A Really Bad Soap Opera

We could be forgiven for thinking we live in a Silicon Valley soap opera. It's so outrageous, so unbelievable, so perfected for the outrage algorithms that at this point I'd be willing to bet the plot is just being written by a writer's room of AI's. A whole boatload of digital monkeys whose output hardly meets the Shakespearian bar. 

There was the battle between Elon Musk and Sam Altman in the courts over OpenAI (and, by extendion, Grok and xAI), laid out in court documents for the world to witness their dysfunctional relationships with just about everyone. Then again, Elon once threatened Mark Zuckerberg with a wrestling match in lieu of a lawsuit over Threads. Jeff Bezos, the man behind Amazon.com, held a wedding that took over the entire city of Venice, making Taylor Swift's rental of Madison Square Garden look like dangling pocketchange. As Jack Dorsey heads out on yet another ascetic retreat, the dudes behind Anthropic were invited to visit the Pope, praying that photos with His Holyness will sanctify their product as the one "good" AI. Then there's Peter Theil, Alex Karp, and Mark Andreeson, whose fascist pronouncements about how democracy was a pretty bad idea anyway are mistakenly labeled "philosophy", even as they rake in the profits over Palantír or Substack. 

People seem to think we can still evaluate the systems and companies these men lead while avoiding all this ridiculousness. As if we can talk about a company's new release of a product, its features, the user interface, its coolness factor. As if this will help us direct our attention, know which product to use.

Sadly, under the hood, these systems all the same. They’re all egosystems.

What is an Egosystem?

Egosystems revolve around a single CEO who calls the shots. His whims dictate the next feature or sea-change that catches users unawares.  Even when egosystems claim to connect you to the next big thing or nurture your relationships with loved ones, but that isn’t their goal. Instead, they capitalize on your desire for connection to feed the outsized ego of the One Man To Rule Them All.

Egosystems rest precariously on that beloved American story of the exceptional man, known to all by a single moniker: Musk, Zuck, Jack. These CEO’s grow empires through acquisitions and investments, hijacking open systems, cultivating social ties to powerful financiers. It’s just another variant of toxic masculinity.

Egosystem leaders appear to us as gods, untouchable, able to accomplish the impossible. When they break the rules or flaunt the law, people believe it’s evidence of their prowess. After all, who can stand in the way of firing massive swaths of employees, turning your office into a hotel, changing your brand logo to an internet meme or enabling Nazis on your app--you’re getting humanity to Mars!

Isn't there something to charisma, though?

Indeed, sociology tells us that groups built around a singular “charismatic” individual seem exciting, but they are as fragile as the egos who build them. CEO’s who only listen to what they want to hear make risky bets. Truly successful entrepreneurship requires teamwork: a Steve Wozniak for every Steve Jobs. Even Isaac Newton stood “on the shoulders of giants.” Egosystems, for all their hype, are doomed to fail.

Charisma, in sociological view, is never a property of individuals. It's actually a property of a group. A charismatic organization is oriented around an individual, ringed with true believers. Think Apple in the day of Steve Jobs.   This leader typically gives voice to the group's "inchoate, deeplly held beliefs." The things we are deeply committed to but have trouble expressing.

What that means is that it's not just about leaders. Everyday people play a role in egosystems too. Our attention, clicks and scrolls boost their profile and profits, for one thing. But we also legitimate them, sometimes because of their shenanigans.  Charismatics gain followers by appealing to our deeply-held beliefs: things we believe should be true.

So when social media CEO’s talk about "connecting the world,” enabling “free speech,” even building a decentralized web, it is irresistable to those of us who genuinely care about the First Amendment, the Fediverse, or the internet ideal of the “global village” from the optimistic 1990’s.  When they talk about certainly individuals mattering more than others, they appeal to our individualistic culture, our sense of uniqueness.

Too bad it's not about real Leadership

Unfortunately, egosystem leaders are not motivated by thinking about us, shared ideals, or even technological progress. They’re inspired by market capture, expansion and growth, data profiteering, and extinguishing their rivals. This isn’t Star Trek, it’s Survivor!

That’s why it doesn’t matter if you think the interface is intuitive, if your favorite influencer is posting there, where your audience is, or if it syncs with BlueSky. And in the greatest mistake of all, it doesn’t even matter if it’s profitable!  It’s just Clash of the Titans: Social Media Edition, and our signups, clicks, and likes are casting votes in the biggest popularity contest this side of high school.

Let’s call it: Silicon Valley has an egosystem problem. Its shallow parade of robber barons leading the latest hip investment vehicles has reeled us in for decades. We are simply the pawns in someone else’s game.

How we can deflate their bubble

Fortunately, the pawns can rein these titans of digital industry in. Because followers prop egosystems up, we can deflate them too.

Egosystems rely on groups to follow them, so without their followers they are nothing. Our departures have an impact, and the more the better. Twitter’s daily visits have plummeted. There are now millions of Mastodon and BlueSky accounts.

When we walk away, the ego deflates in our wake. The system collapses. The Titan sinks.

Plus, taking a break from egosystems is better for our relationships and for our mental health. Members of the Tech Reclaimers and the Luddite Club have opted out en mass -- and love it. We feel better. We are in command of our own faculties. Their charisma misses the mark.

That doesn’t mean you’ll feel better if you log into Threads instead of Facebook. We don’t have to take the bait, don’t have to cast a vote. This freakish reality television show won’t be renewed for another season if enough of us, en mass, change the channel.

The solution to egosystems is us. Let the egosystem leaders duke it out at their next wrestling match, or in the courts. There has never been a better, more influential time to exercise our right to vote with our feet. They need us – but we don’t need them.