Gilded Rage

A searing insight into the political radicalization of Silicon Valley, from Elon Musk to Peter Thiel, JD Vance and Donald Trump, and how it will affect the future of all our lives. From the pursuit of apocalyptic artificial intelligence to life-extension start-ups that promise billionaires eternal youth to Elon Musk subsidizing the political far right around the world, the Silicon Valley techno-utopian dream has curdled. Rage-posting on social media from their hilltop mansions and private jets, the global innovator class has the world in their hands, but they can't stand the touch. In Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, New York Times bestselling author Jacob Silverman leads us on a critical investigation into the radicalization of Silicon Valley and the increasingly weird billionaires that run our lives, shape the global economy, and advise Donald Trump, who they helped to re-elect as president of the United States. At the centre of this book lies Elon Musk, bent on imposing his political vision on the rest of us. But this is about more than just one man and his obsession with the "woke mind virus," as Silverman reveals a network of tech and finance oligarchs, emboldened by the zero-interest rate years, now using their wealth to exert an increasingly radical political program. Transiting San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Austin and Miami, New York, Washington DC, and various global capitals of tech, finance, and political power, Silverman talks to the people who are already living with the real-life consequences of the political revolution underway. It's a bizarre, sometimes frightening, darkly humorous world where moguls preach populist revolt while dismantling the few remaining checks on their influence. Gilded Rage offers essential reporting and insight for anyone who wants to know what's happened to hopeful Silicon Valley. As the erratic influence of tech elites continues to spread around the world, the story that Jacob has to tell will have a profound relevance for us all. ?