Isn't this a bot farm? Don't they already exist and aren't they against TikTok's terms of service? The most surprising part of this article is that a16z invested in this.
also their website is unsettling https://doublespeed.ai/
In any case, their investment into this company just fits onto a trendline of high-capital antisocial behaviour.
> Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.
>Michael: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?
- The Godfather
Why would this surprise you?
I thought A16Z were a top-tier VC wanting to create long-term value. I didn't see black-hat social media bot farms in their focus areas.
It might be a bit facetious, but if I had 10m invested with them I'd be asking questions about their investment thesis.
Them investing in a troll farm is pretty on brand.
Introspection is basically THE core mechanism for learning. That's HOW one learns on any topic. It's not a "wishy washy hippie feeling" (being provocative here) but rather introspection is (and to be fair I verified with https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/introspection/ just to make sure I wasn't talking out of my own ass) precisely looking at your inner workings. How you function IN ORDER to do better. You notice flaws, inefficient behaviors, things you enjoy, etc THEN you act on it.
Having no introspection is like doing math without verifying. It's like coding without compiling, linting or even executing without looking at the output.
So dumb it hurts.
By the way, his notion that introspection is an "invention of the 1920s" is historical bullshit. I think he's taking potshots at psychotherapy? Whatever, man, but then do that. It's not like a Freudian concept of the self is beyond criticism - far, far from it - but using that to interdict "introspection" is just sloppy thinking.
Anyway, leaving aside anything else to be said on the topic, the idea that "great men of history don't introspect" is utter bullshit. I'll see you Abraham Lincoln, and raise you Marcus fucking Aurelius.
So, if what you really want to say is that "most 'great men of history' were sociopaths" then, well, yeah: you're probably onto something. If your next thought is "and I want to be like them", then that's 1) a pretty damning confession, and 2) also evidence that you, sir, aren't actually a sociopathic "great man" at all, just an insecure nerd who got lucky a few times, and now are getting high on your own farts.
Social media has been a transparent race to the bottom for many years. The sooner it is shittified beyond repair the better. AI flooding content to them should help speedrun its descent, or maybe I’ve giving the average user (above child age) too much credit.
/s
!/s?
* Y Combinator - vibe coders.
Are there any respectable VC tech companies out there in 2026?
This article in particular doesn’t have one. So it should be fine.
I'm not an expert on the antichrist, but I think they are at least better candidates than Greta Thunberg.
New Media Playbook https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/a16zs-new-media-playboo...
I still think it’s quite shocking.
I did some volunteer work with a non-profit conducting a survey in NYC about “food deserts”. I had to complete an hours long certification course—ethical boundaries and such—just so I can speak with people about fruits and vegetables. This audio makes it clear a16z’s rigorous approach to communication is coming from a dark and dangerous place.
This “playbook” speaks about _intentionally creating_ mental breakdown. Seems like an antichrist move to me.
If this is the kind of thing you can do in the open as a "reputable" company with VC investment, I can only imagine the kind of horrific industrial-scale social media spam+slop botnets for hire that exist less publicly.
And still Wikipedia calls the dead internet a ‘conspiracy theory’
