r/Futurology Feb 04 '25

Politics The Billionaire Blueprint to Dismantle Democracy and Build a Digital Nation

I recently came across this video which discusses how the tech leaders may be using the new US administration to achieve their own agenda.

In recent years, a fascinating and somewhat unsettling trend has emerged among Silicon Valley’s tech elite: a push to rethink traditional governance. High-profile figures and venture capitalists are exploring concepts like network states, crypto-driven societies, and even privately governed cities.

Prominent names such as Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Balaji Srinivasan are leading this charge. Many in this group believe that America is in decline and that the solution isn’t reform but a complete reimagining of society.

Balaji Srinivasan, a former Coinbase CTO and Andreessen Horowitz partner, has been one of the biggest advocates for this idea. He popularized the concept of "network states"—decentralized virtual communities that aim to acquire physical land and eventually function as independent nations. In his book The Network State, Srinivasan outlines a blueprint for running these communities like corporations.

Interestingly, this vision isn’t entirely new. Curtis Yarvin (also known as Mencius Moldbug) first introduced the idea of “Patchwork,” a system where small, corporate-run sovereign territories replace traditional governments. These "patches" would prioritize efficiency over public opinion and maintain control through technologies like biometric surveillance. Although Yarvin's ideas are often described as dystopian, they’ve had a significant influence on thinkers like Peter Thiel.

One of the most developed attempts to create a network state is Praxis, a project backed by Thiel and other major investors. Praxis envisions a global corporate governance model where crypto serves as the primary currency. Similar experiments include Prospera in Honduras and Afropolitan in Africa.

These initiatives are often pitched as promoting freedom and innovation, but critics warn that they risk becoming corporate dictatorships. The heavy use of surveillance technologies, exclusionary policies, and a focus on controlling physical land raise concerns about the true motives behind these projects.

Figures like JD Vance, who openly discusses Yarvin's ideas and has ties to Thiel, further suggest a coordinated effort to reshape governance in America and beyond.

Trump has also floated the idea of "Freedom Cities" on federal land, framed as hubs of imagination and progress. Given his connections to figures like Thiel, there’s a notable overlap between this proposal and Silicon Valley’s vision for privately governed cities.

Silicon Valley’s influence on governance is expanding, and ideas once considered fringe are gaining traction. Some see this as a bold response to outdated systems, and others view it as a dangerous shift toward authoritarian corporate rule.

What are your thoughts on this ? Are we seeing the complete overhaul of the American political system ? And if yes, will "they" win ?

22.2k Upvotes

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2.2k

u/inlinestyle Feb 04 '25

Wild that I just reread Snow Crash, and now they’re building it.

821

u/Stickus Feb 04 '25

Cyberpunk was a warning, not an aspiration. These chucklefucks read this shit as a blueprint.

Never expected to be living in the prequel to Neuromancer, but here we are.

416

u/agentdragonborn Feb 04 '25

And worst part of getting cyberpunk dystopia is that the cyberpunk part is no where near as cool as what we expected.

136

u/Least-Back-2666 Feb 04 '25

Right, I want my techno-bio upgrades and brain dances if we're going to have to live in a corporate dystopia.

79

u/Invest0rnoob1 Feb 04 '25

Best I can do is smart phone.

30

u/Competitive-Fly2204 Feb 04 '25

Brain dances are usually porn... which they intend to ban... :-(

40

u/Elle_in_Hell Feb 04 '25

Yeah, this is the Handmaid's Tale version...

14

u/SocialImagineering Feb 04 '25

Pretty sure they won’t care what people do in the slums. Until they think you’re a threat and can peg you with any crime.

10

u/Debaicheron Feb 04 '25

Wait? They will peg me? With crime? Handmaid’s Tale? Uhhh…

5

u/kaneywest Feb 04 '25

New kink unlocked

5

u/Notveryawake Feb 04 '25

We just have to go old school. To bad Sears is gone. Their catalog served me well.

2

u/OkAd469 Feb 05 '25

We'll just switch back to typewriters and pens.

2

u/korbentherhino Feb 05 '25

Well to be fair the probleml with tech bio upgrades is they haven't mastered rejection problem the body tends to do. That's why it's not a thing yet

1

u/veilwalker Feb 04 '25

Neuralink signups are going to start populating your inbox.

