Anton Troynikov, a robotics engineer who apparently has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area, launched a series of hilarious viral tweets on Thursday comparing Silicon Valley to the former Soviet Union.
Things that happen in Silicon Valley and also the Soviet Union:
– waiting years to receive a car you ordered, to find that it’s of poor workmanship and quality
– promises of colonizing the solar system while you toil in drudgery day in, day out
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– living five adults to a two room apartment
– being told you are constructing utopia while the system crumbles around you
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– ‘totally not illegal taxi’ taxis by private citizens moonlighting to make ends meet
– everything slaved to the needs of the military-industrial complex
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– mandatory workplace political education
– productivity largely falsified to satisfy appearance of sponsoring elites
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– deviation from mainstream narrative carries heavy social and political consequences
– networked computers exist but they’re really bad
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– Henry Kissinger visits sometimes for some reason
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– elite power struggles result in massive collateral damage, sometimes purges
– failures are bizarrely upheld as triumphs
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– otherwise extremely intelligent people just turning the crank because it’s the only way to get ahead
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– the plight of the working class is discussed mainly by people who do no work
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– the United States as a whole is depicted as evil by default
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– the currency most people are talking about is fake and worthless
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 5, 2018
– the economy is centrally planned, using opaque algorithms not fully understood by their users
— Anton Troynikov (@atroyn) July 6, 2018
Troynikov was, of course, joking: there are fundamental differences between Silicon Valley and the Soviet Union. For example, one is a one-party state known for punishing political dissidents with exile. The other is a country that no longer exists.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Troynikov is currently based in Munich, Germany.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.