Prediction Not checkable as stated
Malone: Tech will create a permanent underclass of zero-economic-value citizens
“We've got zero, we have what are called ZEVs coming, and those are zero economic value citizens. Which are people that even if you had a job opening, you would never hire them, because technology will do the job instead, and this is going to represent a sizabl…”
Opinion
Malone: Viral web posts should incur financial charges to limit mass misinformation
“After a certain amount of posting, after a certain, if something you do reaches out to a certain number of people, there's some sort of charge attached.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Malone: The US government built hidden backdoors into Silicon Valley tech companies
“I watched the secretary of Homeland Security show up at a coffee shop in Los Altos and talk to the two founders of Google quietly.
There's trap doors that have been built all over Silicon Valley that we know nothing about.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Malone: Governments will mandate backdoors in all blockchain technology
“And we're going to build it into blockchain.
I don't know how with all those, all that security and everything else, but they're going to demand it.
Because if you don't control that information or have access to that information, you lose your national sovere…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Malone: AI will obsolete programmers while original creative writers become extremely rich
“Yeah, if you're writing code, you know, you're about to become a newspaper man. But if you can write a really good play or movie script or novel. You're going to be a very rich person.”
Insight
Malone: Technological productivity gains no longer show up on corporate balance sheets
“Productivity was always tied with economic strength, but now we're having non-monetizable productivity, and it began really with the microprocessor. It got cheaper and cheaper, and more and more powerful. So on the balance books, it wasn't producing that much …”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Malone: AI already writes a large portion of daily newspaper stories
“A lot of those newspaper stories you read every day are being done by AI, not by human beings.”
Assertion Supported
Malone: California legislation effectively outlawed core-and-freelancer corporate models
“Well, California just outlawed that. So California is actually moving back in time against that.”
Insight
Malone: Freeware helped build the web, but carries enormous social costs
“Freeware has been a devastating thing. It did a wonderful job of building the web. I love freeware, but the cost of it, social costs is enormous.”
Opinion
Malone: High cost of living makes Silicon Valley terrible for early entrepreneurs
“I actually think this is a terrible time for entrepreneurs right now, especially in the valley, because it's safer now because of the cost of living and everything else to Bury yourself in a large corporation.”
Opinion
Malone: Venture capitalists moving downstream makes reaching Series A nearly impossible
“It's hard to make the jump from angel to series A now is almost impossible because the VCs have all moved downstream to the big money place.”
Disclosure
Malone: Holds a 15-year ten-dollar bet with Elon Musk on Mars landing
“And he and I have a 10 dollar bet. We've had it for 15 years on When he's going to put a man on Mars.”
Mike Malone