Gil Durán
@gilduran.com
California writer. Ida Tarbell stan. Author: “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Global Democracy.” https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Nerd-Reich/Gil-Duran/9781668221402 Newsletter: http://www.thenerdreich.com
“Timely and persuasive, this revelatory account is difficult to ignore.” My new book HYPERSCALE received a fantastic review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social. Less than three months until it hits bookstore shelves! Get more info and preorder your copy: hyperscalebook.com
A major profile of @gilduran.com, author of the forthcoming THE NERD REICH from @simonandschuster.bsky.social is in @theguardian.com today! www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...
‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them
theguardian.com
‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
‘If we don’t fight back, we don’t have a future’: the journalist taking on the ‘tech fascists’ of Silicon Valley
As Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and their peers have grown richer and more influential, Gil Durán argues they have all but abandoned democracy – and found the perfect government to enable them
theguardian.com
My new investigation into a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT reveals numerous red flags—and some very disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before his attack on Florida State University www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0... 1x 🧵
Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT
A year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University.
motherjones.com
😳 On August 6, Argentina will vote on a proposed Land Reform Law aiming to facilitate the purchase of rural land in Argentina by private investors. It seems they are preparing to “celebrate” with Peter Thiel. The bill was written by Sturzenegger who will appear at this Sept event with Thiel. 1/
David Ellison wants us to know he’s not ideological, and that’s why he put a conservative with no tv experience in charge of CBS
AI-made TV ads. Partisan chatbots. San Francisco is testing what AI does to local democracy — in real time, with real money. missionlocal.org/2026/08/unca...
Uncanny ads and partisan chatbots: AI toys with San Francisco politics
San Francisco’s political experiment with the technology has only just begun. But it’s already permeating civic discourse.
missionlocal.org
"All of the speculation and hype around A.I. is hiding the fact that the technology isn’t just large language models or agents or data centers. It is the backbone of a superstructure that merges regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation."
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 2d agoWant to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. “Democrats cannot just ‘win the midterms’ and go back to life before Donald Trump and his army of tech bros upended our way of life,” writes @tressiemcphd.bsky.social gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...
Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. “Democrats cannot just ‘win the midterms’ and go back to life before Donald Trump and his army of tech bros upended our way of life,” writes @tressiemcphd.bsky.social gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...
Opinion | Want to Fight Back Against Big Tech? Start Here. (Gift Article)
A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.
nytimes.com
A Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way. Wall Street Journal covers Network State cult founder Balaji Srinivasan. “Federal records indicate he and his wife renounced American citizenship in 2023.” 👀 Gift link: www.wsj.com/tech/a-tech-...
A Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way.
Balaji Srinivasan says he believes America is descending into anarchy. His solution: Build a new country from scratch.
wsj.com
I'm 50 today! Doesn't seem real, but at least I'll finally make it to the shelves of the Tulare County Public Library. The wonderful children in my family made me a special birthday card. See if you can detect the theme.
Balaji Srinivasan's parents left India to seek opportunity in the USA. They became doctors in New York. Their son became a tech zillionaire. Now he's *renounced* his US citizenship to seek refuge and safety in countries with less freedom...because "freedom." Peter Thiel is one helluva drug.
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 4d agoA Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way. Wall Street Journal covers Network State cult founder Balaji Srinivasan. “Federal records indicate he and his wife renounced American citizenship in 2023.” 👀 Gift link: www.wsj.com/tech/a-tech-...
I just wrote a book about fascism and I thought this was a joke, but it’s real!
Secular Talk @kylekulinskishow.bsky.social · 4d ago
"Participants complained about moldy rooms, dead nightlife and not enough women—a downside familiar to Silicon Valley." It's weird how every time these weird billionaire types try something, their followers always have the same compllaints.
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 4d agoIf that link isn't working, try this one: www.wsj.com/tech/a-tech-...
A Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way. Wall Street Journal covers Network State cult founder Balaji Srinivasan. “Federal records indicate he and his wife renounced American citizenship in 2023.” 👀 Gift link: www.wsj.com/tech/a-tech-...
A Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way.
Balaji Srinivasan says he believes America is descending into anarchy. His solution: Build a new country from scratch.
wsj.com
Latest Foreign Desk for Monocle Radio. Contemplating the rightward lurch of Silicon Valley, with @gilduran.com, @politicsprof.bsky.social, @adriennemassanari.bsky.social and Claire Stapleton. monocle.com/radio/shows/...
CTRL + ALT + RIGHT: Has technofascism taken over Silicon Valley?
Thirty years ago, it was assumed that the internet would be an engine of liberal democracy. Now, Silicon Valley’s massive...
monocle.com
Das Problem mit den zentristischen Dems kann man bei Newsom sehr gut beobachten. Mach ganz gute Kampagne gegen 🍊💩🤡 aber lässt keine Gelegenheit aus, um sich a Büttel des Großkapitals zu profilieren. Kein Wunder, dass die Menschen, wo nur irgendwie möglich, die linken Kandidaten unterstützen.
