Seeing a sudden surge in interest in the “Tech Right” as they’re being dubbed. Often the focus is on business motivations like tax breaks but I think there’s more to it. The narrative that silicon Valley is a bunch of tech hippies was well sown early on, particularly by Stewart Brand and his ilk but throughout that period and prior, the intersection between tech and authoritative politics that favours systems over people is well established.
Absolutely. In fact in one major survey of the values of the counterculture conducted back in the 1960s Ayn Rand was listed as one of people’s major influences. There were different strands to the counterculture, one communitarian but the other about self actualisation and the individual. Both positioned themselves in opposition to the state, but differed significantly in what kind of future they wanted.
Ayn Rand was not against communitarianism. Her heroes in her books regularly bent over backwards to give gifts to people they loved and respected.
Lots of people think Rand was about “My stuff comes first”. It’s more like “My values come first”.