On October 6, Tech for Democracy brought together Gil Durán, journalist and author of the New York Times bestseller The Nerd Reich, and Santiago Martinez, executive director of Arena, for a conversation about how political power is being wielded against democracy, and how the tech community can push back.
Gil traced the rise of what he calls “tech fascism”: how fringe ideas reached the highest levels of the tech industry and made their way into American politics and government.
We explored Curtis Yarvin’s early theories of technocratic rule; Peter Thiel’s role in funding a new generation of technology companies and political leaders, including helping launch J.D. Vance’s political career; Balaji Srinivasan’s network state and “voice vs. exit” framework; and the dangers of concentrating enormous wealth, technological power, and political influence in the hands of people who don’t believe in democracy.
Santiago shared what we can do right now. With just weeks until the midterms, campaigns are deep into get-out-the-vote efforts, and they need people. He gave us a look behind the curtain at how campaigns use data and technology to decide where to focus their time and resources, and how something as basic as knocking on a door fits into a much larger strategy.
He also talked about the many ways people from tech can contribute, from engineering and data to marketing, operations, and leadership, and why volunteering on a campaign now can be both immediately useful and an on-ramp to deeper political work in the future.
On the rise of tech fascism, and how fringe ideas reached the highest levels of the tech industry and American government.
On how campaigns use data and technology, and the many ways people from tech can contribute before the midterms.
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“Be brave and get loud.” Gil Durán
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