Naomi Klein critiques tech billionaires
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor launched a 15-city US and UK book tour.
The book argues concentrated tech wealth pushes a post-democratic, apocalyptic agenda.
Background
End Times Fascism, published in September 2026, analyzes how tech billionaires, religious fundamentalists, and political leaders use climate and financial crises to advance a post-democratic agenda benefiting a tiny elite. The authors trace modern authoritarianism through privatized disaster economies, comparing climate-crisis exploitation to post-war Iraq and post-Katrina New Orleans. The book details collaboration among tech figures, evangelical leaders, and political movements embracing apocalyptic visions, including fossil-fuel-powered data centers.
How it unfolded
- Sep 11, 2026The New World published Ros Taylor's review of End Times Fascism, describing it as exploring religious fanatics and tech billionaires who see catastrophe as an opportunity.
- Sep 12, 2026Klein and Astra Taylor launched a 15-city US and UK tour to promote the co-authored book.
- Sep 12, 2026The Guardian published a piece on Klein taking on tech billionaires, headlined 'Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist.'
- Sep 12, 2026The New York Times published 'The Earthly Beauty End Times Fascists Are Missing,' featuring Astra Taylor and Klein on 'The Interview.'
- Sep 12, 2026The New York Times published 'Naomi Klein on Elon Musk's V.I.P. Vision of the Future,' in which Klein discussed Musk and a 'hierarchy of humanity.'
- Sep 12, 2026The New York Times published 'Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor on the Fight Against Traitors to Life,' in which the authors argue a powerful far-right coalition is hastening the destruction of the world as we know it.
Who’s saying what
- Authors
- Klein and Taylor argue that concentrated financial, mediagenic, technological, and military power in a small unaccountable group produces a new shamelessness, and that a far-right coalition is hastening global destruction.
- Klein
- Klein says Elon Musk has a vision of the future for a subset of humanity who get to enjoy the implants, and that having such a vision does not mean he is not a fascist.
- Authors
- Klein and Taylor say they want some of these people held accountable, citing attacks on the ICC and assertions of immunity.
Still unverified
The New World review states that 'some of the men driving artificial intelligence are convinced that it will eventually achieve god-like omniscience and bring about a post-human future' and that 'Questioned about whether he wanted the human race to endure, Palantir billionaire Peter Thiel was unable to answer.'