# The Techno-Optimist Manifesto *Published October 16, 2023 on the [[Andreessen Horowitz]] (a16z) website. ~5,000 words. Author: [[Marc Andreessen]], co-founder of a16z. The essay that publicly declared Silicon Valley's ideological alignment: technology is an unqualified good, regulation is the enemy, and the people building the future should not be constrained by those afraid of it.* Andreessen's manifesto in numbered declarations: "We believe technology is the glory of human ambition and achievement." "We believe in the future." "We believe markets are the way." "We believe energy is life." "We are told to be afraid — we are not." The essay reads as a venture capital firm's founding philosophy restated as a civilizational creed — *e/acc* as corporate communications. The manifesto explicitly names its enemies: "the precautionary principle," "sustainability," "tech ethics," "trust and safety," "ESG," "DEI," "the Luddites." And it names its patron saints: a list that includes [[Ayn Rand]], [[Milton Friedman]], [[Friedrich Hayek]], and — notably — the Italian Futurists, whose relationship to fascism Andreessen does not acknowledge. See the full ideology entry at [[Techno-Optimist Manifesto]]. ## The Argument in Structure The manifesto operates as a creed — a series of "We believe" statements: - Technology is inherently good; more technology is inherently better - Markets are the optimal allocation mechanism; government intervention destroys value - Energy abundance is the foundation of civilization; restricting energy is anti-human - AI will make everything better; AI safety concerns are "the baptists" to regulation's "bootleggers" - Population growth is good; declining birth rates are a civilizational crisis - The enemies of technology are the enemies of humanity ### The Enemy List The most revealing feature: a list of ideas, movements, and professional categories Andreessen explicitly opposes. "Tech ethics," "trust and safety," and "AI safety" — the fields that exist to impose constraints on technology companies — are named alongside "Communism" as enemies of progress. This frames any attempt to regulate technology as morally equivalent to totalitarianism. ### The Patron Saint List The essay's intellectual genealogy ends with the Italian Futurists — the early 20th-century art movement that celebrated technology, speed, violence, and war, and whose founder (Filippo Marinetti) was a fascist. Andreessen presents them without context as technology enthusiasts. The omission is either ignorance or a deliberate signal — and given the essay's sophistication, ignorance seems unlikely. ## KB Significance 1. **It is a16z's ideological founding document** — the moment the most influential VC firm in Silicon Valley declared that its investment thesis is also a political philosophy. 2. **It connects mainstream Silicon Valley to [[Effective Accelerationism]]** — e/acc was a fringe online movement until Andreessen, who manages $42B+ in assets, published its core claims as his firm's official position. 3. **The enemy list** explicitly targets AI safety, tech ethics, and trust and safety — the professional fields that constrain the defense tech and surveillance tech companies documented across this KB. This is not abstract philosophy; it is a VC firm telling regulators and critics to get out of the way. ## See Also - [[Marc Andreessen]] — Author - [[Andreessen Horowitz]] — The firm the manifesto represents - [[Techno-Optimist Manifesto]] — Full ideology entry - [[Effective Accelerationism]] — The movement the manifesto mainstreamed - [[American Dynamism]] — a16z's defense tech investment thesis - [[Why Software Is Eating the World]] — Andreessen's 2011 essay; the predecessor - [[Katherine Boyle]] — a16z partner who operationalizes the manifesto through defense tech [[Manifestos and Founding Documents Hub]]