Is The Era Of Tech Bros And Technolibertarianism Over?

Is the era of tech brothers and techno freedom over? Depending on how you look at it, tech poster boys Sam Bankman-Fried and Elon Musk may or may not have hit the industry hard, not just their company. As industry became the currency and new public square, there was sudden exultation that private technology could replace traditional government functions.

After the collapse of FTX and the collapse of Twitter's verification system, where do you think you'll get reliable currency and public information? A shady cryptocurrency that sees even the most legitimate of them fail when rivals call for an old-school "bank run". A social media platform where even the new "public square" can turn into chaos when the new owner wants to make an easy buck.

As investors wait for the Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and other long-term watchers to step in to clean things up, they are likely to turn back to the recovering US dollar and current Treasuries on signs of easing inflation . .

I'm not a Luddite. I started building Radio Shack kits in the 70's, learned basic programming in the 80's and have been doing every major innovation since then except social media. Economics never made sense to me until the big annoying “You are the product” thing came along, so who wants that? We've already read hurried obituaries about technology. Indeed, of course, we will not go back to the previous state of the art.

But techno-libertarianism, the thrill of the old-school sovereign state going the way of the dinosaurs, technology, the unfettered free market, and full-blown liberalism can lead to a utopia of freedom, choice, and self-determination. they just reached their peak. The problem has always been that profit trumps reliability, and revenue and "performance" trump infrastructure and stability. Business is business and no one should blame them. Profit is the goal of shareholders and modern companies are designed to maximize it without ignoring alternative ESG criteria. However, business doesn't operate in a vacuum. This allows for a playing field built on a neutral infrastructure that is sufficiently trusted by all players.

Currency is an important part of the business infrastructure. The SEC has been hesitant to regulate cryptocurrencies for too long, and now the chickens have gone home. Billions of dollars are at stake. If FTX is cryptocurrency's "Lehman moment," it may be too late for the SEC to do anything worthwhile, and it's time for Congress to act. When this happens, the ability of flexible decentralized technologies to escape such “old world” structures may be the ultimate confrontation between the geopolitical state and technoliberal ideology.

Can governments tame cryptocurrency? This will likely require international cooperation through treaties. But in a world of heightened geopolitical tensions and the struggle for technological leadership, can enough global powers come together and thrive?

Reliable sources of information are equally important to business. Attacks on "mainstream media" strengthen the position of alternative sources of information such as Twitter. Of course, the mainstream media is also largely occupied by non-profit companies. But as radio and television began to be regulated by the state, new sources of information became responsible not only for investors but also for governments. Can the government finally tame social media? We must learn this because it is not acceptable to organize a carnival night in a new square where we do not know who is real and who is not, even among companies where we depend on critical or political drugs. Leading country Here too, not only congressional intervention is possible, but also cooperation and international agreements to redefine the regulations and the safety of the infrastructures.

It may not be the days of the old sovereign nation, but the days of the tech brothers are numbered. Some things (the warts and all) stick around because they've proven their worth over the long term. Bright and shiny new items are sometimes pressed under the bright sun and tossed for the next one. I sympathize with libertarianism and I am not in favor of widespread regulation. However, the basic infrastructure required for a sustainable regime of ownership, procurement, business and investment cannot be securely and reliably provided by the unregulated private sector alone.

After the collapse of FTX and Twitter, traditional governments could be the big winners. We need to double the supply of currency, data and critical regulatory infrastructure so businesses and economies can thrive.

Sean M. O'Connor is a law professor and executive director of the Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University. He is a visiting professor at Boston College Law School, teaching contracts, corporations and securities regulation.

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