Taking up the number of well-known tech billionaires who have decided to boost the candidacy of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite his embrace of multiple conspiracy theories, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman noted the strain of contrarianism that seems to have infected them to the point where they can't think straight anymore.
Starting off by calling Kennedy, who has a history of latching on to oddball theories as the New York Times recently documented, a "crank," the economist added, "But for his last name, nobody would be paying him any attention — and despite that last name, he has zero chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination."
With that in mind, he singled out the "tech bros" like Twitter owner Elon Musk and the network's founder Jack Dorsey for supporting him and boosting his candidacy.
Taking a cue from fellow economist Adam Ozimek who described reflexive contrarianism as a “brain rotting drug” that causes its victims to “lose the ability to judge others they consider contrarian, become unable to tell good evidence from bad, a total unanchoring of belief that leads them to cling to low-quality contrarian fads,” Krugman added that it is on display these days among wealthy tech executives craving attention.
As he wrote, "Tech bros appear to be especially susceptible to brain-rotting contrarianism," adding, "their financial success all too often convinces them that they’re uniquely brilliant, able to instantly master any subject, without any need to consult people who’ve actually worked hard to understand the issues."
Pointing out that they tend to live in a bubble surrounded by yes-men, Krugman cited tech writer Anil Dash who claims their social circle is also limited, with Dash explaining, "... it’s impossible to overstate the degree to which many big tech C.E.O.s and venture capitalists are being radicalized by living within their own cultural and social bubble," and labeling it "VC QAnon.”
Krugman suggested, "It may seem odd to see men of vast wealth and influence buying into conspiracy theories about elites running the world. Aren’t they the elites? But I suspect that famous, wealthy men may be especially frustrated by their inability to control events, or even stop people from ridiculing them on the internet. So rather than accepting that the world is a complicated place nobody can control, they’re susceptible to the idea that there are secret cabals out to get them."
"What we’re seeing now is something remarkable. Arguably, the craziest faction in U.S. politics right now isn’t red-hatted blue-collar guys in diners, it’s technology billionaires living in huge mansions and flying around on private jets," he wrote before warning, "At one level it’s quite funny. Unfortunately, however, these people have enough money to do serious damage."
You can read his entire column here.