1

u/srbmfodder Feb 04 '25

Best I can do is a Meta Quest 3

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u/Formal_Dirt_3434 Feb 05 '25

Fuckin seconded

1

u/blastermaster1942 Feb 05 '25

You won’t get them. Biomods are expensive and your life is cheap

54

u/dryuhyr Feb 04 '25

William Gibson was very clear about this when he invented the genre. Cyberpunk is a warning, you should not be wanting a future like that.

And yet so many people fantasize about living in a cyber-corpo future.

16

u/ToaPaul Feb 05 '25

I think most of us just like the neon artstyle and gritty tech. If there's anything about Cyberpunk nobody wants, it's the corpo-fascistic overlords. Sadly, that looks like it's the only part we're getting.

5

u/TeaKingMac Feb 05 '25

My favorite part of Cyberpunk is the corporate assassinations. So how long do we have between the descent into crypto states and when the shadow running starts?

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u/rW0HgFyxoJhYka Feb 04 '25

I dont know anyone who sees cyberpunk as preferable because its always about a struggling against a controlled state.

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u/darthueba Feb 04 '25

It is preferable for the corporate monsters in charge

3

u/agentdragonborn Feb 04 '25

i mean there is a reason why it is called a dystopia, but i like the tech like full dive vr, complete body augmentation, flying cars and shit

5

u/rudimentary-north Feb 04 '25

that’s science fiction in general, cyberpunk is specifically about the decay and corporate takeover of society.

1

u/Head_Paleontologist5 Feb 05 '25

And living in an apartment the size of a tube

20

u/pizzasage Feb 04 '25

It's all cyber and no punk

3

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '25

Cyberfascism, gross.

2

u/TeaKingMac Feb 05 '25

Also real fascism

11

u/Traditional_Key_763 Feb 04 '25

the problem is most cyberpunk systems start with some kind of massive productivity enhancing technology that forces people to adopt it because without it, people are left in the dust. they think LLMs are that technology right now but this shit doesn't work

4

u/creepingphantom Feb 04 '25

Not sure if you're aware of this but there's nothing cool about dystopias

2

u/videogame_retrograde Feb 04 '25

Yeah where are my mantis blades?

2

u/genshiryoku |Agricultural automation | MSc Automation | Feb 04 '25

You have portable AIs that fit on your personal computer yet we don't even think twice about it.

2

u/One-Salamander-1952 Feb 04 '25

To be honest nothing really stops Elon Musk from buying a huge plot of land or even a city and just create the real Night City

2

u/RyanLanceAuthor Feb 05 '25

Yeah, working doordash to afford a 2000 efficiency with two roommates so you can get home and play a 10-year-old videogame just isn't as cool as high-speed pizza delivery and full immersion VR.

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u/qtx Feb 04 '25

Fuck cyberpunk, hail steampunk. Now that one is cool.

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u/Stickus Feb 04 '25

Solarpunk/Lunarpunk are actually aspirational

1

u/Pmyrrh Feb 04 '25

My buds and I often play Cyberpunk or Shadowrun (Dungeons and Dragons, but dystopia future), and whenever something new like this comes to the headlines, we always say "Like Cyberpunk, but only the bad parts."

1

u/HistoricalGrounds Feb 08 '25

That’s up to you partner. You can get both LEDs and a katana to attach it to. Now you’ve got a glowy samurai sword and a vast sprawl of corporate overlords to oppose, you’re on your way!

1

u/zorniy2 Feb 14 '25

We'll end up finding dildos in all sorts of odd places.

Haven't read Neuromancer, but I have read Doctorow's Little Brother (because it was free).

97

u/dexa_scantron Feb 04 '25

https://nautil.us/does-science-fiction-shape-the-future-543468/

These people are saying “we finally created the utopia of Neuromancer.” And I look at them and I go, “I don’t think you read Neuromancer."

-- Cory Doctorow 

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u/aramis34143 Feb 04 '25

Author: "In my book, I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale."

Tech Bro: "At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus."

