Fact: Government Interference in Science
In an interview, tech magnet Marc Andreessen says science is controlled by the US government and that entire branches of research have been removed from the public domain.
A brief introduction, Marc Andreessen is an Internet legend and produced one of the first Internet web browsers, Mozilla. You might recall the little lizard logo? This was during the glory days of, Trumpet Winsock, dial-up modems, and before Internet Super Highway had toll booths and on ramps. Andreessen is multi-talented individual with strong business acumen and pursued what has become a long career in venture capitalism in the tech industry.
On December 10, 2024, Andreessen was interviewed by, Bari Weiss from The Free Press organization. Adresseen recalls a May 2024 trip to DC to discuss AI investment with government officials. The following two points should stand out for everyone.
AI in the public domain is controlled by US government
Officials discouraged Andreessen from Artificial Intelligence(AI) investing saying that AI will be two or three big companies and the government will control those companies. Andreessen doesn’t provide any reason for government concern over AI technology. Yet it doesn’t take much imagination to understand their concerns. The government’s been very public about their aspirations for a Ministry of Truth and it’s control over Internet information bellwethers like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook. Consider for a moment, search engines and web services provide a moderate degree over influence over public opinion. Contrast that with AI. AI’s don’t provide results, they provide answers. AI presents a very unique opportunity for government influence over the American public opinion, and a more subtly, the Ministry of Truth they always desired.
Government successfully removed entire areas of research from the Physics community during the Cold War
When Andreessen says AI technologies are already in the public domain, implying once the genie is out of the bottle, he doesn’t want to go back in. The government goes on confidently to say that entire areas of science were successfully removed from the research community during the Cold War. Although there’s ample evidence in the scientific record, officials have controlled science long before the 1980’s. In fact, for those interested, I wrote about an area of science that was removed from public domain in the early 1900’s. I have a three part investigative series on the science of, Ternion AG. Reading all three parts will take you about 20-mins.
The following video is an edited fragment of a full-length interview where Andreessen covers the governments AI control objective and it’s confidence to remove the subject from the public domain. You can find the full interview on YouTube.
Why control AI and more broadly, Science?
Science is the noble pursuit of truth or at least that what they told us in school, right? Scientific Method, peer review, academic pedigrees, are all controls to protect and defend the truth, right? Reality is that government and politics thrive on narratives. Truth presents an existential threat to those that live in a world of lies; therefore, Science and scientists are controlled at all costs. Why? Because you believe it.
Can we repair public confidence in science?
The fact we are aware and leaders like Andreessen are openly discussing the deception is encouraging. In the past, we would simply ‘believe the experts’ but now the public is using critical thinking skills. Leaders in their fields in the future will not be appointed by the establishment but instead win public confidence by presenting compelling results and data. It’s also likely non-disclosure agreements will be discarded since silencing descending points of view will be seen as antithetical for building public confidence. Clearly, we are witnessing a public mandate for science reformation and to be the noble pursuit of truth we always assumed it was.