Marc Andreessen

Some of them are like the world's largest Democratic donors now where they're fully minted and they're in there and they're having a great time and they think it's all incredible and it's all wonderful. Some people are fine going along with that, and maybe that's the right thing to do. And then some of us reach a point where we kind of look around. This is the J.D. Vance story.

Some of them are like the world's largest Democratic donors now where they're fully minted and they're in there and they're having a great time and they think it's all incredible and it's all wonderful. Some people are fine going along with that, and maybe that's the right thing to do. And then some of us reach a point where we kind of look around. This is the J.D. Vance story.

He tells a very similar story. Grew up in rural Kentucky, whatever, Ohio, Appalachia. He ends up at Yale. He ends up being invited in the inner circle of all these places. And he finally looks around and he's just like, wow, these people are not at all what I thought they were. This is horrible. These people are like self-interested, corrupt, and they're lying about everything.

He tells a very similar story. Grew up in rural Kentucky, whatever, Ohio, Appalachia. He ends up at Yale. He ends up being invited in the inner circle of all these places. And he finally looks around and he's just like, wow, these people are not at all what I thought they were. This is horrible. These people are like self-interested, corrupt, and they're lying about everything.

And they're engaging in speech suppression. And they're incredibly authoritarian. And they're looting the public treasury. I was lied to my entire life. These people don't deserve the respect that they have, and maybe there should be a new elite in charge. And so that's a lot of the attention that's playing out right now.

And they're engaging in speech suppression. And they're incredibly authoritarian. And they're looting the public treasury. I was lied to my entire life. These people don't deserve the respect that they have, and maybe there should be a new elite in charge. And so that's a lot of the attention that's playing out right now.

The way I've always thought about technological change is a set of lines on a graph. Used to be three lines, now it's four lines. So one is the pace of technological change. That's a line where everything generally gets better and better and better.

The way I've always thought about technological change is a set of lines on a graph. Used to be three lines, now it's four lines. So one is the pace of technological change. That's a line where everything generally gets better and better and better.

And then every once in a while, you have these discontinuous step functions up or something gets dramatically better, like what happened last week with AI. Then you've got another line on top of that, which is sociological change, which basically is when is the world ready for the new thing? And sometimes you get this phenomenon where the new thing actually exists before the world's ready for it.

And then every once in a while, you have these discontinuous step functions up or something gets dramatically better, like what happened last week with AI. Then you've got another line on top of that, which is sociological change, which basically is when is the world ready for the new thing? And sometimes you get this phenomenon where the new thing actually exists before the world's ready for it.

And for some reason, it doesn't take. And then five years later or 50 years later, it actually takes it off and away it goes. So there's a sociological layer. And then on top of that, there's the financial layer, which is are the capital markets willing to fund it? And can it generate a return? The way I think about it is the technology line is kind of a squiggle like this up to the right.

And for some reason, it doesn't take. And then five years later or 50 years later, it actually takes it off and away it goes. So there's a sociological layer. And then on top of that, there's the financial layer, which is are the capital markets willing to fund it? And can it generate a return? The way I think about it is the technology line is kind of a squiggle like this up to the right.

The social line is this big sweeping curve as large numbers of people reevaluate what they want. And then the financial line is like an EKG of a heart attack where the market's going through its patterns of panic and euphoria. The art of being an entrepreneur or a tech investor is to try to slice across all three of those.

The social line is this big sweeping curve as large numbers of people reevaluate what they want. And then the financial line is like an EKG of a heart attack where the market's going through its patterns of panic and euphoria. The art of being an entrepreneur or a tech investor is to try to slice across all three of those.

You're trying to back something where the technology is really ready, society is ready to adopt it, and you can actually get the thing funded or get the thing exited and taken public. And so you got to kind of line that up. A lot of what we do in the day job is line up those three curves. The fourth one now in the last five years is politics.

You're trying to back something where the technology is really ready, society is ready to adopt it, and you can actually get the thing funded or get the thing exited and taken public. And so you got to kind of line that up. A lot of what we do in the day job is line up those three curves. The fourth one now in the last five years is politics.

And as I said earlier, for a very long time, people in Washington just had an attitude of benign neglect towards the tech industry. And they're like, yeah, they're kids building fun toys, whatever. It's fine. It doesn't matter.

And as I said earlier, for a very long time, people in Washington just had an attitude of benign neglect towards the tech industry. And they're like, yeah, they're kids building fun toys, whatever. It's fine. It doesn't matter.

And now there's just, as you know, just like intense political scrutiny on almost every aspect of the tech industry and like incredible attempts to control and suppress new technologies. The harshest version of that is in places like the EU, but we've had our own versions of that here. And so all of a sudden we have this fourth factor now.

And now there's just, as you know, just like intense political scrutiny on almost every aspect of the tech industry and like incredible attempts to control and suppress new technologies. The harshest version of that is in places like the EU, but we've had our own versions of that here. And so all of a sudden we have this fourth factor now.