1

u/abittenapple Feb 07 '25

I mean the books and authors tale was supposed to ignite the masses against these idea.

To expect billionaires to care seems bairce

When good people do nothing yhen

2

u/kalirion Feb 04 '25

To the rich corporation heads, Neuromancer is a utopia.

137

u/djordi Feb 04 '25

We're living in Musk's shitty cyberpunk LARP and get to be the NPCs.

21

u/Immediate-Hearing194 Feb 04 '25

It isn't like we were active players at any point since the 60s or so...

8

u/SocialImagineering Feb 04 '25

You’re only an NPC if you act like one. 1. Be the Nomad path hero 2. Do quests for the right agents 3. Profit. Every story needs a good villain, even if ours are cringe AF, they sure are powerful.

1

u/Soft_Importance_8613 Feb 05 '25

Ready Player Two.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

1

u/TeaKingMac Feb 05 '25

God damn it Deckard, you're here too?!?

27

u/davidjschloss Feb 04 '25

Neuromancer combined with Atlas Shrugged.

16

u/Dick_Lazer Feb 04 '25

For a tech billionaire a cyberpunk dystopia might actually sound appealing. For everybody else it will suck.

13

u/sabrenation81 Feb 04 '25

Elon Musk tricked enough people into thinking he wanted to be the IRL Tony Stark long enough to lay the groundwork for his actual goal - to become the IRL Saburo Arasaka.

3

u/SocialImagineering Feb 04 '25

They believe it’s inevitable, and thus are racing to become Arisaka, Militech, etc etc

3

u/opinionsareus Feb 04 '25

I watched the video last week. The presenter, Joanna Richards, does a fabulous job of knitting together factual information to expose a lot of the subtext to what's currently going on.

Her presentation is edgy, but factual. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to better understand what we are going through.

That said, we are on the cusp - within the next decade (maybe sooner) of MASSIVE changes wrought by AI - including the merging of AI with robotics, genomics/proteomics and nanotechnology. Nations and individuals of wealth are going to be able to exact controls that even today are hardly imaginable. We are literally witnessing the genesis of the creation of new branches of humanity. I say that with all sincerity, and not meaning to be hyperbolic.

Frankly, I don't know what the "answer" is to this threat; it may be some kind of mass digital subterfuge or human "freedom fighting". It's hard to say, but our lives are going to change (and if not our lives, the lives of our children) in ways that we can hardly imagine.

3

u/smonkyou Feb 05 '25

This is what drives me crazy… I’ve been saying what you say here almost word for word. We saw it as a warning. They saw it as a great idea and a blue print

1

u/Stickus Feb 05 '25

They just thought "megacorps cool, cyberdeck looking slick, VR is so awesome" instead of the horrifying reality it is for everyone who isn't megacorps rich.

In their minds they're the Tessier-Ashpools, never Case or Molly

2

u/smonkyou Feb 05 '25

So I’m way too old and into cyberpunk to have not read that. Have owned about 3 copies of it. Just started the audiobook yesterday

2

u/T-Shurts Feb 05 '25

Not sure what’s scarier; Cyberpunk, or Idiocracy… Both seem more like documentaries now than comedy/future sci-fi.

2

u/ZeroKuhl Feb 05 '25

Upvote for chuklefucks! But they are fucking demons.

1

u/kelihlodversson Feb 04 '25

Agreed. In general, I find that the problem with fiction as social commentary is that I see again and again, that some idiots will come around, and while they’ll catch most of the meaning, they will totally miss the point and assume it is something they must emulate rather than avoid.

1

u/SarahKnowles777 Feb 04 '25

Shit. Cyberpunk sucked. Is that what we're in for?!?

3

u/Stickus Feb 04 '25

No, cause at least that had cool tech and cybernetics. We get the Great Value brand cyberpunk

109

u/Smrtihara Feb 04 '25

It’s hardly even a new flavor of the old libertarian dream of going out into the woods to avoid showers and taxes.

That dream has always been about creating a new “free” sovereign state to rule. To become a feudal lord.

History shows that the feudal lords need to trade so they make allies. And enemies. They need land, so they make allies and enemies. So their states grow, or wither. These lords just have a plan to enslave people more thoroughly.

