Molto interessante, grazie. Centrale, in quel contesto, la figura di Peter Thiel e della sua Palantir. È il lato militare, diciamo così, di quell’establishment, dentro il quale troviamo anche la Black Rock di Larry Fink – un establishment che resta sempre al suo posto indipendentemente da quale dei due partiti vinca le elezioni presidenziali o detenga la maggioranza al Congresso. Credo sia però fondamentale non vedere in ciò il trionfo del capitale – i termini della questione sono geoplitici
Il giorno lun 19 feb 2024 alle ore 17:59 Daniela Tafani < [email protected]> ha scritto: > How Silicon Valley learned to love America, drones and glory > After a decade of building the future, tech’s new guard is going back to > the American past -- spurring a funding frenzy in defense technology > By Nitasha Tiku and Elizabeth Dwoskin > February 17, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. EST > > Hundreds of bright young technologists have landed in California this > weekend for a two-day hackathon — a quintessential start-up contest in > which teams of coders race to build software. But rather than a posh, > snack-laden San Francisco office, they’ll work in a cavernous 6,000 > square-foot warehouse in El Segundo, a refinery town southwest of Los > Angeles. > > And instead of building mobile apps or AI chatbots, competitors will hack > together surveillance tools, electronic warfare systems, or drone > countermeasures for the front lines in Ukraine — battlefield technology > driving a funding frenzy among tech investors. > > “[Build] hard tech for the defense of the West,” a hackathon judge wrote > on X, encouraging applicants. “Defense, Drones. Gundo,” an organizer wrote, > using the city’s nickname to promote the event. > > Until recently, tech workers have bristled at applying the fast and nimble > start-up ethos to fashion deadly weapons. When Google signed a Pentagon > contract to develop AI to target drone strikes, thousands petitioned its > CEO in 2018 to cancel it. Such protests spread during the Trump > administration, with workers railing against plans to sell > augmented-reality headsets to U.S. troops and facial recognition tools to > immigration officials at the U.S.-Mexico border. > > But after a decade of pushing a utopian vision of the future, tech’s most > optimistic pitch is a return to America’s past. Connecting the world is > out. Rearming the arsenal of democracy is in. > > Between 2021 and 2023, investors funneled $108 billion into defense tech > companies building a range of cutting-edge tools, including hypersonic > missiles, performance-enhancing wearables and satellite surveillance > systems, according to the data firm PitchBook, which predicts the defense > tech market will surge to $184.7 billion by 2027. > > Skepticism against defense work has faded for younger generations raised > on the tumult of foreign wars, a financial crisis and the rising threat of > China, said hackathon organizer Rasmus Dey Meyer, a 20-year-old junior at > Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. > > In the world’s fragile state, Dey Meyer said, “It’s a lot more socially > acceptable to be unabashedly patriotic in the national interest.” > > To some among this new crop of tech workers and start-up founders, defense > contracting is a higher calling to extend American ideals into the next > century. This group of (mostly) men believes in hard work, real innovation, > and family values. They’re eager to accelerate progress for America. And a > growing number of investors can’t wait to back them. > > At least three dozen funds are dedicated to the market, according to the > Defense Investor Network, investing in newly-coined sectors such as defense > tech, deep tech, hard tech, and space tech. Most have militaristic > branding, like Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism fund, General > Catalyst’s Global Resilience fund, and Shield Capital’s “frontier > technologies” fund, which boasts the motto: “Mission Matters.” On > Wednesday, the prominent start-up incubator Y Combinator announced a new > fund dedicated to defense, space, and robotics. > > This public embrace of nationalism marks a massive shift in Silicon > Valley, where values have long been out of step with the rest of the > country, Founders Fund partner Trae Stephens said. > > The firm’s founder, Peter Thiel, told Stephens in 2014 to locate companies > building technology to protect American interests that could be sold to the > Department of Defense. In three years, Stephens, whom Thiel had recruited > from the CIA-backed data mining start-up Palantir, says he only found one > company. > > Now there are dozens, including at