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The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

simonandschuster.com

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Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#31

Post by GJim »

roenxi wrote: post #9

I would assume by default that billionaires are politically active and causing a problem. However this link doesn't give a lot of hints about how or wherefore. I assume this is a jab at Thiel; but it is a bit light on in the synopsis department. There are a huge number of threats to democracy and the biggest one is probably the total lack of principles and common sense possessed by the median voter. It is a real prob…

> the biggest one is probably the total lack of principles and common sense possessed by the median voter.

Hard disagree.

The biggest problem is a misinformed electorate.

An accurate, honest and truthful press is vital for democracy; how else do people know whom to vote for! The fact this is being dismantled (often supplying deliberate misinformation) is truly worrying.

After all, the electorate is entitled to have a lack of principles and no common sense; nobody ever said democracy was perfect. However the electorate needs to be provided with an honest set facts on which they can base their decisions without cries of "fake news". Whatever their political leanings.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#32

Post by lpcvoid »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #24

[flagged]

>The word "fascist" now has positive connotations for me

Spoken like somebody who never had to endure real fascism.

>I realise a lot of you will want to call me fascist for this comment, or more likely something a bit snider and less direct. Just know that I genuinely don't care. It's just a word now.

No, you may not be a fascist, but it's opinions like yours that helped make it possible. Mitläufer.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#33

Post by amiga386 »

konart wrote: post #8

>democracy is being dismantled not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation Not sure "code" belongs here. Even less sure about "illusion". Take those away and what is left is "dismantled... by capital". Nothing new, really.

Code:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_says_no

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computers_Don%27t_Argue

https://simonwillison.net/2025/Feb/3/a-computer-can-never-be...

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#34

Post by major505 »

n4r9 wrote: post #19
brabel wrote: post #4

[flagged]

Thiel is probably the most obvious example, being explicitly anti-democracy and pro-authoritarian. Musk is also known for endorsing fringe far-right views and activists. I wouldn't be surprised if there are many more such attitudes in the SV elite, but the rest of them are better at self-regulating.

[flagged]

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#36

Post by brunohaid »

lapcat wrote: post #25

Is there a HN convention for links to books? This book appears to be available only for preorder now, not yet published. Nobody here has read it, nobody here can read it, and even if they could, this submission will disappear off the front pages before commenters have a chance to order and read the book. Thus the comments section here is going to be useless (or at least more useless than usual).

Very good question - posted it for awareness / sparking hopefully nuanced “are we the baddies here?” reflection in the community, and curious folks to preorder.

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#37

Post by epolanski »

fakedang wrote: post #14
konart wrote: post #8

>democracy is being dismantled not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation Not sure "code" belongs here. Even less sure about "illusion". Take those away and what is left is "dismantled... by capital". Nothing new, really.

And why not code? Are facial recognition models, AI LLMs to spew out spam and addictive social media algorithms not backed by code? The kings and dictators of the past had a lot more capital than Silicon Valley, but could only dream of building such surveillance and propaganda capabilities, as is the case even in a number of tinpot dictatorships in the developing world.

[flagged]

Re: The Nerd Reich – Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy

#39

Post by arthurofbabylon »

konart wrote: post #8

>democracy is being dismantled not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation Not sure "code" belongs here. Even less sure about "illusion". Take those away and what is left is "dismantled... by capital". Nothing new, really.

It sounds like this book would be a good candidate for your reading list.
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