61

u/romericus Feb 04 '25

Who is John Galt?

I swear, they drank the Ayn Rand Koolaid, then immediately followed up Atlas Shrugged with Ready Player One, then said hold my beer.

16

u/tirion1987 Feb 04 '25

Nobody wants to know how is John Galt.

13

u/ChiefsHat Feb 04 '25

Ayn Rand has poisoned our society.

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u/Next-Run-6593 Feb 04 '25

You beat me to it but yeah, "objectivism" is just an overwrought reimaging of feudalism and we've seen how that plays out. At some point, the libertarian utopia has to devolve into a full feudal dictatorship to squash dissent or it will collapse under it's own inability to protect or benefit the general population. Either way it will either push too many people to the brink and face a popular revolt, or it it becomes weak enough to be taken over by whatever armed group consolidates out ongoing violent repression. Even if they win, it will always fail.

2

u/Secuter Feb 04 '25

That's the part where it all starts to break down imo. You still need people to provide health care services, provide security and heat. Hell just removing trash really. Beyond the first "no state, no taxes, no showers!" these fools run out of answers quick.

Somehow these tech billionaires and libertarians both envision themselves as the main character. The they're above those menial tasks. But somebody has to do them, and then you're back at some sort of statecraft.

1

u/yousorusso Feb 04 '25

We need Lord Liu Bei to be reincarnated, unite China and then the world under his benevolence. Then we'll be sorted.

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u/wetclogs Feb 06 '25

Neo-Feudalism. Awesome.

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u/Grandtheatrix Feb 04 '25

I scrolled too long before seeing a reference to Snow Crash. These guys can't even invent a unique dystopia, they have to copy one from 30 years ago

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u/Highcalibur10 Feb 04 '25

These guys can't even invent a unique dystopia, they have to copy one from 30 years ago

Standard Torment Nexus stuff, really.

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u/djordi Feb 04 '25

They all want to be characters from Snow Crash and Ready Player One. I've worked with game execs who wanted to make a metaverse for years before the current tech companies started the boondoggle.

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u/_hypnoCode Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

Second Life was a massive success initially and just about every major company with the capabilities to make a version of their own was making their own. Even Google.

Then people realized Second Life was like 98% perverts and all the clones pretty much vanished overnight.

Futurama even had a metaverse episode, but that was before Second Life. Ironically they sort of predicted the fact it was 98% perverts but were just basing it on chatrooms.

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u/Freelieseven Feb 04 '25

VRchat has all but replaced second life now. The "metaverse" is real. But meta has no part in it right now (besides the headsets themselves.)

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u/Straight_Ship2087 Feb 04 '25

Yeah. Zuck fundamentally misunderstands what people want out of the space. I think penny arcade put it well. “People wanted a space to create with unlimited potential. Meta offered them a low resolution mix of the worst parts of work and the mall.”

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u/_hypnoCode Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

I'll admit that I had a lot of fun in Second Life creating things. Their programming language was actually pretty good and I built my first game there as an arcade game. Plus I could make a few bucks by selling them while I was in college.

It wasn't until the N-teenth time the servers crashed and I was dropped in a lobby with people from other parts of the server that I ended up giving up. There was some weird shit in the dark corners of that game.

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u/Longjump_Off_ShortPr Feb 04 '25

Knew a mostly unemployed guy who earned $$ there as an exotic dancer, so I can only imagine the dark corners, but I don't really want to.

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u/kex Feb 04 '25

I was on SL in 2003 (name relevant) and it was mostly nerds building nerd stuff for fun

When they tried to rival WoW for subscribers, it all went downhill and it earned the reputation it has now

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u/Void_Speaker Feb 04 '25

City state oligarchies were all the rage way back in the day. It's nothing new.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

Can’t wait to pimp out family members to my overlords because the company store charges too much for basic provisions and rent is too high. America: Putting the Fun back in Latifundium

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u/Grandtheatrix Feb 04 '25

Oooh, I get to go look up a new word.

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u/Void_Speaker Feb 04 '25

that's the spirit

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u/Zyphane Feb 04 '25

What's wild is that Neal Stephenson more recently wrote a book where Jeff Bezos saves humanity from extinction.