least seven “unicorns” valued at more > than $1 billion. > > Lobbying budgets have likewise expanded, from VC firms along with > companies like Anduril, which Stephens co-founded, Shield AI, and Skydio. > > This cultural shift has been spurred by a growing unease in tech circles, > as economic and geopolitical threats collide. Rising interest rates, > fragility in the global supply chain and China’s rapid militarization have > led to fears that the United States, and perhaps the industry itself, is > vulnerable. > > “Russia invaded Ukraine and reminded us why defense technology is not > merely something to debate in theory,” Katherine Boyle, a partner at > Andreessen Horowitz said in a November speech at the Defense Venture > Summit. “History had begun again, and we understood we were entering a new, > violent age.” > > Ukraine’s ramped-up use of drones prompted the Pentagon to make its > notoriously arduous procurement process more hospitable to tech start-ups, > launching initiatives like federally guaranteed loans for investors to fund > technology deemed critical to national security, improvements that arrived > as capital for venture funds was drying up. > > As the bubble deflated and start-up valuations shrank, “Everyone > panicked,” said Michael Dempsey, managing partner of the venture firm > Compound. Some developers wondered if they had wasted their time shuffling > around software. This period of searching and self-doubt presented an > opening for venture firms to declare defense tech the next big thing. Even > now, he said, investors lack conviction about where to focus: “It’s like, > is it crypto? Is it climate? Is it AI? Is it American dynamism?” > > Amid layoffs in tech, the latter has grown appealing. In a Morning Consult > survey of 441 tech workers last March, 34 percent said they are more likely > than they were a year ago to apply their skills to military projects and 48 > percent support their employer’s considering defense contracts involving > battlefield technologies. > > “When everything is up and to the right, you don’t have to do the hardest > thing to make money,” Stephens said. “But it’s not the money printer moment > anymore.” > The Silicon Valley-industrial complex > > Tech’s military ties predate Silicon Valley, which began in the late 1950s > when funding from defense and intelligence agencies transformed a stretch > of fruit orchards into production grounds for mainframes and > microprocessors. > > Those relationships dwindled during the internet era, then slowly resumed > after 9/11, Margaret O’Mara writes in her 2019 book, “The Code: Silicon > Valley and the Remaking of America.” Palantir, co-founded by Thiel, was one > such company formed during the “war on terror,” with backing from the CIA’s > venture firm, In-Q-Tel. > > To keep up with the threat of stateless terrorist networks, the defense > establishment reversed its Cold War pipeline, turning to private industry > rather than government-funded labs. The Pentagon launched VC firms and > sponsored hackathons to build commercial tech that could eventually be sold > for military use. > > Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, efforts have escalated. The head of > the Defense Department appointed a longtime deputy of Apple CEO Tim Cook to > direct the Defense Innovation Unit, a division whose aim is to fast track > commercial tech for national security, a role reporting directly to > Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. In August, the Pentagon unveiled a > Replicator program, which will rapidly build and field thousands of drones > in two years or less. > > The Israel-Gaza war has amplified divisions among workers, with more than > 500 Google employees protesting the company’s $1.2 billion contract with > the Israeli government in December. > > Still, the overarching message from elites in both D.C. and Silicon Valley > is techno-optimism, said Jack Murphy, an Army Special Operations veteran > and former Army Ranger turned investigative journalist. “We think there is > a technological solution to everything.” he said. “Are we losing sight of > the reality of what AI will probably do on the battlefield?” > > But rather than out-of-touch, some tech investors present this work as a > chance to return to mid-century American values. “Faith, family and the > flag — the very things that used to define our national character — have > eroded,” Boyle said in her speech at the defense summit, which has become a > clarion call for financiers and founders. “You win the war against America > when it’s nihilism all the way down.” > Accelerate, young man! > > The clarion call from El Segundo, where the hackathon will