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gil duran Profile picture
gil duran
@gilduran76
California journalist. Ida Tarbell stan. Currently writing a book: “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and The War on Democracy” (Avid Reader)
8 subscribers
Oct 21 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
1/ The rise of tech fascism took a lot of journalists by surprise, but not everyone missed it.

In the late 1990s, a freelance writer warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased.

Let's change that. Image 2/ In 2000, Borsook said tech "libertarianism" reflected an adolescent mindset, with a craving for unchecked independence & resistance to constraint. She warned that tech libertarians sought an anti-human world that worked more like a computer.

From "Cyberselfish": Image
Oct 6 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Terrified Curtis Yarvin—the “philosopher behind JD Vance”—plans to flee the USA.

The Dork Enlightenment guru says the Trump administration is failing to go full authoritarian.

“I feel that I personally have to start thinking realistically about how to flee the country.” From Yarvin's Substack: The second Trump revolution, like the first, is failing. It is failing because it deserves to fail. It is failing because it spends all its time patting itself on the back. It is failing because its true mission, which neither it nor (still less) its supporters understand, is still as far beyond its reach as algebra is beyond a cat. Because the vengeance meted out after its failure will dwarf the vengeance after 2020—because the successes of the second revolution are so much greater than the first—I feel that I personally have to start thinking realistically about ho... He apparently edited the post to remove his personal plans to escape, but I've got the original.
Oct 4 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
In the Network State ideology, tech billionaires gut existing institutions and swap in parallel knockoffs that serve their agendas.

Example: a tech billionaire creates a fake university run by a columnist ... or buys a major news outlet and puts an unqualified crony in charge. The tech billionaire hunger for “parallel media” is covered in this piece.

Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter is the most well-known example.

The idea is to do to everything—media, universities, government, philanthropy—what Musk did to Twitter.
newrepublic.com/article/178675…
Sep 16 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
What’s up with Peter Thiel’s secret Antichrist lectures?

Let us pierce the veil.

For the @newrepublic, I studied his past Antichrist speeches to decode his message—a chilling fusion of Nazi political theory and scripture.

An urgent warning:
newrepublic.com/article/200471… Thiel fixates on "political theology," a term borrowed from Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt. His Antichrist talks focus on the power of apocalyptic language in politics Antichrist is the ultimate enemy-image — once you slap the label, compromise is impossible. Politics as holy war.
Sep 15 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Tonight, some of the most powerful people in tech will gather in San Francisco to hear Peter Thiel give a secret lecture on the Antichrist.

You heard that right.

This is the the first of four parts. Bay Resistance is planning a protest.

Why is Thiel doing this? Image Historically, the "Antichrist" concept has been used to demonize political enemies and cast political struggle as an existential battle.

Notice any of that happening right now?

I have a more comprehensive piece coming, but here's a primer

thenerdreich.com/peter-thiel-th…
Sep 12 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Certain Trump supporters are obsessed with a Nazi philosopher named Carl Schmitt.

Current calls for a “crackdown” & purge of Democrats, writers, and "the left" echo Schmitt's key arguments.

Here’s what it means and why it matters: Image Carl Schmitt argued that politics comes down to deciding who is your "friend" and who is your "enemy."

Not opponent—enemy.

Someone who must be destroyed in a final, existential battle between good and evil.

Sound familiar?

nytimes.com/2024/07/13/boo…
Jun 26 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Peter Thiel: “The way the Antichrist would take over the world is you talk about Armageddon nonstop.”

Also Peter Thiel: screenshots of headlines with Peter Thiel talking about the apocalypse
screenshots of peter thiel talking about apocalypse/armageddon
Image Image
Jun 16 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
A company called "Frontier Valley" has declared it will build a new Network State zone on federal land in Alameda, California.

It published a "draft" presidential executive order that would declare a "national security emergency" to permit the project.

PR stunt, or...? Image This is clearly a plan to tap in to Trump's promise to build 10 new corporate-run cities on federal land. But it seems like a strange way to announce it. This would extend Trump's "emergency" powers to create new tech-controlled zones on public land.

frontiervalley.com
Jun 6 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Why are Trump and his tech billionaire cronies trying to build new dystopian cities and "zones"?

It's a dangerous idea called "The Network State."

For @techpolicypress, I wrote about how the plan to sell "sovereignty" to the highest bidder is moving from theory to Praxis. by gil duran: The President of the United States openly fantasizes about putting a Trump luxury resort in Gaza. Praxis — a company funded by Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel — wants to build a tech-owned city on Greenland. Elon Musk just got his own private city, called Starbase, in Texas. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has urged the president to make good on his campaign pledge to build ten so-called “Freedom Cities” on federal land. Why do Trump and some of his most fervent tech billionaire backers want to take land and create privately-controlled zones? Their dystopian visions... Welcome to the Network State vision:
Private, corporate-controlled cities that operate as "startup nations"—places where democracy, regulations, and taxes don't apply.
Think company towns, but with drone defense systems and unregulated biotech. techpolicy.press/trumps-gaza-fa…
Jun 2 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
The New Yorker piece solidifies the connection between Curtis Yarvin & Balaji Srinivasan. That's crucial because Srinivasan took Yarvin's “patchwork” idea & reframed it as the Network State.
The Network State has public support from Marc Andreessen, Sam Altman, and this guy ⬇️ Image Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is an enthusiastic supporter of the Network State cult (he even spoke at the conference).
And the Network State is a light repackaging of a core Yarvin idea: societies ruled by corporations.
newrepublic.com/article/185738…
Jun 2 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Curtis Yarvin, now into public weeping and Ozempic flexing, jumps the shark in this New Yorker profile.

BRUTAL.

