Tag: VCs
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Don’t Be Evil
A Journey into “Sustainable Malevolence” It all started innocently enough, the way all these mind-numbing corporate revolutions do. A few high-functioning sociopaths in hoodies decided that the future of the world rested in the ability to “disrupt” industries at the speed of a startup burn rate. It started as a cute, nerdy motto on some…
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The Great Silicon Valley Shakedown: Pearls, Sophistries, and the Hymn to Stability
By the time the sun rises over the spires of Silicon Valley, a certain brand of chaos has already taken hold. It’s a controlled chaos, carefully crafted and nurtured by the so-called “disruptors” who sit in high-backed chairs made from the bones of yesterday’s industries. These men—and they are almost always men—are the Venture Capitalists,…
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Free Stuff
The irony is thick when a Silicon Valley VC criticizes the concept of “free stuff” while the entire tech industry often thrives on giving away services for free, monetizing data, or operating on a “freemium” model. Silicon Valley’s success has largely been built on repurposing industries and offering free or heavily subsidized services to consumers,…
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The Big Exit
When Jean-Paul Sartre penned No Exit back in 1944, he didn’t have a clue that Silicon Valley would turn his existential nightmare into a business model. There, in a well-ventilated room with glass walls, soft bean bags, and artisanal cold brew on tap, the brightest minds of our generation are sweating bullets, not because of…
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Declaration of Economic Independence
When in the Course of financial events, it becomes necessary for one class of Men to dissolve the outdated economic bands which have connected them with the broader Public, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and superior station to which the Laws of Wealth and Influence entitle them, a decent…
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“Prometheus Winked”
Ayn Rand, in her manic, Nietzschean fever dream, concocts a fable of the market as Olympus. Prometheus, a proto-capitalist titan, is no selfless savior but a cunning speculator. He filches fire, not for mankind’s enlightenment, but to corner the warmth market. As the world shivers in a neo-liberal ice age, our hero basks in a…
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Decentralheads vs Suits: Decentralization #64
The room pulsed with a low hum, fluorescent lights buzzing like angry insects. Two breeds stalked the vinyl floor: the Decentralheads, wired and twitchy, pupils dilated on dreams of distributed ledgers, and the VC Suits, sleek and reptilian, their eyes cold with the glint of centralized control. In the air, a financial model hung, a…
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Gladiator
[FADE IN] INT. BATHHOUSE – DAY Steam billows around the brawny form of MAXIMUS (50s), his body scarred from countless battles. He rubs himself down with a strigil, a hint of weariness in his eyes. A door creaks open and CRISPUS (30s), a clean-cut man in a linen toga that screams “startup money,” enters. CRISPUS Maximus. Legend. Just, wow. You, uh, look amazing for a guy who… you…
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Tech Ouroboros
Step 1: “We’re Revolutionizing the World” A startup manifesto scribbled in the blood of corporate messiahs. Disrupt! Innovate! The pitch deck glows with the radioactive sheen of venture capital seraphim. The vision? A frictionless utopia, baby—or at least a tax haven. The founders wear black turtlenecks like armor. They haven’t slept since Web 1.0.…
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Web3: The New Freemasons
The emergence of Web3 and crypto has led to the development of new forms of collective action and community-building that have yet to fully unfold. As these technologies continue to evolve, we may see the emergence of a new form of Masonic tropes, where the ideals of ‘civic nationalism’ and the practices of Freemasonry are…