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   Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:00 JST Gil Duran

   🧵 I've spent this year writing for the @newrepublic about how a group of Silicon Valley billionaires has gone WEIRD. Now their weirdness is mating up with Trump's MAGA weirdness in the 2024 election.
   Here's a few things to understand about these guys:

   • AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:14 JST Gil Duran

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     11. Not all tech is bad! But a lot of people in Silicon Valley have been aware of this weirdness for a long time and have stayed quiet ... or agree with parts of it. With Thiel/Musk/Vance putting it on the Trump ticket, it's time to tune in. Because folks -- it's gonna get weirder.

     Crypto plays a HUGE role in this weirdness. Just as they created new currencies to challenge existing ones, they want to create new countries to challenge existing countries.

     It's all about power and control.

     Tim Chambers repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:14 JST Gil Duran

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     12. Some people refer to these tech authoritarians as
     "The Nerd Reich."
     That's also the name of my newsletter on this topic. Please subscribe -- it's paywall-free!
     Here's this entire thread in newsletter format:
     https://www.thenerdreich.com/with-j-d-vance-on-trump-ticket-the-nerd-reich-goes-national/

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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:15 JST Gil Duran

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     8. For example, tech authoritarians see technology as being above God (if they even believe God exists).

     As tech founders and investors, they see themselves as the top of the hierarchy -- the masters of the universe. These beliefs have resulted in some strange sub-cults...

     The Network State is one sub-cult -- the idea of replacing existing countries with tech-run countries.

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:15 JST Gil Duran

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     9. Transhumanism is another -- a belief in merging with machines to obtain eternal life.
     That's gonna sound pretty weird to fundamentalist Christians. . .
     Lots of tech cults!

     The tech billionaires behind Trump already have money. Now they want power -- to create their own countries, to change what it means to be human, to control the fate of the world. Their interest is mainly *ideological,* not economic.

     Anyone saying otherwise has not done the reading.

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:15 JST Gil Duran

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     • Dave Troy

     10. This story by @davetroy goes deep into the weird collection of ideas called TESCREAL. Many of these tech guys backing Trump have been working on this project for a long, long time. https://washingtonspectator.org/understanding-tescreal-silicon-valleys-rightward-turn/

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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:16 JST Gil Duran

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     6. MAGA/Tech overlaps:
     - Collapse. They believe in an impending societal collapse.

     - Messiah complex. They believe they alone can save humanity. They "alone can fix it."

     - Supremacy. They share a believe in the supremacy of rich white (mostly straight) males over everyone else.

     - Anti-Empathy. They abhor empathy/care.

     - Anti-Public. They detest the idea of the public and seek to privatize most functions of government.

     - Anti-Worker. They believe employers are superior to employees.

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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:16 JST Gil Duran

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     7. This is not an exhaustive list. But you can see here how many of the tech authoritarian goals align with MAGA.

     Antipathy toward taxes and regulations may be the root of their alliance, but there are many branches. But there are key ways in which tech diverges from MAGA...

     Tim Chambers repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:17 JST Gil Duran

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     4. JD Vance is ONE OF THEM. Vance was literally put on Trump's ticket by the same group of people - Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen - who are behind all of the weirdness I've been writing about. https://newrepublic.com/article/183971/jd-vance-weird-terrifying-techno-authoritarian-ideas

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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:17 JST Gil Duran

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     5. Most newspaper analyses suggest that these tech authoritarian guys just want lower taxes and friendly regulations, but that's only part of the story. They have developed their own weird sci-fi influenced tech authoritarian IDEOLOGY.
     It overlaps with MAGA in multiple ways...

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:18 JST Gil Duran

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     #1: They despise democracy. These Trump-loving billionaires believe democracy is bad. They want to create their own corporate dictatorships called Network States. They are actively trying to build these weird little dictator cities all over the world.https://newrepublic.com/article/177733/billionaire-solano-california-tech-secession

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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:18 JST Gil Duran

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     #2. They want control over existing governments. In addition to building weirdo colonies, they're also trying to capture existing governments. In San Francisco, a group of these tech zillionaires is trying to win control of City Hall ...(and now, by supporting Trump, they want control of the USA!) https://newrepublic.com/article/178675/garry-tan-tech-san-francisco

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.
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     Gil Duran (gilduran@journa.host)'s status on Thursday, 01-Aug-2024 08:16:18 JST Gil Duran

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     3. They want to punish Democrats in weird ways. One of their main influencers has suggested that tech bros should form a "gray tribe," purge Democrats from San Francisco and build statues to remind people of how bad Democrats supposedly are... https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

     AnthonyJK-Admin repeated this.