Vitalik Buterin is best known for creating the world’s second-most-valuable blockchain, Ethereum, when he was just 19 years old. In the past few years, though, Buterin’s influence has expanded well beyond the world of crypto and into the broader realm of ideas where the young polymath—who taught himself Mandarin while traveling the world—offers important treatises on technology and the future.
The latest example is a 10,000-word essay Buterin published this week titled “My techno-optimism.” It’s a response to the much-discussed “manifesto” with a similar title by the influential venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. Buterin’s piece endorses many elements of the manifesto, including an affirmation that technology has delivered marvelous benefits to humanity, and that fear and overzealous regulation have limited progress in fields like biotech. But while he endorses a foot-on-the-gas approach, especially to solve the climate change crisis, Buterin also calls for a more cautious approach when it comes to AI.
