A Century in the Making

The Rise of Technocratic Authoritarianism and the Future of the US and the World

Each day over the last three and a half weeks I have watched as the very ground of the modern global movement toward an egalitarian order, based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Paris Climate Agreement, and the UN Charter itself, has been sent to the shredder by the Trump Administration. As each Executive Order declares another agency nothing more than “waste, fraud, and abuse”, visions of both 20th century authoritarian takeovers and science fiction movies fly through my mind, begging a response of some kind. Prayer. Tequila. Calls to my elected leaders. Sleep. All of these things (and several more) pull at me as I try to rise above the smoke of chaos and destruction just enough to see what is happening and help prepare myself, and whoever else will listen, for what is coming.

Here are my thoughts today…

Throughout history, authoritarian regimes have risen by exploiting crises, consolidating power, and eliminating dissent. The 20th century saw fascist, communist, and military dictatorships achieve control through brute force, propaganda, and surveillance. Ask anyone in their 90’s what that was like.

In the 21st century, a new form of authoritarianism is emerging—not through traditional political coups but via technocracy, where unelected tech elites, artificial intelligence (AI), and corporate monopolies control society. We are witnessing this in our own United States today, where the decline in our faith in democratic institutions has allowed billionaires like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Sam Altman to rise to power, proposing alternatives to democratic governance through AI and privatized decision-making.

As we speak, the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency”, a completely made up entity with no authorization from Congress, is rampaging through ALL of our governmental databases looking for anything that “does not align with the president’s agenda.” The barely-post pubescent DOGE hackers (employed by whom?) have been given access to nearly everything which allows them to simply search for identifiers like LGBTQ, Black, Hispanic, BIPOC, woman, or any other word that they believe signifies DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and simply hit “DELETE”. The “move fast and break things” crowd are quite happy to destroy what has taken many generations and much blood to build if it allows them the power they believe they deserve. (Look up Accelerationism and how the Tech-Bros and White Christian Nationalists are influenced by this belief system.)

The Parallels Between 20th-Century and 21st-Century Authoritarianism

But this is nothing new. Authoritarian movements often follow a common pattern: a period of economic or political instability (usually created over a period of time by multiple political parties) is followed by a populist movement that demonizes intellectuals and opposition groups which then allows the consolidation of power by a strong man who is happy to employ mass surveillance in order to maintain control.[1] Fascist regimes such as Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy centralized control by suppressing dissent, using propaganda, and militarizing society.[2] The Soviet Union employed mass censorship, AI predecessors in bureaucracy, and an extensive informant network to regulate society.[3] And the People’s Republic of China “retrained” anyone who strayed from the party line in detention centers. These societies suffered educide (the destruction of educational institutions), ecocide (the destruction of the land), cultural genocide (the destruction of the historical record), and the destruction of anything considered “elite” (woke?).

This pattern has existed for millenia, and in the 21st century, these tactics have evolved through technology rather than brute force. Instead of militarized dictatorships, we are witnessing a world where tech monopolies (Meta, Amazon, X, OpenAI, etc), AI surveillance, and data-driven control of the information we receive have become the primary mechanisms of power. Governments no longer need secret police when AI algorithms curate what people see, track online behavior, and predict dissent before it happens.[4] (The genocide on Palestinians by the Israeli Government is primarily an AI driven assault with snipers drones and unmanned machine guns using algorithms to determine if an object is a person and if that person is a threat. Look for this technology in a city near you!) The Citizens United Supreme Court decision equating money with speech opened the door for tech billionaires (and others) to buy politicians by threatening to “speak” (aka, spend as much money as it takes) against them over the platforms they own and control. It is an asymmetrical war for the minds of millions being waged with our consent with each click and share.

