devastation and high education - many Nazis distracted themselves from what was happening to the Jews at the time by listening to classical music and enjoying other forms of "fine arts" in its nostalgic forms, after all.
"Nazis" and "fascism" are commonly used terms in American political discourse now, but where did it actually originate from? It is, again, the combination of economic hardship and higher education - more people have degrees and certificates more than ever now, but a lot less money, and less stake in the well-being of the country as a whole as the idea of homeownership becomes more and more out of reach. We have now recreated the environments in which made the emergence of past atrocities possible - and the irony of Gaza having recreated the cycle of violence has not gone unnoticed, either.
There's a lot to be said about these topics in regards to how schools and educational programs handle these types of issues, but I think the first step towards recovery is to acknowledge that these trends have their origins in human, not rational or logical problems - if it were just the latter, we would have solved this by now. If you dig deep enough, most societal problems originate from how people treat each other, day to day - something nobody really wants to deal with because it's too complex - too personal - of a problem that is much easier to ignore than deal with directly.
The good news? Well, every political action has a reaction, and what's coming next is the rise of left-wing populism to counter the right-wing populism, which, in the 20th century created the frameworks for the modern worlds (and protections) we live in today. But most historians will probably agree that it emerged "out of the ashes" - which implies that the transition to that will not be a smooth one, to say the least.
Creative Destruction - the tech industry often uses that phrase to describe changes in how a business operates - but are they ready to handle it happening on a scale this large? Of all the people I've talked to so far, the folks on Tezos seem to be the most prepared - if not, at least aware. Everywhere else - well, I don't think they have any idea what's coming. It feels like the time for reform has already past, and we're just going to witness things playing themselves out from beginning to end.
It's going to be a wild ride when the bubble pops, either way. Knowing what's going to happen next won't make it any less crazy. 😬