The billionaire baby boom
+ "Boring reality" AI, Boomer panic, doom spending, war robot turned DJ, and why there’s no “alt-left pipeline"
Last week, it was revealed that Elon Musk had welcomed his 13th child into the world, but he’s not the only tech mogul obsessed with boosting birth rates. This week on Power User, tech journalist Julia Black joined me to discuss the rise of pronatalism in Silicon Valley, a growing movement encouraging people to have as many babies as possible.
We unpack why tech billionaires are so suddenly obsessed with having children and how their vision of the future is entangled with right-wing ideology, eugenics, and genetic engineering. From embryo selection to potential threats to reproductive rights, Julia and I dig into the unsettling ways pronatalist thinking is creeping into politics and culture. We talk about what it means for the future of parenthood, women’s autonomy, and why none of it is really about saving humanity.
Watch here and don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more tech and online culture videos!
The Rise of the Creator Middle Class
It can sometimes seem like the creator world is dominated by a handful of ultra-famous personalities with millions of followers. But beneath the surface, a larger and more diverse group of influencers are shaping much of online culture.
The American Influencer Council just released their Creators Trailblazing to the Top List, which recognizes 34 influencers who have built engaged followings within what’s often called the creator middle class—nano (1k-10k), micro (10k-50k), and mid-tier (50k-500k) creators. These are the voices driving conversations, setting trends, and fostering niche communities, often without the financial security or brand deals that top-tier influencers enjoy. (The AIC is a trade association for U.S.-based social media creators).
“Fewer than one percent of US creators have follower counts totaling half a million or more. Most creators working in the creator economy are part of the middle class,” said Qianna Smith Bruneteau, AIC Founder and Executive Director, who authored the report.
The creator economy is growing at an exponential rate. Industry estimates predict its economic valuation could balloon to $480 billion by 2027, according to Goldman Sachs. Creators are part of a growing labor market, with reports suggesting that the U.S. is home to 38 million content creators, according to a report by the AIC.
The AIC polled the influencers and revealed a few interesting stats:
For those looking to work with influential but under-the-radar creators, the full list of honorees is now available on the AIC’s website.
What I’m reading
Dividing "Posters" and "Creators" Could Define Hollywood's AI Fight
Posters aren't a threat to Hollywood, but the future of creators could be. - Posting Nexus
The women who made America’s microchips and the children who paid for it
The U.S. wants to bring back domestic chipmaking. But America’s first generation of Silicon Valley factory workers endured unsafe manufacturing conditions and never got answers about kids born with birth defects. - The Verge
DOGE Has ‘God Mode’ Access to Government Data
The president’s special commission now has an unprecedented ability to view and manipulate information at many federal agencies. - The Atlantic
How Med Spas Conquered America
Revenue is growing at double-digit rates, fueled by surging demand for Botox, lip fillers and weight-loss drugs. - Bloomberg
The rundown
Japanese artist Takayuki Todo chained a robot dog that is programmed to attack visitors. “I believe that we should take into consideration the psychology of those who feel ‘it’s abuse,’ ‘it’s pitiful,’ or ‘it disgusting’ in response to this tasteless exhibition. At that moment, we perceive this man-made object as a living thing,” Todo said.
Teslatakedown.com is a new site where you can learn about the criminal actions of Musk and DOGE, how Musk’s wealth is tied to his stake in Tesla, and find protests in your area or create your own.
Influencer Tinx’s first novel, Hotter in the Hamptons, is being adapted into a comedy series by the Foster sisters.
Delta is offering $30,000 to each passenger on the plane that landed upside-down in Toronto Pearson airport.
There are tutorials on how to run a rug pull all over YouTube, targeted towards young boys.
A robot designed for war did a 30-minute DJ set at a California nightclub.
A video of a drone flying up to Drake’s penthouse in Australia got 16.2M views on X, but it’s all part of an ad for a crypto gambling platform called Stake. Drake has a $100 million per year endorsement deal from them.
Good breakdown on the phenomenon of Boomer Panic.
'Boring Reality' is a Chinese open source project that creates videos that look like they were shot on your phone.
Adam Sandler potentially somehow convinced Kanye to stop identifying as a Nazi.
Bonnie Blue, known for sleeping with 1,057 men in under 24 hours is reportedly pregnant.
Addison Rae responds to Mark Zuckerberg saying that the corporate world needs more ‘masculine energy’: “I think we’ve had our dose of masculine energy! No need to add more. What the world needs is feminine energy!”
Apple says Severance has become the most-viewed series on Apple TV+ globally, surpassing Ted Lasso.
Warner Bros Discovery is rebranding Max from using blue color to something more neutral, likely a combination of black and white
1 in 5 Americans are “doom spending” aka buying out of fear for the future, especially related to Trump’s tariffs.
More authors are writing fiction books starring incels as the movement becoming increasingly mainstream.
AMP, the popular Twitch and YouTube collective featuring Kai Cenat, Duke Dennis, Fanum, and Agent00, is launching a skincare brand called TONE.
Patreon published their State of Create report, with tons of insights about the creator economy.
Mastodon is adding quote posts. I find this interesting because I got fully cancelled on that app for even suggesting this feature two years ago! :)
I thought this was a smart video on why there’s no “alt-left pipeline.”
*** (this section was formerly called “more fun stuff”, but a lot of news items— like planes crashing and losing our civil liberties— are not fun stuff! So I’m experimenting with a new name.) :)
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Really good interview. I have a family member who needed to go the IVF/embryo route for medical reasons. Without it, she would not have been able to have children. The embryos were culled based on genetic diseases; both parents are Ashkenazi so more likely to have mutations such as was mentioned on the podcast. But that was the only culling They wanted it to be as much of a normal pregnancy as possible. They opted not to know the sex of the baby due this summer.
As for the tech bro baby boom, I think there's a fair amount of status seeking in having many children. It's conspicuous consumption given how expensive it is to raise children. It's also an atavistic signal of virility. Neither of which are good reasons to bring children in the world.
There's something darkly entertaining about "more fun stuff" involving the bad things