The Intersection of Wealth, Influence, and Extremism in Tech Culture

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss who Curtis Yarvin is and how his anti-democratic, far-right writings have influenced the politics of Silicon Valley and the wider American extreme right.

Julia Black is a features reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Julia wrote about Curtis Yarvin and his ideas for The Information. She also wrote about the Musk-aligned tech CEOs trying to shape how we think about the future.
• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• The Dark Enlightenment is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian political project.
• Gil Duran wrote about the Reboot Conference and how it put the connections between the tech industry and the Heritage Foundation on display.
• The Heritage Foundation is flooding federal agencies with thousands of information requests to identify government employees to be purged under a second Trump administration.
• Peter Thiel wanted Balaji Srinivasan to become head of the Federal Drug Administration under the Trump presidency.
• According to Nick Land, hyperstition refers to ideas that bring themselves into being.

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