In 2023, Elon Musk conceived TruthGPT, his “maximum truth-seeking AI.”
Musk is a great engineer, enormous risk-taker, and overgrown teenager. He cannot be trusted with a technology that may rule our life. Nobody is. Billionaire libertarians have the money to do anything they want.
That disquiets 8 billion people. American libertarians should hardly be trusted.
Two traits are typical. They’re wealthy. Poor libertarians are as rare as affluent socialists. The second reason is that their libertarianism rarely goes beyond personal liberties, notably not being taxed. Freedom belongs to others.
Musk’s philosophical uncertainty disappears once you agree that he should be able to do what he wants.
Peter Thiel, Ken Griffin, and Charles Koch are all in his group. Watch their actions, not their words. Many of them follow Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged figure John Galt’s heroic selfishness.
Extreme selfishness is moral in this tale.
Trump backers
Musk’s fellow billionaires back Donald Trump, the most anti-libertarian US politician. If re-elected next year, the former president would restrict abortion, deport millions of illegal immigrants, and require federal employees to take a loyalty test. He promises America “retribution”.
This contradicts common sense freedom. Trump’s return would likely kill liberal democracy in the US.
Libertarians appear unconcerned. Trump’s $US2 trillion corporate tax reduction favored the wealthy.
Musk tweeted Ron DeSantis’s presidential launch this week. The Florida governor wants Trump without the personal turmoil.
Most left- and right-wing billionaires believe government kept them prosperous. Liberal and conservative Mark Zuckerberg pals tell this story.
Amnesia is frequently convenient. Tesla received $465 million in public stimulus money in 2009. The 1990s National Science Foundation financed Google’s search engine research. Though minuscule now, they were crucial when these large fish were minnows.
Selective free speech is libertarian. The US is the only democracy to consider election expenditure limits an attack on free expression.
Musk has endless speeches.
Their donations to causes and politicians are unlimited. JD Vance’s Ohio Senate triumph last year depended on Peter Thiel’s $15 million. Thiel and Vance like Hungary’s self-proclaimed illiberal prime minister Viktor Orban.
Soros demonization
Musk made Twitter a free-speech forum. He said Democrats blocked Twitter before his $US44 billion acquisition last year.
Mask wearing was flagged on tweets that contradicted COVID-19 research. It had arbitrary rules.
However, it’s becoming Musk’s id. He tweeted last week that liberal millionaire George Soros threatened civilization: Musk stated he “hates humanity”.
Demonizing Soros indicates dark conspiratorialism. Orban, Putin, or Netanyahu.
Musk abandons free speech in China. Find one critical thing Musk has stated about the most censored major civilization on planet. China bans Twitter. Tesla has a major Shanghai facility and plans another.
Musk stated, “I’ll say what I want to say and if the consequence of that is losing money, then so be it,” when questioned about his Soros comments. It was deceptive.
Musk is okay with Twitter losses. Tesla is his only bet. Criticizing China threatens Tesla’s business model.
Musk, like Thiel, may speak and invest as he pleases. American threats are negligible.
This does not make him credible. The sooner society realizes Musk’s political motivations aren’t what he says, the better for mental health. Washington needs a titanium fence around AI even if he’s accurate about government’s faults.
