The Future of Technology Needs More Pirates, Less Emperors
Why existential innovation demands rule breakers, not gatekeepers
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“It is better to be a pirate than to join the Navy.”
— Steve Jobs
The internet wasn’t built by institutions. It wasn’t built by regulators, corporations, or committees.
It was built by pirates.
Hackers, tinkerers, rebels—the ones who refused to ask for permission. They broke the rules, rewrote them, and in doing so, gave us a future that felt open, boundless, and full of possibility.
Now? The emperors have taken over.
And it shows.
Technology—once a tool for liberation—is now a machine for control.
Big Tech hoards data like oil.
AI is being locked behind corporate walls.
The open, messy, creative internet is being replaced by algorithmic dopamine farms designed to extract, not empower.
The pirates are disappearing. And that’s a problem.
Every meaningful leap forward—a disruptive innovation, a new frontier—doesn’t come from those who seek to preserve power, but from those who challenge it. The future of technology cannot be dictated by emperors. It must be driven by existential innovation—the kind that fundamentally reshapes civilization in service of human freedom, not corporate control.
Let’s think about how we got here…
The first wave of the internet was raw, decentralized, bursting with possibility.
Napster rewired the music industry.
Wikipedia dismantled gatekeepers of knowledge.
These weren’t safe bets. They were acts of defiance. But then the institutions took over, and the rebels became the rulers. The same companies that once promised open systems and infinite possibilities became the gatekeepers they once sought to replace.
Google went from organizing the world’s information to controlling access to it.
Facebook went from connecting people to controlling the attention economy.
Apple built an empire on "Think Different"—and then locked the gates behind it.
Amazon turned frictionless commerce into a centralized monopoly.
And now?
AI, the most consequential technology of our time, is being concentrated in the hands of a few companies, each racing to control the future rather than open it.
We are watching history repeat itself.
In his latest essay, Alex Karp (founder and CEO of Palantir) makes the stakes clear: the world’s biggest existential threats—war, AI, biosecurity—will not be solved by bureaucrats and corporate oligarchs. They will be solved by those who move fast, build ruthlessly, and refuse to play by outdated rules.
His call for a New Manhattan Project is not about preserving the past—it’s about seizing the future.
Existential innovation—the kind that doesn’t just incrementally improve life, but fundamentally reshapes it—isn’t born in boardrooms. It’s born in garage labs, underground networks, and decentralized movements that refuse to accept the status quo.
And so, the next era of technology cannot be built by emperors. It must be built by those willing to break the system in service of something better. We need pirates willing to ask:
What does AI look like when it’s not owned by trillion-dollar companies?
What happens when creators own their audiences, instead of renting them?
What if the metaverse wasn’t a corporate theme park, but a digital commons?
What if we built network states that operated outside legacy institutions?
To be clear: I’m not calling for chaos—I’m calling for courage. The courage to build without waiting for permission. The courage to reject centralization. The courage to prioritize individual agency over institutional power. Existential innovation requires rebels willing to challenge the entrenched systems that seek to manage, regulate, and control progress.
The world’s most pressing challenges won’t necessarily be solved by incumbents protecting their monopolies. They will be solved by those who break the mold. The next great pirates are needed to:
Building AI models that aren’t controlled by a handful of corporations.
Building platforms where creators own their audiences, not rent them.
Building innovation that protects democracy instead of eroding it.
Building technologies that extend and enhance human life.
This isn’t just about innovation—it’s about existential innovation. The difference is that while innovation optimizes the present. Existential innovation redefines the future. In my recent essay, The Existential Innovation Revolution, I wrote:
The companies that extend human life, intelligence, and planetary reach will define the future. These aren’t just industries but also survival strategies that will unlock trillion-dollar opportunities while ensuring civilization's long-term prosperity.
These are not fringe ideas. These are trillion-dollar opportunities. And they should be seized by pirates, not emperors.
And so, whether you are a first-time founder or a repeat one, as you think about what company you should be building, I encourage you to ask yourself:
Are you building for control—or freedom?
Are you reinforcing the system—or breaking it in service of something better?
History doesn’t reward the rulers. It rewards the rebels.
Karp is right: the next Manhattan Project is not optional; it’s mandatory. The question is: who will have the courage to seize the opportunity to build it?
Get to work.
Thanks for reading,
Yon
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AI assistants were used to help research and edit this essay.