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u/marrow_monkey Feb 04 '25

I suppose that if you hold as much power as Jeff Bezos you can commission someone to write a book about how you save the world. Like the kings of the past.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/Boxy310 Feb 04 '25

"Make the penis rocket on the tapestry bigger. It was cold on the rocket pad that morning."

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u/tahitisam Feb 04 '25

Stephenson worked at Blue Origin (Bezos’ space company) for 7 years. 

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u/RemoteButtonEater Feb 04 '25

Wild. I would have just assumed he was a full time author.

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u/upofadown Feb 04 '25

The person with such an insane amount of money they could modify the climate without asking anyone was reasonably generic. I think you could fill in, say, Musk there if you wanted. ... and in the book (Termination Shock) he wasn't saving the whole world. He was making some parts of it worse. That was the plot conflict...

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u/Zyphane Feb 04 '25

Oh, I haven't read Termination Shock. I was talking about the Sean Probst character from Seveneves.

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u/Huldukona Feb 04 '25

What?! Which book is that?

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u/Heazen Feb 04 '25

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u/djordi Feb 04 '25

Kind of also Seveneves. But that character was an amalgam of Musk and Bezos.

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u/Happy_Contest4729 Feb 04 '25

If you read the book, the Bezos insert isn’t well liked, and what he does is morally dubious. He’s definitely not “saving” anything. 

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u/Bluest_waters Feb 04 '25

No, Dear Lord tell me that is not true!!

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u/Happy_Contest4729 Feb 04 '25

It’s not true if you know how to read. The book is more of a takedown on these types of people. The actions of the Bezos insert are widely condemned and cause geopolitical strife. He’s absolutely not a hero in the boon and doesn’t save anything. 

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u/danalexjero Feb 04 '25

Really? Fuck, I really like his books. Another letdown…

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

No he’ll just fuck off to mars with hot lips houlihan

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u/mhyquel Feb 04 '25

And the Queen of the Netherlands with a bunch of Italian Counts.

it wasn't very good.

1

u/NominalHorizon Feb 04 '25

Bezos commits suicide?

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u/Zyphane Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Kind of? At least in Seveneves the Bezos stand-in sacrifices himself to save the remnant of humanity.

Edit: obscured plot spoilers.

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u/Perfect_Earth_8070 Feb 04 '25

that’s because libertarians don’t know how to read

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u/charliefoxtrot9 Feb 04 '25

Diamond Age background, too

4

u/Penguin-Pete Feb 04 '25

Wait till you hear about the Business Plot of 1933.

2

u/HumansMustBeCrazy Feb 04 '25

It's like human behavior is predictable, or something.

2

u/super1701 Feb 04 '25

1992 wasn't 30 years ago! it was like 34....god I'm getting old....

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u/Rocktopod Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Elon was literally named after a character in a book about Nazi supermen living on Mars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mars:_A_Technical_Tale

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u/tadamhicks Feb 04 '25

Dude, Neal Stephenson is really just a modern Nostradamus. I don’t think they’re copying I think he was prognosticating. Cryptonomicon was so on point I was almost sure for years that he is Satoshi. Just wait until we get the world of Anathem in like a hundred years.

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u/IamTheEndOfReddit Feb 04 '25

As an apiring sci Fi writer, it's so true, they are so unoriginal. I'm afraid of writing anything evil in a story because I know they won't think of it on their own. They don't understand the settings of the worlds and why ours isn't the same. (Neuromancer seems like the most important one right now, Wintermute is potentially already built, just awaiting the Neuromancer AI innovation)

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u/ahmadreza777 Feb 04 '25

It's almost hard to believe what many sci-fi novels discussed decades ago is slowly turning into reality.

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u/Skill3rwhale Feb 04 '25

At the most fundamental level it's because our brains could conceive of things that are not possible in the current society within current societal limitations, and we try to create them with our knowledge along with our own lived experiences as a basis.

Once you imagine ways to remove those limitations (the actual creative part of sci-fi writing) then you get to understand see the character's (Musk) motivations for their actions.

The villain is always in their history and motivations.