The Role of Silicon Valley in a New Authoritarian Model

What is perhaps most frightening though is Silicon Valley’s technocratic vision for the future which is not about mass killings or concentration camps but about algorithmic control, automation of governance, and private wealth shaping public policy. While this is nothing new, in that Technotopian Societies have been imagined since the 1920’s (see Fritz Lang’s 1927 movie Metropolis), what is different is how key figures in and around the Trump administration have openly expressed skepticism of democracy. Did you know that,

• Peter Thiel, head of PayPal and one of the richest people on earth, has stated, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”[5] He has funded projects in seasteading—floating, autonomous city-states where corporate governance replaces democratic government.[6]

• Elon Musk, who has purchased his place alongside Trump, envisions a Martian colony under his control, where he alone determines the laws, hinting at a preference for corporate-led governance instead of elected leadership.[7]

• Sam Altman of OpenAI advocates for AI-driven decision-making, where algorithms predict and solve governance problems without the “inefficiencies” of democracy.[8]

In each case, these Technocrats (Altman, Bezos, Ellison, Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, etc.) believe that they, and they alone, should determine how the world goes round. They, like all authoritarian dictators of the past, want to determine who lives and who dies, what is good and what is bad, what values and beliefs should rule the world, and what culture should be supreme. They are no different than the fascist (Hitler, Mussolini), communist (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot), or military juntas (Franco, Pinochet) of the 20th century. They are just using the latest tools to achieve the same end.

AI, Surveillance, and the End of Democratic Choice?

Where are we already seeing this today? AI is being used in China’s social credit system which ranks citizens based on their behavior, restricting travel and employment for those deemed “untrustworthy.”[9] In the U.S., predictive policing algorithms disproportionately target marginalized communities,[10] while AI-generated misinformation influences elections worldwide.

With the click of a mouse, self-defined “waste, fraud and abuse” can be written out of the code of any government system giving corporate-controlled AI the power to make decisions, and not the elected officials or even the bureaucrats, thereby eliminating the human element within governance. What is truly frightening is that, unlike 20th-century dictatorships, this system will not require violence to maintain control; it will rely on economic coercion, digital blacklisting, and algorithmic manipulation to achieve compliance.[11] We will be doxed, deleted, and duped into obeying in advance. (1984 anyone?)

Conclusion

As we watch the global political realignment happening before our eyes (did you hear JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference?), the United States is at a crossroads. As faith in democracy declines, technocratic elites are positioning themselves as the new rulers, replacing traditional governance with AI, data control, and corporate oversight. This is eerily like the global overlords many New Agers were writing about in the 1980’s. A Deep State Techno-Oligarchy that would dictate all political and societal rules. If unchecked, this very real shift happening today could lead to a world where citizens no longer vote, but instead are governed by predictive AI, with billionaires shaping policies from breakaway enclaves in space or private floating cities.

The question before us is this: What is the future we want our great grandchildren to inherit? Will we align with those fighting for a just world for all or will we accept AI-driven reality in exchange for that next Amazon package, Uber ride, or DoorDash meal delivered to our home?

What took a century to create will not be undone in an afternoon, let alone one election cycle. This is a struggle that will take generations. It will take the 99% being willing to again rise up and fight for a future we may never see. We must once again answer the question Union activist and songwriter Florence Reece asked in 1931, "Which Side Are You On?" Democracy depends on our answer.

Questions to ponder:

1. What classes/castes in civil society were targeted first during authoritarian takeovers? Is there a parallel to who is being targeted in the US today?

2. Where did the resistance movements come from during prior takeovers? What tactics and strategies made them successful?

3. How did the “average” person respond to the takeovers in the past? How did that help or hurt the authoritarian regime?

4. What can you do to make a difference today?

References

1. Arendt, H. (1951). The Origins of Totalitarianism. Harcourt, Brace & Co.

2. Payne, S. (1995). A History of Fascism, 1914-1945. University of Wisconsin Press.

3. Applebaum, A. (2012). Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956. Doubleday.

4. Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. PublicAffairs.

5. Thiel, P. (2009). The Education of a Libertarian. Cato Unbound.

6. Friedman, P. (2012). Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore the Environment, Enrich the Poor, Cure the Sick, and Liberate Humanity from Politicians. Free Press.

7. Musk, E. (2020). Interview with Lex Fridman. YouTube.

8. Altman, S. (2023). The Future of AI and Governance. OpenAI Blog.

9. Creemers, R. (2018). China’s Social Credit System: An Evolving Practice of Control. SSRN.

10. Eubanks, V. (2018). Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor. St. Martin’s Press.

11. O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy. Crown Publishing.