James Pogue

Wow, that's very funny, actually.

Wow, that's very funny, actually.

Well, so to go into like how this really worked, like there was something about Twitter pre-Musk that actually like made their culture very vibrant. And it essentially worked, not that anyone understood this at the time, I don't think, but it worked to serve their movement incredibly well.

Well, so to go into like how this really worked, like there was something about Twitter pre-Musk that actually like made their culture very vibrant. And it essentially worked, not that anyone understood this at the time, I don't think, but it worked to serve their movement incredibly well.

Because basically to succeed on Twitter, as they will describe this, to be good at Twitter, people talk about this. Are you good enough at Twitter to build your world out of this? And these Anons who are coming up who are – I mean, I don't want to blow up anyone's spot because some of this I don't have completely fact-checked.

Because basically to succeed on Twitter, as they will describe this, to be good at Twitter, people talk about this. Are you good enough at Twitter to build your world out of this? And these Anons who are coming up who are – I mean, I don't want to blow up anyone's spot because some of this I don't have completely fact-checked.

But I will tell you behind the scenes that 100%, some of these people who came up as Twitter anons are now going to be going into the administration. They're going to be taking jobs in the actual seat of power now. And they built that by having this worldview that was just... Interesting to a lot of people who weren't even necessarily right wing.

But I will tell you behind the scenes that 100%, some of these people who came up as Twitter anons are now going to be going into the administration. They're going to be taking jobs in the actual seat of power now. And they built that by having this worldview that was just... Interesting to a lot of people who weren't even necessarily right wing.

It felt cooler and it felt as I think anybody even, you know, coming from the left or coming from a fairly liberal persuasion could look at Twitter during some of those years, you know, sort of 2016 up through 2020 and and just feel like it was only really allowing people in the mainstream to have a very circumscribed worldview.

It felt cooler and it felt as I think anybody even, you know, coming from the left or coming from a fairly liberal persuasion could look at Twitter during some of those years, you know, sort of 2016 up through 2020 and and just feel like it was only really allowing people in the mainstream to have a very circumscribed worldview.

And in so much as Twitter operated as quote unquote, the ultimate editor of institutions like the New York Times, it gave them a huge amount of freedom to kind of experiment and yet not drive themselves into super extreme positions. Because if you went into super extreme positions, suddenly you're banned and you're not getting a lot of engagement. Post-Musk, that has changed.

And in so much as Twitter operated as quote unquote, the ultimate editor of institutions like the New York Times, it gave them a huge amount of freedom to kind of experiment and yet not drive themselves into super extreme positions. Because if you went into super extreme positions, suddenly you're banned and you're not getting a lot of engagement. Post-Musk, that has changed.

And so what you've seen, in fact, and people on the right will criticize this a lot, actually, is you've seen a lot of jokers and morons who can really drive conversation by being really adversarial, by policing the bounds of the movement, by jumping on anything that deviates even a little bit from what they've decided is the sort of MAGA, agreed, this is how we do it, kind of worldview. And so...

And so what you've seen, in fact, and people on the right will criticize this a lot, actually, is you've seen a lot of jokers and morons who can really drive conversation by being really adversarial, by policing the bounds of the movement, by jumping on anything that deviates even a little bit from what they've decided is the sort of MAGA, agreed, this is how we do it, kind of worldview. And so...

For example, when the H-1B visa dust-up happened over Christmas just now, what you saw were really extreme voices of people who are pretty much openly saying America is a nation built by white Europeans and we should get it back to being a nation built for white Europeans. And that was what basically became the general view because that's now what succeeds, right?

For example, when the H-1B visa dust-up happened over Christmas just now, what you saw were really extreme voices of people who are pretty much openly saying America is a nation built by white Europeans and we should get it back to being a nation built for white Europeans. And that was what basically became the general view because that's now what succeeds, right?

Well, so I think what we've basically seen in the last few months is a consensus built that the way back to the past is by rocket shipping into the future. And some of that is actually coalition politics. Some of that is, I think, in my opinion, some people who are more tech skeptical just kind of saying, all right, let's try this.

Well, so I think what we've basically seen in the last few months is a consensus built that the way back to the past is by rocket shipping into the future. And some of that is actually coalition politics. Some of that is, I think, in my opinion, some people who are more tech skeptical just kind of saying, all right, let's try this.

And so you can go back to, for example, I was friends with David Graeber, you know, the great anarchist philosopher. And David did a debate with Peter Thiel on tech. And the critique was technology is not actually benefiting us. It's become this rent-seeking capitalist kind of evil. In fact, like, check on human progress. And...

And so you can go back to, for example, I was friends with David Graeber, you know, the great anarchist philosopher. And David did a debate with Peter Thiel on tech. And the critique was technology is not actually benefiting us. It's become this rent-seeking capitalist kind of evil. In fact, like, check on human progress. And...