Here is my insight: VALUATION is not the same as VALUE CREATION.

Put another way, the ability to accumulate resources, is not a reliable indicator of the "good" being created in the world.

When the quantitative metric of "Money" is used a a proxy for value creation, it creates serious and dangerous side effects.

This is a fundamental failure mode of modern capitalism.

Capitalism requires ethical discipline. Without it, we get runaway resource accumulation, that rationalises actions and strategies (externalisation, extraction, optimisation-at-all-costs) which cause more harm than good.

The techno-optimists (See e/acc/Marc Andreessen)[0], frame progress as intrinsically good.

I believe a more prudent approach is needed, one that is wise and looks at business from the perspective of:

STEWARDSHIP & BALANCE,

rather than

RESOURCE ACCUMULATION & PROGRESS.

While I do not disagree with all he says, and do not think technological progress is bad, you will notice there is no mention of ethics in the entire manifesto other than as an "enemy".

Philosopher Charles Taylor argues that a defining feature of modernity is the rise of what he calls “disengaged reason” [1]:

  > Contrary to a Platonic understanding of reason where a meaningful order exists in the cosmos and in the soul that serves as a source for the highest good for reason to discover and conform to, disengaged reason "is no longer defined in terms of a vision of order in the cosmos" (Taylor 1989, 20). This disengagement allows reason to look at the world from an 'autonomous' viewpoint, leading to the abandonment of all 'horizons' > or frameworks "within which we know where we stand, and what meanings things have for us" (Taylor 1989, 29), thus rendering any inquiry to be independent of an overarching telos.

This idea is captured bluntly in this video (paraphrasing)[2]:

  > The great innovation with modernity was to convince people that money is *GOD*. With the enlightenment *MONEY* replaced *GOD* for a lot of people

In a sense, a lot of people in the modern world treat money itself as "The Sacred"

This is not to say I am arguing that money, profit and competition are morally wrong, but rather the way it is packaged. It is often elevated to the ultimate end (telos), rather than the means.

The fundamental category error is making the assumption that:

VALUATION (or Money in the bank) = Value Creation (For The Greater Good)

As you have rightly pointed out, the "It started here, now it's worth $xB" is an indication of this worldview, where the telos itself is "MONEY"

[0] https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/

[1] https://www.academia.edu/26548899/Disciplinarity_and_Islamic...

[2] https://youtu.be/B5FtHagng8c?t=249

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