'End Times Fascism'

Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor examine the apocalyptic cult politics of Silicon Valley

Gil Duran

13 Apr 2025 — 3 min read

Today the Guardian published a must-read essay by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor that outlines the threat of what they call “end times fascism”: The rise of powerful tech elites who, driven by quasi-religious zeal, seek to disrupt global governments with a “networked apartheid state”:

The movement for corporate city states cannot believe its good luck. For years, it has been pushing the extreme notion that wealthy, tax-averse people should up and start their own high-tech fiefdoms, whether new countries on artificial islands in international waters (“seasteading”) or pro-business “freedom cities” such as Próspera, a glorified gated community combined with a wild west med spa on a Honduran island.

Yet despite backing from the heavy-hitter venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen, their extreme libertarian dreams kept bogging down: it turns out most self-respecting rich people don’t actually want to live on floating oil rigs, even if it means lower taxes, and while Próspera might be nice for a holiday and some body “upgrades”, its extra-national status is currently being challenged in court.

Now, all of a sudden, this once-fringe network of corporate secessionists finds itself knocking on open doors at the dead center of global power.

Read the entire essay here:

Apocalyptic tech fascism is, of course, the main topic of The Nerd Reich newsletter. But it is great to see the audience expanding as more journalists and writers start to recognize the organized and ideological nature of the threat. It is becoming so obvious that even the news department of the New York Times will be forced to cover it at some point.

It is crucial for mainstream media outlets to end their senseless embargo on this issue. By hiding a key part of the story, they are engaging in disinformation and keeping the public in the dark about the most serious threat American democracy has ever faced. As Klein and Taylor write:

To move forward with focus, we must first understand this simple fact: we are up against an ideology that has given up not only on the premise and promise of liberal democracy but on the livability of our shared world – on its beauty, on its people, on our children, on other species. The forces we are up against have made peace with mass death. They are treasonous to this world and its human and non-human inhabitants.

If people do not understand what is happening, how can they respond?

You can't talk about the Tate-LaBianca murders without mentioning the Manson Family. You can't talk about 9/11 without mentioning Al Qaeda. And you can't talk about the open assault on American democracy without talking about the tech fascist cult that calls itself the Dark Enlightenment and/or the Network State.