141–150 of 298 posts
>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.
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I think it's both. For sure Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk and others all have some extremely out there beliefs, lots of power, a desire to wield it, and connections to POTUS and the vice president who both seem to be about gaining and wielding as much power as possible. I haven't read the book but I've read some stuff on a website of the same name, and the way it ties it all together felt very tinfoil hat to…
>I haven't read the book Has anyone? It's got an August 2026 publication date. Is there even a first draft?
I'd guess the book is an expanded version of the blog. (Which I don't recommend - I do think this is conspiracy theory territory and of negative value.)
> "The Sovereign Individual" by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. Lord William Rees-Mogg being the father of Jacob Rees-Mogg, of Brexit fame. Interesting how often you meet the same people if you just start digging a little.
That's how and why they get published. Little names don't get in there. I haven't read the book so can't judge the content.
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I don’t see how “tech” is limited to software. While your case might be made for software, according to many accounts Musk is a strong driver on the hardware side. For instance, I’ve read the Tesla and SpaceX books by Eric Berger, which are much more focused on technical things compared to the more mainstream books. And while Musk is not in the trenches with a screwdriver, he’s not faking it either. To be honest, I’m…
> some of his companies have made substantial contributions to pushing the frontier of technology (reusable landing, high launch cadence, electric cars, energy). People he hired for these companies made contributions.
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I think Elon Musk just wants to be Tony Stark and cultivates the appropriate image for that. And possibly a genuine obsession with (rightwing-ish) meme/youth culture, which I think got him a lot of his initial followers on twitter/reddit/4chan/etc.
Musk is a complicated character. He's had nerdy times programing, fascist turns including the famous salute, emperor delusions - he was named after The Elon, a fictional ruler of Mars.
This is far more similar to Communism than Fascism. Their mentality is that they are a scientific vanguard (like Marxism) and that the ends justify the means. They also share the binary thinking of Marxists. They part company with Fascism because most of them are internationalist.
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It makes for a stunning read https://www.openculture.com/2024/11/umberto-ecos-list-of-the.... Brett Deveraux (historian) once tried to match US society to those 14 points with the expected result: the US matches all 14. He wrote on his blog about it here: https://acoup.blog/2024/10/25/new-acquisitions-1933-and-the-...
I'm not a big sucker for this kind of un-nuanced "us vs them" rhetoric, but I gotta admit, the title is a stroke of genius.
It's cute but are there any actual nerds left in big tech leadership? Of the magnificent seven we basically only have Jensen Huang left as a technical leader and maybe you can count Zuckerberg.
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>his attempts to bulk up and become a MMA competitor notwithstanding a lot of us nerds value physical strength, it's 2025, we're not mouthbreathers anymore.
My body is just the vehicle that carries my brain around - and my brain deserves a smooth, luxurious ride.