A pathetic figure. But Andreessen, Thiel & JD Vance are so thirsty for an openly anti-democracy voice, they have made a clown into a “philosopher.” Image Curtis Yarvin’s Plot Against America.

How this very unstable Berkeley man helped push forward a set of extremist ideas now fully embraced by tech billionaires and the Trump Administration.

newyorker.com/magazine/2025/…
Dec 13, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
AP: Elon Musk wants to turn SpaceX’s Starbase site into a Texas city.

Hmm, where have I heard this one before?

Tech billionaires creating their own official fiefdoms will soon be all the rage. #networkstate

Just ask the people of Solano County.

Link: apnews.com/article/spacex…McALLEN, Texas (AP) — SpaceX is launching a new mission: making its Starbase site a new Texas city. Billionaire Elon Musk ‘s company on Thursday sent a letter to local officials requesting an election to turn what it calls Starbase — the South Texas site where SpaceX builds and launches its massive Starship rockets — into an incorporated city. Residents of the area known as Starbase submitted the petition, according to the company. The area is on the southern tip of Texas at Boca Chica Beach, near the Mexican border. Earlier this year, Musk announced he was moving the headquarters of Spac... For more information:

Trump's weird "freedom cities" and the Network State cult
thenerdreich.com/trumps-weird-f…
Dec 8, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Three predictions as tech "broligarchs" attempt a takeover US government. From my interview with @EBHarrington:

1. Representation without taxation. "Broligarchs not being subject to the law in the way that the rest of us are, yet... dictating terms to the president..." Image 2. Women pushed out of public life. "This ideology very explicitly excludes women from public life." "The've been open in speeches & manifestos... saying the role of women is to stay home & make more babies for us to propagate our superior genes." More:
thenerdreich.com/how-thebroliga…
Oct 18, 2024 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
New Network State "city" dropping near Cloverdale in Sonoma County.

The developer, Devon Zuegel, is a follower of Balaji Srinivasan, the guy with the techno-fascist vision for purging Democrats from San Francisco.

More to come. 1. The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat already announced this in July.

To be fair, 267 acres is not really a "town." More like a resort development. Like a tech Esalen North?

But these Network State folks REALLY want you to think they are building towns.

pressdemocrat.com/article/news/c…
Oct 5, 2024 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Reminder that Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen and Sam Altman are building their own authoritarian “nation.”

They market it as “the next America.”

Something has gone very, very wrong in Silicon Valley. This is brazenly bizarre. Image Crypto bros used to buy Lamborghinis as status symbols.

Now they want to buy their own countries.

A disturbing and anti-democratic trend — and Coinbase billionaire Brian Armstrong calls it “crypto’s destiny.”

More @newrepublic

newrepublic.com/article/185738…
Oct 3, 2024 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
Trump’s “Freedom Cities” are weird, but let's go deeper.

Peter Thiel & other pro-Trump tech billionaires are OBSESSED with building new corporate-run territories -- “network states.”

They want to change how the entire planet is governed. #NetworkState
thenerdreich.com/trumps-weird-f… For example: Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Joe Lonsdale and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman are building a city: Praxis.

"Praxis" will be a “network state” – a corporate-ruled zone.

From Praxis' website : "As local communities dissolve and Nation States stumble, Network States will ascend." Image
Oct 1, 2024 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
🧵Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is a familiar face on Capitol Hill.

But the billionaire crypto bro has some shocking beliefs.

He says the USA is in decline ... and it's time for "backup options."

"Crypto's destiny," he says.

My latest, via the @newrepublic #NetworkState Image Brian Armstrong openly embraces the #NetworkState, a cultish tech movement that calls for the end of countries as we know them.

Instead, we'll have crypto-fueled territories ruled by tech bros. It's bizarre to hear an American CEO talk this way.

newrepublic.com/article/185738…
Sep 15, 2024 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Trump promises to free the creator of Silk Road, an online marketplace for illegal drugs and guns.

Ross Ulbricht's case is a popular cause among crypto bros and libertarians.

For the @sfchronicle, I wrote about his extreme anti-government views and why he belongs in prison. Image Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are built on extreme, right-wing, anti-government ideas.

Here's my full @sfchronicle piece:

Trump promises crypto bros he’ll set the creator of Silk Road free if elected. That’s a terrible idea

🎁Link:
sfchronicle.com/opinion/openfo…
Sep 10, 2024 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
The false and racist attack on Haitians has roots in "Unhumans," the fascist propaganda book by Jack Posobiec (foreword by J.D. Vance).

It depicts the Haitian Revolution as a result voodoo and animal sacrifice -- which are cast as precursors to the slaughter of white people. From the book:
"Unhumans. This is what they do. Large and warrior-like, former slave Dutty Boukman, who had been born in West Africa, kicked off that bloody slave result with a ceremony of animal sacrifice that blended Islamic teaching and voodoo practices."
Sep 6, 2024 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
🧵Elon Musk, Twitter and Russia: A Love Story In Headlines. (What did I miss?)

Business Insider (2022): Elon Musk praised Russian state media propaganda outlets in texts, court documents show Image Politico (2022): Fiona Hill 'Elon Musk Is Transmitting a Message for Putin' Image
Aug 29, 2024 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Yesterday I visited a self-governing homeless tent encampment in my very Republican hometown. Homelessness is often depicted as a big Democratic city problem, and so you rarely hear about the situation in rural cities like Tulare. No Fox channel, no Gov. Newsom waving his broom. I was surprised by the degree to which the encampment is sanctioned/formalized. One difference: There are many rural edges of Tulare where there are few homes nearby. Outrage from the housed as is major obstacle to solving this issue. Nobody wants to problem -- or the solution.