Silicon Valley Smackdown - 7/13/23

And, in this corner… Not since the first Ali-Frazier fight in 1971 has there been a more anticipated battle than the upcoming cage match between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. Fascinating on many levels, these two tech titans appear headed for the ring to duke it out, motivated by genuine mutual hatred. In what's shaping up as an almost comical circus of the absurd fueled by egos run amok, there’s even talk that it might be held in the Roman Colosseum. The trash talk started a couple of weeks ago when Musk challenged Zuckerberg, who immediately accepted. Both were contacted by a man named Dana White who runs the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the details are being finalized. White stated publicly that each is extremely serious and motivated. The assumption is that the battle would take place on a streaming pay-per-view platform (a possible point of contention since both contestants own their own) and all proceeds donated to charity. No date has been set at this point. Both of these guys are somewhat controversial in the tech-bro world as well as the larger public universe in general. Each has plenty of haters. One recent Twitter poster went so far as to state she hopes they kill each other after inflicting severe and excruciatingly painful wounds. However Zuck seems to have the consensus edge in villainy, universally regarded as possibly the most unliked Silicone Valley billionaire currently. Over the years, he's acquired a reputation for (allegedly) copying the social media innovations of others, including accusations that he duplicated the platform known as Snap. Now, he's been accused of cloning Twitter, hiring former employees of the bird app who are still resentful for having been shown the door when Elon bought the company. The clone’s name is Threads, continuing a long tradition of awful social media names seemingly conjured from children’s books or 60s hippie lingo. Yesterday, Musk put Zuck on notice that he was filing a lawsuit for stealing intellectual property by using those former Twitter employees to essentially duplicate the app, something Zuckerberg no doubt anticipated when he decided to slither down from the apple tree. He publicly states his motivation was “concern” about the path Twitter had taken recently and wants to provide a safer and kinder version of the internet’s public town square—a place where people can express their views in a more controlled environment. Sounds nice. But a skeptic might say it’s simply one more attempt to monetize someone else’s tech, simultaneously taking another step toward controlling and manipulating the information that billions of people digest on social media—the wise king attempting to censor the public discourse so that it complies with his financial, social and political narrative. Musk has stated from the beginning that his only motivation for buying Twitter was an absolute belief that a venue existing for the sole purpose of conveying free speech was critical to the survival of democracy, a fundamental tenant of the Constitution, and something that wasn’t happening prior. And, anyone who’s followed the recent public disclosures of government interference and influence with Twitter in its former configuration, as well as Facebook and YouTube, understands the clear attempts by some in positions of authority to throttle news in specific ways that reinforce a particular philosophical bias—everything from politics and Covid policy to social engineering. Musk paid $44 billion for the company and stated publicly, after having time to really look under the hood, it was worth less than half that amount. To make matters worse, lots of advertisers abandoned the platform since it no longer attempts to convey the current sensibilities of companies such as Bud Light or Disney, although Twitter would welcome their business. In fact, it doesn’t push any agenda at all, other than absolute access to free speech. Musk’s only requirement is that blatant misinformation is called out and, if not corrected, deleted. He also encourages discourse from all points of view, everyone from Tucker Carlson to Don Lemon, both polar opposites of the political spectrum, as well as others in between. Some financial analysts believe there’s a real possibility Twitter will eventually be forced into bankruptcy. Obviously, Zuckerberg’s timing in starting a rival company could be seen as going for the jugular when the company is most vulnerable. That certainly appears to be the way Musk sees it. But regardless of how this all plays out, let’s talk about the fun stuff—a full-blown cage match between two men with giant egos, unlimited resources, and more power than anyone in the history of humans who hate each other. And both appear committed, ready to pound the crap out of one another. This contest is like a strange hybrid of scrawny Roman gladiators and an early-American duel at sunrise. This is an excerpt from one of my books (The Navigator - 2020) where a brilliant tech-titan gets into a fistfight with an elderly talk show host: Watching an aging talk show host defend the honor of a beautiful starlet by punching out a lascivious rich nerd turned out to be one of those events nobody saw coming and, more importantly, one they’d never forget. It was television magic and impossible to script. The image of Dick’s seemingly feeble attempt at a right hook, finally connecting after two misses, followed by Henri’s wet-noodle, open-hand counter that was at least a foot off the mark before he crashed to the floor became one of the most watched YouTube videos ever. That’s kind of how I would have envisioned this type of fight a few years ago. It might not be too far off the mark now and as Musk recently stated, “The most entertaining outcome is the most likely.” So let’s break it down: Musk is physically larger. He’s also older and currently, seems pretty out of shape. He has publicly talked in the past about being mercilessly bullied as a kid growing up in South Africa, even spending a couple of weeks in the hospital at one point after some kids threw him down a staircase. However, I would not be at all surprised if, over the years, he’s received some training and he seems confident, even enthusiastic for an opportunity to corner his rival in the confines of a closed ring. He’s now solicited the assistance of UFC legend Georges St-Pierre, a legitimate force in the world of full-contact fighting and someone whose credentials are as good as it gets. On the other hand, Zuckerberg has, for some time, trained in Jiu-Jitsu, obtaining a yellow-green belt (basically a beginner), and actually won a tournament recently in the featherweight division. Now I’m not sure just who he beat but at least he’s experienced some physical combat, although for all I know it could have been a child in his weight class. I did read Zuck went ballistic when the referee penalized him for a violation. He wound up winning his division in spite of the penalty, or maybe because the ref was intimidated, overly concerned that he’d incurred the wrath of the man controlling his Facebook account. Zuckerberg does seem to be in better shape than his larger rival. I read just this morning that the legendary UFC fighter, Jon (Bones) Jones might be training him. Regardless of your preferred avatar in this matrix-like real-life video game, the idea of these two squaring off seems extremely well-suited for today’s whacky sense of reality. There’s something about it that fits perfectly with these strange times of rapidly developing technology and ubiquitous UFOs nobody can explain. Two grown billionaires who have every material thing imaginable, except for the bragging rights regarding who can kick whose ass. Either way, you have to give them each credit…subjecting themselves to an event that could result in a level of humiliation that will pierce any insulated wealth-constructed reality bubble. In the words of a good friend, “shit’s about to get real…” I for one will be watching. Unless this event results in completely breaking the internet…

