(2022-04-28) Solana Elon Takes Twitter

Mike Solana: Elon Takes Twitter. “Freedom,” “open source technology,” and “man, I really hate these spam bots.” The media’s reaction to these ambitions was instant and apoplectic. But even by the gutter standards we’ve come to accept from media, this has been a month for the books.... The worst people on the internet, delirious with rage, couldn’t stop themselves from saying the dumbest things they’ve ever said since last week and listen, again, yes, I love this. (Musk Buys Twitter)

The truth is there’s only one thing this is really about and that’s free speech. Still. It’s always just that.

In straight reporting, from Axios to The New York Times, the “untethered” freedom to speak is now characterized as a radical position.

Just a crazy op-ed? I would have thought perhaps, prayed, and called it a night. But then President Barack Obama entered the fray.... Obama’s tactics here are of a kind we’ve seen from media and government for the last five years. No laws were plainly proposed, because no law concerning the regulation of speech can be easily enacted—it’s that pesky Constitution, you see. Obama’s goal was to bully tech workers into doing censorship on our government’s behalf, which is why his chosen audience was the next generation of Google engineers rather than Congress.

In terms of strategic particulars, it’s unclear what Elon will do. The man is good, but let’s be real: He’s chaotic good.

In fact, Elon is a values-driven ideologue who instantiates his values in the form of companies, which usually succeed. We’ve seen him realize his goals, or tremendous efforts towards them, in payments, energy, and space. Now, the man has set his mind to speech. So speech will be the future—or, a world of freer speech is certainly the world he’ll work toward.