The Authoritarian Stack

Gil Duran connected his newsletter readers to a visual network of Silicon Valley companies, billionaires, ideologues, politicos, and technologies that are, right now, in the process of replacing “antiquated” democracy with high tech machinery of private authoritarianism. It’s a complex structure but well illustrated by the interactive diagram. 

While the Clown Show continues in the Oval Office led by Donnie Dementia and his Gang of Thugs, the real authoritarian take over is happening behind the scenes, in a near total media blackout. The Buddhist response is to be aware of what is happening to our democracy and to remain free in our minds.

Earlier this month, a group of researchers in Europe published a website called “The Authoritarian Stack: How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next.” 

It visually charts how a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and their companies are positioning themselves for political dominance in the United States:

J.D. Vance, propelled to the vice-presidency by $15 million from Peter Thiel, became the face of tech-right governance. Behind him, Thiel’s network moved into the machinery of the state.

Under the banner of “patriotic tech“, this new bloc is building the infrastructure of control—clouds, AI, finance, drones, satellites—an integrated system we call the Authoritarian Stack. It is faster, ideological, and fully privatized: a regime where corporate boards, not public law, set the rules.

Our investigation shows how these firms now operate as state-like powers—writing the rules, winning the tenders, and exporting their model to Europe, where it poses a direct challenge to democratic governance.

It’s a story that will sound familiar to readers of the Nerd Reich newsletter. This intensifying configuration of authoritarian figures in Silicon Valley and the Republican Party is the main focus of my work. 

But researchers and scholars around the world are also tracking this development. I encourage you to spend some time with “The Authoritarian Stack” and share it with everyone you know. The project was led by Prof. Francesca Bria and xof-research.org

In stark visual terms, it helps tell the most important political story of our time, one that may determine the fate of American democracy. Click here to see The Authoritarian Stack.