Silicon Valley Ideologies

Abstract

This case study unpacks the powerful ideologies underlying Silicon Valley's technological aspirations and their implications for society. It traces how cyberlibertarianism—a fusion of radical individualism, free-market philosophy, and techno-utopianism—became embedded in engineering and corporate cultures that prioritize disruption over responsibility. The study discusses how technosolutionism and technological determinism frame technology as a solution to all social ills at the expense of human agency and moral complexity. Through the quest for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), the case illustrates how intellectuals and institutions, from OpenAI to Google, sell ideologies branded as TESCREAL: Transhumanism, Extropianism, Singularitarianism, Cosmism, Rationalism, Effective Altruism, and Longtermism. These ideologies predict posthuman evolutionary destinies, mind uploading, and space colonization, with speculative existential risk frequently taking precedence over near-term social harms like bias and inequality. The study argues that these ideologies disproportionately benefit technocratic elites at the cost of democratic discourse and marginalized groups' interests. Lastly, it challenges students to think about whether technological development can be separated from its ideological roots and how the humanities can inform more inclusive and human-focused innovation.