The original author is Vito, the founder of MetaEra.
Many people may not know that many significant recent events are actually related to the internal strife of the 'Shenzhen Gang'.
So what exactly is the matter of Musk and Peter Thiel joining the 'Shenzhen Gang'? How did all this happen?
I am relatively familiar with the 'Shenzhen Gang', so I will elaborate on it here.
Before specifically introducing what happened, let me first introduce the relationships between the people involved.
Everyone knows who Musk is, so I won't introduce him.
Many may not know much about Peter Thiel; let me briefly introduce him as the man behind Musk and many Silicon Valley tycoons, known as the 'Godfather of Silicon Valley Venture Capital'.
Peter Thiel co-founded PayPal with Musk in his early years, and after selling it with Musk, he began entering the venture capital field, investing in Facebook, Airbnb, LinkedIn, SpaceX, OpenAI, Neuralink, and DeepMind.
The book 'Zero to One' is written by him, redefining the logic of venture capital and attempting to 'use technology to conquer death', thus being called 'the philosopher of the investment world'.
At the same time, he is also a promoter of 'far-right intellect' in the U.S.; Thiel believes that AI will reshape the political landscape and advocates for reducing regulation to promote technological innovation, pushing an anti-establishment political agenda through capital and technology, becoming the 'backstage designer' of right-wing forces in the U.S.
He advocates for libertarianism and neoconservative philosophy, arguing for elite-led societies, questioning the efficiency of democratic systems. Since 2016, he has become an important supporter of Trump, funding right-wing political figures, including U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, and influencing national security policy through companies like Palantir.
Therefore, Peter Thiel has a significant direct influence on Musk and many Silicon Valley tycoons, as well as on the current Trump administration's ideology, playing a crucial role in Musk's joining of the 'Shenzhen Gang'.
So how did Peter Thiel come into contact with and join the 'Shenzhen Gang'?
This is related to a British person named Nick Land, who is also a key figure in the internal strife of the 'Shenzhen Gang'. Who exactly is this Nick Land?
The operational model and implementation efficiency of the 'Shenzhen Gang' observed by Land from the late 90s to the early 21st century in the forefront of Shenzhen's reform and opening up left him greatly shocked, profoundly impacting his thoughts, and providing a realistic basis and successful examples for his theory of 'right-wing technological accelerationism'.
An unrestricted technological testing ground: China's rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, and other areas confirm his hypothesis that 'technological breakthroughs need to free themselves from institutional constraints.'
An efficient collaboration model between government and capital: local governments hold an open attitude towards tech companies and capital, forming an efficient policy support system that allows technology to develop explosively, which left him deeply shocked.
Of course, at that time, there were still no restrictions on the development of internet giants, suppressing the platform monopoly economy of several major internet forces.
Therefore, when Nick Land formed his ideological system, he was still influenced by the ideas of the previous generation of the 'Shenzhen Gang'.
He advocates that the West also needs to reshape social order through elite-led technological acceleration, asserting that the government should reduce constraints on capital and technology to unleash the creativity of the 'superman' class. This idea aligns closely with the 'elite rule' promoted by American right-wing accelerationism.
Now, the 'leftist accelerationism' advocated by the 'Shenzhen Gang' has significant differences from Nick Land's 'right-wing accelerationism', with the former oriented towards common prosperity.
The new ideology advocated by the current 'Shenzhen Gang' is 'leftist accelerationism' aimed at common prosperity, emphasizing that everyone should earn together, and highlighting state guidance of capital to serve the public interest; while Nick Land's path of 'right-wing accelerationism' still attempts to solidify elite privileges through technological monopoly.
Nick Land's ideas spread through his students, such as Scott Aaronson, influencing Silicon Valley elites like Peter Thiel (founder of PayPal) and Elon Musk.
After many years, this ideology eventually penetrated the policy logic of the Trump administration, advocating for the consolidation of American hegemony through tariffs and technological monopolies.
This field also reflects the deep contradictions between China and the United States on major global issues such as global trade, global governance, governance of artificial intelligence, and ideological competition.
Ironically, the most significant division in today's world is essentially the division between the old generation of 'Shenzhen Gang' ideology and the upgraded iteration of the new 'Shenzhen Gang' ideology.
So previously many KOLs complained that the 'Shenzhen Gang' had a huge influence and could do anything, this is not an exaggeration. Now it’s understood that the current trade war is initiated by a group influenced by the old 'Shenzhen Gang' ideology, which can drop U.S. stocks and BTC in an instant.
Now, the new 'Shenzhen Gang' is striving to protect the market worldwide, working hard to restore the global trade system and promote global consensus.
So don’t easily provoke the 'Shenzhen Gang', okay? If the new and old 'Shenzhen Gang' are unhappy one day and fight, that would be a genuine third world war.
