The Nerd Reich and the War on Democracy with Gil Durán

<p>Social media was once sold to us as &quot;fun&quot;—years later, the Big Tech leaders who sold us on it flaunt their authoritarian alignments.</p><p>Gil Durán and I discuss his new book, &quot;<a href="" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy&quot;⁠</a>. </p><p>We speak about what &quot;technofascism&quot; is and its origins; &quot;The Nerd Reich&quot; and its similarity to the Third Reich; the &quot;religion of technicity&quot;; Gil&#39;s permanent ban from X and suppression on Meta platforms which drew headlines; Peter Thiel (ranging from &quot;Zero to One&quot; to his current obsession with the antichrist to his relationship with JD Vance); fringe philosophers&#39; impact on Big Tech leaders &amp; the U.S. government; DOGE and RAGE; Palantir and 9/11; the challenge of imagination in today&#39;s world; how professionals can navigate the job market with so many open roles coming from Big Tech; whether it is possible to work in Big Tech and still make a difference; and more. </p><p>Gil Durán is a San Francisco-based journalist covering tech extremism. </p><p><a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nerd-Reich/Gil-Duran/9781668221402" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠⁠Buy the book⁠⁠</a></p><p><a href="https://www.gilduran.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠More about Gil Durán⁠</a></p><p><a href="https://www.thenerdreich.com/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">⁠The Nerd Reich Newsletter⁠</a></p>