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 4d agoDon’t look now, but Gavin Newsom is siding with the tech billionaires again. The 2028 audition continues… www.wsj.com/business/med...
Don’t look now, but Gavin Newsom is siding with the tech billionaires again. The 2028 audition continues… www.wsj.com/business/med...
“Ultimately, the real threat of Trumpism and tech-supremacism in Latin America lies not in their capacity for technological modernisation but in their function as technologies of oppression.” www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
Latin America is becoming a laboratory for tech-supremacism
Trumpism, corporate deregulation and biometric surveillance are converging into a new model of control in the region.
aljazeera.com
The Wall Street Journal is doing a major story on Balaji Srinivasan and his Network State cult. I know this because Balaji has gone ballistic and is writing long screeds attacking the WSJ reporter (he always attacks preemptively when he's scared). My 2024 piece: newrepublic.com/article/1804...
The Tech Baron Seeking to Purge San Francisco of “Blues”
If Balaji Srinivasan is any guide, then the Silicon Valley plutocrats are definitely not OK.
newrepublic.com
Well this is true I suppose. trump can’t be bought; he is subscription based. You have to keep bribing him forever www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Exclusive | ‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump’s Unprecedented Fundraising Operation
Meredith O’Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out the president’s desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects.
wsj.com
"Abundance!" Tech layoffs have already surpassed all of 2025. California is at the epicenter www.sfchronicle.com/tech/article...
Tech layoffs have already surpassed all of 2025. California is at the epicenter
California has seen more than 16,000 tech workers let go over the past seven months, yet experts suggest the overall job market is healthy and that AI could actually lead to more hiring.
sfchronicle.com
Esquire: A Shocking New Book Reveals Why JD Vance Might Be Even More Dangerous for America Than We Thought. “Duran gets inside the heads of our potential overlords and finds that they're full of spiders, snakes, and poison toads.” via @theshebeen.bsky.social www.esquire.com/news-politic...
A Shocking New Book Reveals Why JD Vance Might Be Even More Dangerous for America Than We Thought
Let’s hope the vice president’s is so unlikeable that it keeps him from climbing the ranks any higher.
esquire.com
"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...
AI Companies Are Trying to Hide a Staggering Amount of Debt
AI companies are pouring tens of billions of dollars into enormous data centers. They're being built on top of a mountain of hidden debt.
futurism.com
If you ever feel unqualified, remember that a gang of billionaires spent $900 million for 60,000 acres with no water, no infrastructure, a roster of endangered species, and a voter-approved ordinance that specifically bans building a city there. Now they’re begging politicians to bail them out.
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 6d agoLooks like Gavin Newsom is going to bat for California Forever, the Network State "tech utopia" project backed by Marc Andreessen and other tech billionaires. 70% of local residents oppose it. But the billionaires hired Newsom's favorite lobbyist. Welcome to Sacramento. nypost.com/2026/07/29/u...
I am once again asking the Gavin Newsom stans to come get your boy.
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 6d agoLooks like Gavin Newsom is going to bat for California Forever, the Network State "tech utopia" project backed by Marc Andreessen and other tech billionaires. 70% of local residents oppose it. But the billionaires hired Newsom's favorite lobbyist. Welcome to Sacramento. nypost.com/2026/07/29/u...
Gavin Newsom's California Forever Problem. Will the presidential wannabe choose the billionaires over the people? www.thenerdreich.com/will-gavin-n...
Gavin Newsom‘s California Forever Problem
California Forever failed at the ballot box. Now Gov. Newsom's office is trying to push the tech billionaire-backed megacity through Sacramento
thenerdreich.com
Looks like Gavin Newsom is going to bat for California Forever, the Network State "tech utopia" project backed by Marc Andreessen and other tech billionaires. 70% of local residents oppose it. But the billionaires hired Newsom's favorite lobbyist. Welcome to Sacramento. nypost.com/2026/07/29/u...
Exclusive | Inside Gavin Newsom’s desperate bid to save billionaire pals’ dream city
Newsom has been quietly whipping support for California’s billionaire-backed megacity as it faces the loss of a key tenant.
nypost.com
Gavin Newsom can’t even be honest when he’s purporting to ”come clean.” Brilliant move, giving new legs to a 20-year-old scandal. Big brain strategy!
SFist@sfist.bsky.social · last wk.Ruby Rippey, formerly Ruby Rippey-Tourk, has published a personal essay about her alcohol-fueled affair with Gavin Newsom during his first term as mayor of San Francisco — while Rippey’s husband Alex Tourk was one of Newsom’s top advisors.