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u/maulinrouge Feb 04 '25

Could we not have followed Star Trek TNG vibes. I mean come on! At least select a future that promises a better outlook than a cyber dystopian shit show.

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u/kex Feb 04 '25

Star Trek required WW3 to achieve stability

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u/PinataofPathology Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

It's because they all read those books but never learn about the eugenics underpinning it or the fact that many golden age sci Fi authors were running 'pizza' rings. NAMBLA came from that crowd ffs! And Elon was literally named after a character in sci Fi (written by a Nazi iirc bc of course it was).

And then they read Tolkien and think Sauron is the good guy. 🤦‍♀️

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u/CokeWest Feb 04 '25

Oh no they definetly learn about the eugenics. They love it. Why do you think there's a breeding cult in Silicon Valley? Why does Elon have so many kids?

They read the books and liked what the villains did. Now they've got the real life money and tech to do it.

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u/Ikoikobythefio Feb 04 '25

Bill Barr's dad cough cough

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u/DecisionFar9458 Feb 09 '25

 where can I read more about these sci-fi authors with the pizza ring and the nambla connection? 

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u/derpaderp2020 Feb 04 '25

Metal Gear Solid 4

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u/GuzzlinGuinness Feb 04 '25

Underrated comment.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

I would also say MGS2 has literally predicated everything that has happened in the last decade… lalilulelo

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u/BBkad Feb 04 '25

(Cow noises in the distance)

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u/k_afka_ Feb 04 '25

At least those games have a happy ending

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u/LostInTheSciFan Feb 04 '25

Not if you count Revengeance they don't. The Patriots are defeated, humanity regains control of its future, and... immediately starts fucking themselves over again.

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u/feedus-fetus_fajitas Feb 04 '25

Is this Mussolini fireplace gift in the background? (it's still installed at Berchtesgaden/eagles nest.)

Can't quite tell for sure but it looks like it.

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u/Appropriate_M Feb 04 '25

It's because these men lack imagination.

Sci-fi novels discussed decades ago were mostly written by the arts-humanities types, deeply embedded in western civilization including its ideas concerning politics, science, technology, and society.

The fact that what these oligarchs want are nothing more than what they/what we have read is completely horrifying and disappointing, but I think we should all be relieved somewhat, because sci-fi novels are written in a "closed system" so to speak, almost as a thinking exercise and always reflect the fears contemporaneous to the author.

The real world is not a closed system. (Unless you believe in sci-fi novels..) Also, we are *decades* past those novels.

Which essentially means what these "technocrats" (though that's overstating their understanding of technology and understating their will to power through the monetary system) want won't come to pass, but it'll still going to be utter chaos for a while.

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u/blueechoes Feb 04 '25

Ban billionaires from reading sci-fi.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

Ban billionaires.

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u/DocMoochal Feb 04 '25

They just want a more expanded version of company towns. The scale and tech is definitley new, but the general concept only goes back a hundred years give or take.

https://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/company-towns/

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u/B_A_M_2019 Feb 04 '25

Andreessen Horowitz

Isn't he part of the firm with the guy who got married to a former Ms world in arches or Zions or something in Utah and completely trashed the outdoor area, left so much shit behind and cost tax payers all the clean up costs?

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u/AssumptionLive2246 Feb 04 '25

Sci-fi has always stretched our imagination, so we can think about solutions to problems before they come.

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u/Puuksu Feb 04 '25

People get ideas from books.

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u/Superb_Raccoon Feb 04 '25

Why? Were you not paying attention when Star Trek technology started being made real?

I swear... kids these days.

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u/Ttubr Feb 04 '25

Sci-fi is more about discussing possibilities than a fantasy.

I think the best sci-fi always piggy backs on the unknown of very real concepts and technology. People were talking about AI throughout the century, even though it’s now entered popular culture. Reading stories like Asimov’s ‘The Last Question’ basically outlines the realistic future of humans in the next several hundred billion years based on the laws of thermodynamics understood in the 50’s.

We could learn new things that change our theories, but until they do, there have been a lot of thought put into the future and possibility of mankind.

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u/Kataphractoi Feb 04 '25

And the worst examples of humanity are leading the charge on it.

