.is it still the american dream or already the american nightmare??

I never liked history classes. Our teacher's monotonous voice had the same effect on sparking our curiosity as watching paint dry in slow motion. So, as most of my classmates, I never really paid attention. But had I listened, maybe I would have understood much faster how the world works, and by now, made a larger positive impact.

History likes to repeat itself and we can learn a lot from the past, because the foundations od human (mis)behaviour are always the same, fuelled by timeless drives: greed, power, and our fascinating ability to repeat mistakes when pushed to extremes.

And politics? That seemed even worse - a playground for the corrupt and manipulative, where promises evaporate faster than Silicon Valley's ethical principles. Don't be evil. Yeah right. I wanted nothing to do with it.

Instead, I fell in love with technology. The Internet felt like a clean slate, a way to reshape the world without getting your hands dirty in political muck. Building businesses, creating value - this was supposed to be the honest path to making an impact. Looking back, I see how adorably na?ve I was.

It's gonna be yuuuuge

Watching 'The Apprentice' recently (seriously, watch this masterpiece!), there's a scene where Roy Cohn, his ex-lawyer, teaches Trump his three rules of media relations:

"Always attack, never admit wrongdoing, and always claim victory, even if defeated."

These days, I'm watching The Mighty Tech Bros following the exact same playbook, just rebranded as moving fast and breaking things.

I also began to think that in order to become hugely successful and powerful, you need to be a little psychopath. Not minding other needs, just do as you please, and you'll find a community that worships you enamoured in your bravery and confidence and the 'I've got this' vibe. Just that it's not confidence. It's just you seriously not giving a fuck about others, while pretending to do so. Everybody else is just playing in the sandbox, while the very few of you deal the cards and dictate to rest what to watch, what to believe and how to think.

Now I realise that avoiding politics was just another form of privilege - the luxury of believing you can change the system without engaging with it. Turns out you don't need to stand for Parliament to control people's lives - you just need to own the platforms they depend on.

Naturally, I'm torn. I want to build technology that matters, create genuine value without playing the House of Cards game. But I'm terrible at political chess. I possess neither political savvy nor the ability to keep words inside my brain. Not exactly a winning strategy in a world where power plays are crafted in whispers and coded language.

The power game

Supposedly I knew it's going to happen, and yet, hoped market will correct itself and society will sober up in time. But who am I kidding? The power game is easy: you either have money or connections, ideally both. You buy media and public influence and when it's inconvenient, you get rid of people who get in the way of your vision.

Media influence has changed completely. Long-form podcasters and YouTubers have created a new power structure in public discourse, particularly influencing young male audiences.? Trump's team doubled down on podcasts and this could also determined his victory as he reached for the undecided. Finally they heard a voice who, with all his lack of promise delivery, was very consistent. Kudos for great PR strategy execution.

The US boasts record numbers of billionaires and globally dominant companies, yet the average person's life hasn't improved proportionally. When wealth gaps become yuge and AI concentrates power in fewer hands, you're not just looking at economic inequality - you're looking at the ingredients for social collapse. We are a society of echo chambers — and we just f*cking love it.

Long live the American dream.

When wealth gaps become yuge and AI concentrates power in fewer hands, you're not just looking at economic inequality - you're looking at the ingredients for social collapse.

Ok, I sound like an old grumpy man. I am not. I still believe love wins and people are good by nature. I never want to lose my child-like optimism, but I've learnt that to play the game of the mighty and influential, you change the system by engaging with it. And no, it isn't broken, it's working exactly as designed. Those with capital can turn money into more money through investments and market manipulation, whilst rest trade time for wages in an increasingly expensive world.

And no, this isn't about envy. The "poor" don't hate the rich - they hate watching basic dignity slip out of reach. Hard to challenge the status quo when you're too busy surviving, and social media has fried our attention spans so thoroughly we can't even remember what we're fighting for. Meanwhile, the rich aren't just getting richer - they're playing an entirely different game.

Tech billionaires' political shifts

In countries where the rule of law is weak, your informal access is more important than your formal role. And sucking up to whoever is in power is how you advance your economic interests. Just look how quickly Silicon Valley's titans switch political sides when their empires feel threatened. The same tech leaders who once championed progressive values are now cozying up to Trump's camp. Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and their cohort suddenly discovered their conservative values right when Democrats started making noise about monopolies and public accountability. Their newfound love for "free speech" conveniently aligns with keeping their platforms free from oversight.

The champions of free-market capitalism tend to cry about government interference until they need a bailout. When Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, suddenly government intervention wasn't so evil. When Biden's Chip Act promised semiconductor subsidies, their libertarian principles took a convenient vacation.

It's the ultimate "rules for thee, but not for me" performance. They want freedom - their kind of freedom. The freedom to build monopolies, dodge regulations, and get government handouts when their bets go wrong. Ideal candidates for a schizophrenia diagnosis.

Who you gonna call??

Just days before the inauguration, Jake Sullivan (Biden's outgoing national security adviser) dropped some?pretty heavy warnings about AI:

The next few years will determine whether AI leads to catastrophe—and whether?China or America?wins the AI arms race. Unlike previous tech races (atomic weapons, space, internet), AI development sits?outside?government control. The stakes? Everything from “democratization of extremely powerful and lethal weapons” to “massive job disruption” and even “avalanches of misinformation.”

It’s not who should win, China vs. USA (although let's not deny that we in the West have been conditioned to fear China's rise). Painting this as a two-horse race misses the point. The world needs self-balancing competition, not a single AI superpower. We need specialised tech hubs - the UK focusing on AI safety, US turning existential threats into stock options (although DeepSeek is messing with those plans atm) while keeping Taiwan on a tight semiconductor leash, Germany mastering industrial automation (they've finally ditched fax machines, so they're clearly ready for AI), Poland becoming a logistics powerhouse - creating a network of expertise and so on...

I speak therefore I am

Growing up in Poland, many of us were taught to keep our heads down and voices low. Do not disturb. It's still jarring to watch Americans confidently argue their points - even when completely wrong. They're outspoken and assertive in a way that feels almost alien to my cultural programming. I envy them that skill.

This silence isn't just cultural - it's gendered too. As women, we're often raised to nod and smile, to make ourselves smaller (bonus points for being from Central/Eastern Europe).

But I'm tired of this narrative and I see how much damaged it did to both sides. Yes, these challenges exist, but creating more separate spaces for "women in tech" isn't the solution. I've been there, done that - co-founded and managed one of these large NGO organisations. I see how this well-intentioned segregation eventually became another echo chamber.

The world doesn't need more safe spaces or victims of the system. It needs builders and fighters willing to challenge the status quo - regardless of gender, background, or political preference. We don't want preference seats or spotlight moments. We want equal opportunities to start in the race and an actual shot at winning.

Because it's hard to change the world when you're broke, and impossible when you're silent. So move your ass and make some noise - the future isn't going to wait for your polite raised hand.