China and Taiwan It’s no secret that China has, for quite some time, considered the country of Taiwan illegitimate and technically part of the PRC. The saber-rattling hit a fever pitch several months ago when Nancy Pelosi traveled to Taiwan for the specific reason of showing U.S. support for the tiny island nation. This resulted in a series of increasingly aggressive events—mostly initiated by China’s military toward ours, in both international air space and waters. Tensions have been running high ever since and certainly weren’t helped by the Chinese spy balloons that had hovered above U.S. military facilities for far too long before being shot down. There’s a belief by some experts and think-tank dwellers that China has a 4-5 year timeline before it attempts to take control of Taiwan once and for all, thus ending the contentious relationship that’s existed since World War II. Recently, when asked if the U.S. supported Taiwan in its commitment to remain independent of China, President Biden waffled, something that seemed to telegraph a fairly significant change in our national security policy and a message designed to appease the Chinese government. Although an invasion of Taiwan would no doubt have many repercussions, one negative result could be a potential disruption in the supply of the most advanced chips required for all AI. Taiwan produces 60% of the chips in the world and 90% of the most advanced. The estimated time to build factories outside of Taiwan that could equal that supply is ten years. Meanwhile, Taiwan has indicated that if China does invade, they might destroy all chip-producing factories rather than surrender them to the PRC. As our lives become more intertwined with AI each day, so does our dependency on these chips to make our world run. Assuming a scenario whereby the supply of the most advanced chips was disrupted or even eliminated, the consequences to the rest of the world could be catastrophic. And this all leads to yet another potential existential threat. In a world where advanced militaries require specific components in order to maintain defense systems, what happens if one superpower controls the supply? Or if there is no supply, what are the ramifications if these systems can’t be repaired or replaced in a timely manner? Until replacement plants can be established, Taiwan will remain strategically critical to not only our country’s security but the entire free world.

Hold the pepperoni

Have we hit an AI wall? In case you’re thinking about investing your savings in something that incorporates the dazzling abilities of AI, coupled with an American favorite fast food, consider this: A robotic pizza startup called Zoom (no, not that Zoom) that had raised over half a billion dollars recently went under. Really? Pizza? In a world where we’re worried that AI might exceed our intelligence and level of consciousness, leading to the possible extermination of our species like an overly built-out wasp nest, apparently the technology just hasn’t advanced enough to consistently make and deliver pizza. I suppose that’s comforting on some level, the reality that in this brave new world AI’s capacity to replace Dominos seems still off on the horizon. SoftBank, the Japanese firm infamously known for its disastrous investment in WeWork, apparently had invested $375M. According to Bloomberg, the main reason it failed was because the cheese kept falling off. We want our flying cars!

Well, it looks like it’s finally happening. Alef Aeronautics, an advanced technology company can begin testing what it describes as a flying car after recently receiving an airworthiness credential from the Federal Aviation Administration. The electric car, which is designed to fit within existing urban infrastructure for driving and parking, has a flight range of 110 miles. Prices start at $300K and are expected to be available in late 2025. This will really resonate with anyone of a certain age since we’ve been expecting these things for decades since we were kids. Out of all the technological marvels developed over the course of my life, the lack of a legitimate flying car made the future I imagined slightly incomplete. But anyone who’s read my book Into The Storm will understand my wait-and-see attitude. Until they get all the kinks out, experience the inevitable systems failures, and reduce the price to that of a standard vehicle, I’ll probably just watch for the time being.

AI - MidJourney I’ve talked about the AI program, MidJourney previously. I recently plugged in prompts from my book 'Impermanent Universe' and asked it to provide images for three of the main characters. This was really interesting to me since I usually only have a blurry image of the characters when I write. I hear them very clearly, but their physical appearances are usually a combination of people I’ve known as well as actors, but never really precise. I have to say, these were surprisingly accurate, so much so I’m using them in an ad that’s running now on Facebook.

Let me know your thoughts! Always love hearing from you.