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u/Zestyclose-Ad-9420 Feb 04 '25

because genuinely good sci fi attempts to trace out the shape of society into the future. but if it becomes mainstream, it can reinforce that trend, becoming a self fulfilling prophesy. this isnt the first time its happened.

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u/TheGummiVenusDeMilo Feb 04 '25

These people read Snow Crash and were like "they would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for that pesky Protagonist!"

They hate watching WW2 movies because their side always loses.

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u/Throwaway203500 Feb 04 '25

Hopefully we get Gabe Newell writing the metaverse instead of generating it at Stargate.

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u/VerbingWeirdsWords Feb 04 '25

It's Oryx & Crake meets Handmaiden's Tale. Margaret Atwood is an Oracle

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u/thehourglasses Feb 04 '25

Was thinking Rapture from BioShock myself.

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u/whippersnap_415 Feb 04 '25

They are not stylish enough for BioShock.

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u/Z3r0sama2017 Feb 04 '25

"What is the greatest lie every created? What is the most vicious obscenity ever perpetrated on mankind? Slavery? The Holocaust? Dictatorship? No. It's the tool with which all that wickedness is built: altruism. Whenever anyone wants others to do their work, they call upon their altruism. Never mind your own needs, they say, think of the needs of... of whoever. The state. The poor. Of the army, of the king, of God! The list goes on and on. How many catastrophes were launched with the words "think of yourself"? It's the "king and country" crowd who light the torch of destruction. It is this great inversion, this ancient lie, which has chained humanity to an endless cycle of guilt and failure. My journey to Rapture was my second exodus. In 1919, I fled a country that had traded in despotism for insanity. The Marxist revolution simply traded one lie for another. Instead of one man, the tsar, owning the work of all the people, all the people owned the work of all of the people. So, I came to America: where a man could own his own work, where a man could benefit from the brilliance of his own mind, the strength of his own muscles, the might of his own will. I had thought I had left the parasites of Moscow behind me. I had thought I had left the Marxist altruists to their collective farms and their five-year plans. But as the German fools threw themselves on Hitler's sword "for the good of the Reich", the Americans drank deeper and deeper of the Bolshevik poison, spoon-fed to them by Roosevelt and his New Dealists. And so, I asked myself: in what country was there a place for men like me - men who refused to say "yes" to the parasites and the doubters, men who believed that work was sacred and property rights inviolate. And then one day, the happy answer came to me, my friends: there was no country for people like me! And that was the moment I decided... to build one."

Armin Shimmerman fucking slaps as ryan

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u/Lari-Fari Feb 04 '25

Not a coincidence. From Wikipedia:

Google co-founder Sergey Brin called Snow Crash one of his favorite novels. One of the developers of Google Earth noted The Metaverse as an influence.[45] The concept of the Metaverse also inspired the rebrand of Facebook to Meta Platforms Inc. in 2021, and spurred author Neal Stephenson himself to found a company in 2022 called Lamina1 to support the creation of virtual worlds using blockchain technology.[46]

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u/ZebraImaginary9412 Feb 04 '25

Sergey Brin has the gene for Parkinson's Disease. He donated a billion dollars for a possible cure, there's no guarantee one will be found. And some side effects of ketamine, which a certain president from South Africa seems to indulge in, are an increase in blood pressure and heart rate.

If we can't stop them maybe health problems can.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25 edited Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/I_Heart_QAnon_Tears Feb 04 '25

Vance for sure.

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u/Ok-Party-3033 Feb 04 '25

A cringe-ocracy

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u/ylangbango123 Feb 04 '25

and America is the sim city or their game board.

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u/ucancallmevicky Feb 04 '25

Zuck has blown through Billions of his own money to recreate the Metaverse from SnowCrash. Guarantee he thinks of himself as Hiro Protagonist

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u/Bunerd Feb 04 '25

Makes me think of the rich TERFs pretending they're oppressed by donning the outfits while working with conservatives to dismantle LGBT and women's rights. I got the sense they wanted to be in those books so they could actually be victims like they really want to be.

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u/Snow_King7 Feb 04 '25

Please let our next oligarch be obsessed with Dorley Hall 🙏

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u/AetherBones Feb 04 '25

Made the same connection and was telling my friends this is just snow crash when they posted this video today. You know the satire book that also coined the term meta verse.

