I guess they read the silmarillion, but understood not the words they read.
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2026
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They all do this. San francisco used to be the old hyperliterate drug fueled counterculture mecca. So they still identify with that, and there's still like vestigial aesthetic shreds of the old city's corpse hanging off their beloved Moloch (howl-written in San Francisco). So they see literary allusions and implying they've read books as cool. Especially the ones who came up in the 80s and 90s when the old literate hippies could still afford to live there.
But none of them have read more than one book, because one is enough to reference, right? and they didn't understand it. So mike zuckerberg read 'snow crash' and is just doing all the evil shit from 'snow crash'. Thiel read LOTR. Whoever keeps giving money to 'ai children's toy' read 'diamond age'.
Because they see is=aught and can't tell the difference between fiction and reality on an emotional level, being shit heads who fundamentally disrespect the very concept of humanities and have no interiority.
i think one thing people miss is that counter culture movements sometimes win people over in the worst ways and they get really extreme ideas, or really extreme people get spun up in them and become little evil vorticies of power and influence. The sixties spawned the civil rights movement, peace movement. It also created the Manson family. There's a sort of yin and yang to these things IMO, creation and destruction. It's like a period of high energy and change and that can get used in many creative and destructive ways.
Some people see today as terrible and think socialism will fix it. Others, fascism. Two people agree that current leaders are failing, but for different reasons. And when everyone is demanding change, you can get some dangerous people to pop out of the wood work.
People like Musk and Thiel grow up in free thinking environments and in counter culture meccas and are a direct result of that energy. They dont run counter to it. They are a product of it.
There are complexities. Sure. Pushing new ideas is always complicated, and shitty people can do shitty things with them.
The Manson family was hoover's baby. Not that they're innocent, but they had help sucking that much.
None of that is this. The counter culture hasn't been there for decades; what's left is aesthetic remnants.
Thiel grew up in a Nazi cult. I think in south Africa? There were swastikas on the flags in his school. Musk is from south africa-during apartheid. They're not from fucking San Francisco. You're trying to make a point about how too much freedom is bad sometimes. I've got complex feelings, but your point is totally unsupported by facts on display here.
The point of what I said is that they're not genuinely from/of there, its just the cultural milleiu they knew in their 20s. They pulled the fucking aesthetics and nothing else, and they're getting stupid(er) because even the fucking aesthetics were too much for them.
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So mike zuckerberg read 'snow crash'
Fucking Mike
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There's a weird obsession among the far right lunatics with LOTR and just completely missing the message. Vance is in that crew too
I've noticed the same in recent years with Star Trek and the far right as well.
I don't know how they can possibly miss that the Federation is functionally a post-scarcity socialist utopia.
On the other hand... the Ferengi are essentially a direct replica of the modern US, including the far right's clear motive to try and force women back to subservience. I'm sure they'd love to be able to force them to be naked all the time while they're at it.
It's obvious many of the species in the ST universe were extreme caricatures of specific regions/countries from real life, and the Ferengi were based on the US... But I don't think they expected the caricature to so directly become the reality.
"NeW tReK iS wOkE"
My guy, have you just been not paying attention for the last 60+ years? Star Trek has always been progressive.
I don't know how they can possibly miss that the Federation is functionally a post-scarcity socialist utopia.
Because there's been a decades long effort to make American education really bad. There's very little ability for critical thinking in that group of people.
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To be fair, can anyone understand The Silmarillion? The way it is written is hard even when you are literate.
You go in expecting a book, but instead it’s just the Wikipedia page for Middle Earth
This is a very apt description of it. I remember the creation of Arda, but beyond that, it's all a bit fuzzy, like I read the Wikipedia page half asleep and dreamed the rest.
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when reading The Silmarillion, it's important to remember that Finrod, the brother of Galadriel, is different from Fingon. Fingon is Finrod's cousin, and also the brother of Turgon. Fingon and Turgon's father is Fingolfin, who is the brother of Finarfin, who is Finrod's father. you'll have a hard time following the story if you don't keep all those straight
In case anyone needs a reminder about Men:
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I'd respect these tech assholes more if they named their company "Matrix", "Panem", or "Big Brother". At least then they're not insulting anyone's intelligence.
Honestly surprised there's no "Evil Corp" yet.
"Skeletor LLC"
"Mordor Holdings Inc"
"Triffid Intl"
You're right, too honest. We all get to suffer so these rich pricks can pretend to live out some hero fantasy.
Doofenschmirz Evil Incorporated 🎵
...I feel like I would invest in that one.
Soylent is a real company now, so theres at least one evil corpo doing this.
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Palantir is on point though: Using that distorted tool warps you to evil and self destruction...
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I mean Palantir naming itself after the magic orb Sauron controls and uses to spy on everyone and manipulate the information they have access to seems pretty appropriate tbh. Mass surveillance and manipulation are their business model. I hate that they're appropriating LoTR for their fascism, but the name is definitely applicable
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Anduril keeps trying to recruit me. I don't know how to send them a strong enough message that conveys just how hard they need to fuck off.
Send word to the elves! the time has come. The sword of your forefathers must be reforged! You have my bow. Err the break of dawn, we ride!
Consult US Army TM 31-210
All my years of giving 89% are paying off. The only companies trying to recruit me are named unimaginative double entendres
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Time to start some kind of resistance group called "Bombadil".
who's Adil?
My friend's brother, but please leave him alone.
Start it brother (or sister), that's the best name for a resistance in this climate.
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A lot of techbros like to have "alternative interpretations" on said works. They don't see them as technology/power bad stories, but as issues of bad alignment.
"Yes the torment nexus didn't work out in the classic scifi novel "Don't build the torment nexus" but that was just because the people who built it where incompetent. Look, i am different, see I have billions of dollars I am definitely competent enough to make the torment nexus work."
The other usually is "The Foundation in the classic sci-fi novel «Don't Build The Torment Nexus» did not see the importance of a «humanity first» approach, and cut corners for profit", then they immediately cut corners for profit.
To be fair that's me and Jurassic Park. It's not about man's hubris, it's about one cheap-ass motherfucker. Lions aren't constantly escaping from zoos.
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Time to found some local activist groups with names like "Old Toby" and "Bombadillo".
Next thing you know San Francisco will be renamed Orthanc and DC, Mordor.
We will avenge you Mr. Tolkien.
Likewise there’s irony in SpaceX naming theirs after Culture ships. They should have stolen Weilan/Yutani ship IDs instead.
Thinking Thunberg is the antichrist while overlooking the spray-tanned obvious.
I'd like to see them name something after something Nintendo owns just to see the suits that would entail.
Wait till they name one of their evil companies/products second breakfast.
wait i wanted to name my evil restaurant Second Breakfast
it's evil because all of our eggs are deviled
Jokes on them, heaven has royalties. Some mfers abt to get their blessings repod
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