Silicon Valley’s billionaire elite can’t engineer our consent

You have to give them credit – today’s tech lords thought about the future when many in democracy had forgotten about it.

We hear constantly how rising productivity growth drives living standards. Without it, the magic stops and fear and doubt take over as the driving emotions. Technological breakthroughs commonly drive great leaps in productivity.

Elon Musk and Peter Thiel: would-be engineers of the human soul.Credit: Michael Howard

So it matters that Peter Thiel invested in technology aimed at eliminating disease, extending life and creating new sources of energy. It’s important that Elon Musk envisioned – and then produced – reusable rockets and internet from outer space. These are the building blocks of a more abundant future.

Much of this tech innovation began a decade ago, before Donald Trump’s disruptive entry into the White House. Ten years on, Silicon Valley, for now at least, is willingly embracing Trump’s White House.

But the emergence of the “tech right” has repositioned founders such as Thiel and Musk as “evil geniuses” for many in the democratic public.

While the tech right is doing what it does best – exploiting a first mover’s advantage (seeing how social media can influence public), working in small, trusted groups (think

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