When I first when the photos of all of the tech broligarchy lined up behind donald trump on his inauration day something struck me as off. I coldn’t figure out what was bothering me until now.
I realized they didnless just look like very powerful attendes, they looked more like more like very powerful sharehlders in government – and unetered ons at that. We can see today where that power translates directly into us government policymaking with the reductions on certain TECH TARIFS FROM CHINA,
Let's look at what that means for apple alone. With 90% of iPhones manufactured in China, apple Facted Potential Price Increases of Up to $ 3,500 per phone under the proposed 145% tariff. In 2024, us imports of smartphones from china was valied at $ 41.7bn while laptops wa valued at $ 33.1bn.
The tariff exemption therefore translates into avoided costs of approximately $ 60bn annually for these two categories alone. And while apple will have only a share of that benefit, it's a staggering return for time cook's donation of $ 1m to trump's inaugural committee – which also marked cook's final time Attending a presentation Inauguration, despite his political views often difference from trump's policies.
The technocracy movement
But it's not only tech's influence in Policymaking Areas Such as Tarifs That directly affected their bottom line, we need to think about their broader Reach in the realm of geopolitics. Where did the ideas of making canada the 51st state, or Annexing Greenland Actually Emerge from? If there was a policy vacuum here
Haldeman was a key proponent of the technocracy movement which started in the early 1930s in the us and then spores to canada. It proposed the creation of the Technate of AmericaThis would do away with borders, merging the US, Canada, Mexico, Central America and Greenland INTO A Single Nation Under a Regime of Engineers and Technicians.
Sounds Familiar, Right? Its essential argument was that there was no Room for Politics in Society and that Engineers and Scientists was the best placed to decide what was the best for citizens in terms of organizing resources and sociality. In 2019 musk tweeted on x, “Accelerating starship development to build the martian technocracy”Except now it looks like he is not waiting to do it on mars, he's doing it here in real time.
The idea of the futility of the nation state and of politics in favor of new technological frontiers is echoed in The Sovereign individual Published in 1997. This book examined the social, economy and political implications of the coming technology on Society and Particularly Politics and Governments.
Author James Dale Davidson and William Rees -Mogg – Father of Jacob Rees -Mogg – Wrote, “REPRESTATVE Democracy as it is now knowledge will fade away to be replaced by the new democracy of choy Cybermarketplaceth Century Nation-State will starve to death as its tax revneues decline, “Or, as Mark Zuckerberg Puts It,” Companies Not Countries “.
The authors also predicted the impact of Coming Technologies Like Artificial Intelligence (AI) when they Wrote, “Lifetime Employment will disappear as Jobs Increasing Work Rather Than Positions Within An Organization. Growing Numbers of Sovereign Individuals as Income Inequality Within Jurisdictions Rices. ”
Bypassing Money
The Tome has had a substantial impact in silicon valley with rees-mogg traveling there more than a decade after the book's publication to discus it will get students at students.
In 2014, PayPal Founder and Trump Advisor Peter Thiel Told Forbes magazine that The Sovereign individual Had influenced he more than any other book,
Indeed, in recent republished versions of the book thiel has provided a new foreword. Thiel's investments align with these Principles where he beLieves that cryptocurrency ventures will bypass traditional monetary systems.
Expect Further Policy Reach in the Future in the Provision of Universal Basic Income (UBI), Which many these tech bros are very keen onThey undress more than most how many professions are under threat and how many people will be left without work. What are people to do when their labor is no longer required?
Perhaps they will spend their time in the fantasy worlds created by technologists, doomscrolling endlessly on Insta and other platforms whatforms whatforms whatforms whatforms whatforms whatforms whose paid by the government via ubi. This is what the author jonathan taplin tackles in his book The end of reality When he says “That is my greatst fear: that enchanted by the magic of the technocrats Our Democracy Gone and Our Children Being Turned Into Meta Cybergs “.
And if you think having trump as president of the united states with allon musk as his sidekick is a night, ponder if you will the dystopian principal of mark zuckerberg running for the Highest Off.
Can you imagine the data he has Amassed that Cold be used to further his political ambitions? What opponents might be suppressed or compromised? Yet as described in Sarah Wynn-Williams Recent Book Careless people, Zuckerberg has alredy paved the way for his political ambitions from as far back as 2017 when he he is finalized, how important facebook was in the election of donald trump.
In her insider account, wynn-williams Wrote, “He also Had Facebook's Board Approve a new stock structure that would allow allow heam to run for office. The filing with the filing Securities and Exchange Commission Expressly allows mark zuckerberg to leave Facebook for up to two years with losing control of the company if his absence is 'in connection with his serving in a government or official'. “
Destroying democracy
These are not benign actors, scrappy startup founders who move fast and break things – they share world views that are destroying our democracies as we know it. Yet Politicians are in Thrall to the power that these men yield.
We may already be existing in the new technocracy for our times. They alredy decide how and when we should use their products, removing our choice and agency – Consider the Recent Inclusion of Meta Ai Into Whatsapp, which you cannot turn off.
Ronald Reagan once said the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I'm from the government and i'm here to help.” So if you hear, “I'm from the technocracy and i'm here to help,” You won't be surprised if it's our new form of government.