Brandon Marcus

We are pantomiming our ideas and convictions rather than living them.

The Silicon Prairie is more than a geographic rebranding or rebuke of unfettered global capitalism – it is an ideological project that fuses conservative nostalgia with techno-libertarian ambition. By elevating the figure of the homegrown entrepreneur and minimizing the role of the state, its vision champions private innovation while disregarding... See more

he socially disintegrative movement of marketization,

Proponents of the ‘tech right’ – figures like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and Marc Andrees -sen – increasingly frame American progress through their lens of frontier mythologies. In their telling, the future belongs to bold entrepreneurs and small startups, not bloated federal agencies or coastal elites.

Human labor, inquiry, creativity, and expertise is spurned in the name of “efficiency.” With AI, there is no need for human expertise because anything can be learned, approximated, or created in seconds.

“Gather together, find your footing and your story.” That is the advice I have been giving for two decades about how to stay out of shock during moments of collective trauma. Metabolize the shock together, I would tell people, create meaning together. Resist the tin-pot tyrants who will tell you that the world is now a blank sheet for them to write

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