Jill Lepore's New Book Warns Tech Leaders Misread Science Fiction, Threaten Democracy

Jill Lepore, a historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, is set to release her new book, “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State.” She argues that tech companies are increasingly stepping into roles that used to belong to democratic governments, which she sees as a troubling return to tyrannical control through algorithms and corporate power. On the TechCrunch Equity podcast, she expressed her concerns about private firms taking on state functions without public consent, criticizing leaders like Elon Musk for misunderstanding science fiction as a guide for the future. Lepore connects this concept back to E.M. Forster’s 1909 story “The Machine Stops” and examines historical events, including the 1996 Telecommunications Act, to illustrate the growing divide between technology and democracy.