I vaguely know Theo Baker, and heard from a mutual friend that he had published a book. But I only realized that I would have to read it when it appeared in a Robber Barons sketch comedy show to boos from the audience. If How to Rule the World was to become a central cultural artifact on campus, I figured I should know what it actually says. Now I do.
How to Rule the World is in fact three books. The first is about technocapital and Stanford. The second is about the fall of MTL. And the third is about Theo Baker’s own journey.
The first component, that of our university’s love affair with Silicon Valley, is what gets the most press. It’s a new story, it involves lots of flashy money, and it stars the people everybody loves to hate (Big Tech). I think it’s the least fleshed out. Baker doesn’t drive home his point: instead he insinuates, aiming to create a predatory “vibe” around the wining and dining of young tech talents. I don’t think this is particularly compelling. Contrary to Baker’s angle, I believe that Stanford is all about resources: giving incredible people the things they need to do incredible things. In the context of Political Science, that might mean giving students access to the Hoover Middle East Working Group. In Computer Science, it is likely a whole different, equally valid song and dance. Commercialization and material success are not evil.
Where this goes wrong, of course, is when commercialization and material success are pursued as an ends in and of themselves, with technology as a mere tool. This is a real and depressing phenomenon that Baker writes about and that I have seen firsthand. It is largely the reason I have avoided the VC circuit: I care about making things, vastly more than the prestige and signalling that these investors adore. But I know a whole lot of people faking it until they make it, with no intent to actually test the blood droplets. The problem with Stanford’s intertwinement with tech money is thus that it’s with the money (and perception), not the tech.
All of which is to say I think there’s a perfect, decisive end out there to the story Baker begins on technocapital and Stanford in How to Rule the World, but it’s still out there and not in the book.
The second story, that of Baker’s work exposing Marc Tessier-Lavigne’s research misconduct, is tighter and I think actually points to one of the driving forces behind the first issue: Stanford is not what it pretends to be. There’s a parallel here to one of the main takeaways from a class which I have yet to write about: fashion relies on constant new-ness, while at the same doing nothing new. I heard this once upon a time a different way, but can’t find the original source: look at what something’s advertising, and the reality of it will be the opposite. I don’t absolutely endorse this principle but it can be quite telling.
Stanford has an image of itself as a rebellious, technological Wild West. If it had an org chart it would be perfectly flat. The sun shines every day! And this is true in some respects. Missing entirely from this self-image, though, is the hulking bureaucratic monster that has been built up to support the institution. This machine, unlike those produced in Stanford’s many state-of-the-art laboratories, will not hesitate to run you over. It will crush you and not think twice: among other indecencies, it will credibly threaten to sue you into oblivion for legitimate reporting, as Baker writes about in this book. I have seen this machine firsthand and borne witness to how it will mercilessly pursue injustice in the course of its rigid, capriciously-enforced self-protecting protocols. It is the opposite of Stanford’s rough and tumble identity and Baker does an excellent job capturing it in this text. This is, in my view, the most important achievement of How to Rule the World.
Which brings us to the third story: that of Baker himself. He has managed to ruffle no small amount of feathers with this book and over the course of his time at Stanford. However, in doing so, he has been true to himself—brave and vulnerable and honest. So, regardless of any imperfections in the work (destined to occur with such contentious, complex subjects), I’m glad How to Rule the World exists and I’m glad Baker is out there thinking. Keep ruffling feathers and being a human being, Theo. I’ll see you around.