benwerd@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Nerd Reich by Gil Durán
Sobering and well-documented, but light on solutions
4 stars
A well-researched set of essays about how certain powerful corners of the tech industry — and particularly figures like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk — have used their power and influence to push a far-right agenda over a period of decades. I live and work in the intersectional space between tech and society, and my own thinking about topics like decentralization was pushed and expanded. It’s a good read and an important record. These forces, movements, and thinkers are real, and they must be stopped.
Where I think the book is weaker is in its implicit calls for the protection of existing institutions, including in the military-industrial complex, and the author’s apparent belief that America has been a bastion of liberal democracy overseas. That might be a surprise to the residents of countries that have experienced coups and assassinations, often leading to independent democracies devolving into authoritarianism, that were …
A well-researched set of essays about how certain powerful corners of the tech industry — and particularly figures like Peter Thiel and Elon Musk — have used their power and influence to push a far-right agenda over a period of decades. I live and work in the intersectional space between tech and society, and my own thinking about topics like decentralization was pushed and expanded. It’s a good read and an important record. These forces, movements, and thinkers are real, and they must be stopped.
Where I think the book is weaker is in its implicit calls for the protection of existing institutions, including in the military-industrial complex, and the author’s apparent belief that America has been a bastion of liberal democracy overseas. That might be a surprise to the residents of countries that have experienced coups and assassinations, often leading to independent democracies devolving into authoritarianism, that were conducted in order to protect American interests.
There’s a different argument to be made here, which is that incumbent institutions really are failing people, and that these failures have been exploited by opportunistic fascists. What might it look like to understand that it’s not institutions that need to be protected but the positive effects those institutions purported to have on people and society? How might we fight fascism with real representation, inclusion, infrastructure, safety, and support? What comes across well is that Thiel’s fascism is actually pretty stupid and mean at its core. There’s a world where something far better is offered, but the status quo ain’t it.