Capturing the Billionaire Nerds & Their A.I.

The Lords of Tech are far too rich and powerful to shun. Better to corral them.

Many of my fellow Substack authors are expressing dismay this morning about President Trump’s announcement of his Stargate deal with Oracle’s Larry Ellison, SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Especially alarming are Larry Ellison’s Start Trek geek comments about fusing A.I. and mRNA technologies. Like a lot of tech dorks, Ellison grossly overestimates our understanding of biology, which I believe is vastly more complex than electronics and algorithmic learning.

However, I agree with Jeff Childers that it’s better for President Trump to try to capture the Billionaire Nerds instead of shunning them.

Though I see grounds for extreme vigilance, I’m also inclined to adopt the optimistic view that it’s far better for Trump to have these potentially dangerous men on his side than to shun them. I have read Larry Ellison’s biography, and I believe he is one of the most formidable guys who has ever lived. If I were president, I would far rather have him very close to me than shun him, leaving him completely untethered to direct A.I. schemes from his island lair on Lanai. Snubbing him would be the equivalent of the Roman Senate telling Julius Caesar to relinquish command of his army and return to Rome, which didn’t work out for the Senate.

These guys are going to run with A.I.—as are the Chinese—whether the U.S. government wants them to or not. Though I reiterate that his development is indeed cause for concern and vigilance, I intuitively sense that President Trump is making the right moves with them.