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u/JerryCalzone Feb 04 '25

Plus Diamond age - the unofficial sequel (YT = miss Matheson)

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u/rumnscurvy Feb 04 '25

Reading it right now. In the nineties, when it was written, it must have been South Park style wacky caricature. Today it reads like a Black Mirror episode.

3

u/Squibbles01 Feb 04 '25

Every dystopia authors write just end up becoming blueprints for the future.

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u/Acceptable-Karma-178 Feb 04 '25

How did they beat the bad-guy billionaires in Snow Crash?

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u/ArgonGryphon Feb 04 '25

This is my vague recollection after reading it several years ago and rereading the plot summary, but they were using the Sumerian language as a kind of mental virus and they found a sort of vaccine created by Enkidu to stop that. I don’t think they really fixed the societal issues that made the burbclaves and refugees and all the dystopian shit. Just stopped the guy who was trying to take over the world.

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u/Acceptable-Karma-178 Feb 06 '25

Nice! In my estimation, the absolute WORST thing a couple can do at this time (Trump 2.0) is to generate additional, superfluous human slaves to be manipulated, controlled, subjugated, tortured and farmed by the Global Capitalist Machine. I feel like withholding slaves is the last recourse we have to fight/punish them.

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u/_PM_ME_YOUR_SSN_ Feb 04 '25

The wild thing is that Snow Crash was written as satire, and they’re taking it Seriously.

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u/Vesuvias Feb 04 '25

Was just going to say this. We’re officially heading into a legit Snow Crash time period.

I just need to get an upgraded sports car to deliver my pizzas

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u/used_my_kids_names Feb 04 '25

Instantly what I thought of when I first heard they were doing this. I have a lot of questions for Neal Stephenson right now.

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u/edslerson Feb 04 '25

A mix between Snow Crash and Oryx and Crake with their separately run corporate compound cities

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u/madd__addam Feb 04 '25

Oryx and Crake as well for where it might all end up!

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u/trombolastic Feb 04 '25

I think Neal Stephenson is from the future, he wrote about digital currencies, the metaverse, privatisation of everything and collapse of the federal government…

Either he had a Time Machine or these tech bros read Snow Crash and are using it as a manual. 

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u/Bad_Wizardry Feb 04 '25

Suddenly Musk’s neurolink killing test subjects makes a whole lot more sense.

Whoops- in all the chaos, I think people forgot that Musk has been developing brain implants for years.

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u/SithLordRising Feb 04 '25

Snow Crash?

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/SithLordRising Feb 04 '25

Thanks. That bears a pretty striking resemblance

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u/MotorBarnacle2437 Feb 04 '25

It's worth a read but be aware it contains the world's worst rap lyrics

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u/ryaaan89 Feb 04 '25

I think about Snow Crash every time some dummy mentions the “woke mind virus.”

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u/nymph-62442 Feb 04 '25

I keep thinking about the show, Continuum.

1

u/JBNYINK Feb 04 '25

Ive never heard of this book…..

1

u/lawteach Feb 04 '25

My daughter & I read SNOWCRASH when it came out and now can’t believe this “model” has become the plan of the “dystopian” future.

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u/VulGerrity Feb 04 '25

I was just gonna say...this is like every warning ever from every Neal Stephenson book...

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u/pixelsandfilm Feb 04 '25

Stephenson has done a pretty good job predicting current technology and writing about it 30 years ago.

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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '25

Snow Crash predicted much of our current reality.

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u/interstitialmusic Feb 04 '25

Where are they going to get the resources to feed people in their little utopias?

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u/cheongyanggochu-vibe Feb 05 '25

Omg thank you, you're the first person I've seen mention this book, lol! I've made a few references to it and no one got it.

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u/buyerofthings Feb 05 '25

Stephenson was the first employee at Blue Origin. He's the author of our future.

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u/thr4sher0 Feb 05 '25

And her I was thinking BioShock rapture. I can see snow crash tho.

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u/anewbys83 Feb 05 '25

Well, we get to become The Diamond Age afterward, so long-term, it might be ok.