They all genuinely believe themselves to be benign gods over the rest of us. They drink their own KoolAid. At a certain point, influence breaks your brain. Hairless monkeys with a Dunbar number of 150 can't cope with that amount of control over others, so the brain tells itself stories about how everything bad is not it's fault and everything good is.
Here's a hint: If you ever think "I can't trust anyone else with this", you are probably doing something wrong.
It's a very pre-2016 view of the tech industry, for sure.
Back when the public at least somewhat bought the idea that SV was socially progressive and would use its massive accumulation of capital for the good of humanity.
A board subject to some form of democratic control, for instance, might be better than a council of five self-appointed dictators for life, if the goal is really the benefit of the whole of humanity.
It's hard not to be a bit cynical about such an arrangement.