“I don’t know if any rational person ever became a billionaire running a disruptive company.” — Keith Teare
Is capitalism by permission of democracy, or is democracy by permission of capitalism? That’s the question Keith Teare and I have been circling for a while on our weekly tech roundup, and this week it triggered a full-blown discussion of our 21st century economic and political fate.
Earlier this week, Vinod Khosla posted on X that “capitalism is by permission of democracy.” Keith agrees. I’m not so sure. As AI start-ups approach valuations that rival the GDP of nation states, the old equation inverts. Governments no longer permit capitalism. Capitalism permits government. The Sam Altmans and Elon Musks of the future won’t lobby politicians. They’ll replace them. Dario Amodei’s confrontation with the US government is a sneak preview of the future. As what Om Malik calls a “symbolic capitalist,” Amodei is the type of engaged capitalist who will usurp traditional politicians. That’s the good news. The bad news is that other examples of symbolic capitalists include Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.
Five Takeaways
• OpenAI at $10 Trillion in Five Years. Keith’s prediction. NVIDIA promises $1 trillion in new revenue. Anthropic did $5 billion in one month. The three IPOs would dwarf a decade of IPOs.
• Fundrise Is the Canary. Retail investors paying 300% premium for private AI shares. Keith says that’s rational. History says be careful.
• Om Malik Reframes Everything. Neo-symbolic capitalism: value from narratives, not products. Amodei’s fight isn’t a miscalculation. It’s brand-building.
• Keith Says $10 Trillion Changes Nothing. Government retains power. I disagree. At $10 trillion, capitalism doesn’t ask permission. It gives it.
• Contrarianism Is the Core of Innovation. The one thing we agree on. Every billionaire is irrational. The question is whether that’s a feature or a threat.
About the Guest
Keith Teare publishes That Was The Week. He is co-founder of SignalRank and a regular Saturday guest on Keen On America.
References
That Was The Week: https://thatwastheweek.substack.com/
Om Malik: https://om.co
About Keen On America
Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.
Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow
Chapters:
00:00:00 Introduction: AI and unreason define the world
00:01:49 Markets as prediction machines: NVIDIA’s $1 trillion promise
00:04:42 The three IPOs that would dwarf a decade of IPOs
00:05:50 Fundrise (VCX): retail investors paying 300% premium
00:09:23 Keith’s prediction: OpenAI at $10 trillion in five years
00:11:44 The Anthropic debate continues: tactics vs. morals
00:14:22 Silicon Valley’s behind-the-scenes support for Amodei
00:16:42 What happens when an AI company rivals a nation’s GDP?
00:23:05 Om Malik on neo-symbolic capitalism
00:28:10 Musk as the master of symbolic capitalism
00:30:08 Bezos, Project Prometheus, and the Prometheuses of AI
00:32:07 Peter Thiel, the Antichrist, and the Giving Pledge collapse
00:35:27 Vinod Khosla: capitalism by permission of democracy?
00:38:23 Or democracy by permission of capitalism?