take place, is > less formal. The city, located between a Chevron refinery, a sewage plant, > and Los Angeles International Airport, was once home to contractors > building parts for planes, rockets and missiles. Then, in 2002, SpaceX set > up shop. Now it’s a haven for a growing scene of deadlifting, nicotine > gum-chewing, energy-drink chugging founders of space, energy, and drone > start-ups seeking to bring cool back to American manufacturing. > > Augustus Doricko, the 23-year-old founder of Rainmaker, a start-up that > aims to alleviate water scarcity by “seeding” clouds with minerals, called > the local tech community a “cultural project” that rejected the engineering > culture prized in San Francisco. > > There, one could make $1 million without doing much work or adding any > value to the world. > > Doricko, who sports a hipster mullet, Nike high-tops, and a casual swagger > — an aesthetic he refers to as “Americana” — looks to eras of great > technological progress, like the Enlightenment, the Gilded Age, and the > 1960s to capture the feeling that “it was an aspirational and honorable > thing to be an inventor and a creator and a builder.” > > Software developers seeking a jolt of energy have been so keen to visit > that Doricko put up bunk beds in Rainmaker’s headquarters to “house > pilgrims to the Gundo,” he said. > > Believers evangelize online as well, with social media bios like, “Ask me > why consuming energy is good and you should have more babies” and share > hustle-and-grind mottos that can sound closer to religious hymnals or > military slogans. “gm. the world desperately needs you to build,” wrote one > anonymous poster on X, formerly Twitter, using the abbreviation for good > morning favored by crypto insiders. > > Some reject the previous tech era, in particular the protests against > Project Maven, Google’s work to target Pentagon drones. This worker dissent > ultimately benefited America’s adversaries, former Google researcher > Guillaume Verdon said in a recent podcast interview with Joe Lonsdale, a > Palantir co-founder and tech investor. > > “What I saw with my own eyes was cultural subversion within Big Tech,” > Verdon said. The issue has led him to help create a philosophy called > effective accelerationism or e/acc, which advocates supercharging > technological progress through unbridled capitalism. The mantra has become > popular in the defense tech world, where some adopt the e/acc moniker, > occasionally replacing the “e” with an American flag emoji. > > Others in the field see their work as preventing conflict. “The > neoconservative warmongers of the past is not something I endorse,” Doricko > said. “Defense is good, but war is still bad.” > > Kat Hendrickson eschewed Big Tech jobs after finishing a PhD in mechanical > and aerospace engineering in 2022. She wanted to see her research tackle > real problems in conflict zones. > > Still, Hendrickson, a technical director working on fleets of autonomous > drones at EpiSci, a Poway, Calif.-based start-up, said the word > “patriotism” makes her freeze up, especially as it has become “really > co-opted by the far right,” she said. > > While the war in Ukraine made it easier to explain her job to friends and > family, the war in Gaza stirred a lot of internal debate, Hendrickson said. > > “Looking at Ukraine, a front line of troops — those are your targets,” > Hendrickson said. “If you’re looking at Gaza from an Israeli perspective, > you’re bombing a city. It’s just totally different.” > > She and her team discuss safeguards they can put in place if their > products are later resold and abused, intentionally or not. “I always tell > my team that I hope we’re all a little bit uncomfortable.” > > Meanwhile, Dey Meyer and his hackathon co-organizers are focused on > building the pipeline of young talent. Their organization, Apollo Defense, > aims to funnel undergraduates toward creating their own defense tech > start-ups or working for one. > > “This deep sense of uncertainty about the future [that young people have] > can be molded,” Dey Meyer said. “We have agency in shaping that future. And > the way that we shape that future is by building the best possible arsenal > to make sure that war never happens.” > > > https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/17/silicon-valley-military-tech-defense-contractors/ > _______________________________________________ > nexa mailing list > [email protected] > https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa >
_______________________________________________ nexa mailing list [email protected] https://server-nexa.polito.it/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nexa
