He’s a Big Name sci-fi/fantasy author who lives in Scotland, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

I don’t agree with everything he has to say in general, but the idea that he’s even remotely Californian is quite funny.

The OP wrote—

> of having an extremely mainstream Californian outlook

One can have the outlook without the residency.

And what is that outlook? Certainly not what CS imagines it to be, e.g. "uncritical technological boosterism and the desire to get rich quick." If one wants the real California ideology, one only need look at Gavin Newsom and the Democratic Party supermajorities of a past decade-plus. Or at the policies enacted by San Fran, LA, and other major California cities in recent years.

Scottish national policy as of late hasn't been too far off this mark. ;-)

I don't think I could make a connection with 'uncritical technological boosterism' and charlie stross.

From the perspective a backwoods redneck, all these "elite" types think, act, and look the same. They've taken California with them wherever they go. It's a state of mind.

But... he's British so isn't taking California anywhere.

I would say the difference is the level of awareness and context for the two viewpoints. The author is more aware of what the other authors were really saying. The billionaires couldn’t do what they are doing if they were that aware, so instead they can’t help but grab significantly more out-of-context aspects of interesting worldviews and tie them together just enough to mask their limited time and interest in a more considered perspective.

If the author were advocating for anticompetitive business practices and trying to use them to further his science fiction financial success based on a perusal of recent management texts, that is where we could say the same thing about the author that we can say in this context about the billionaires.