In her latest book, “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State,” Harvard historian and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore sounds the alarm on a dangerous trend: tech giants are systematically usurping the functions of democratic government. Lepore argues that this transition signals a return to a form of tyranny, where rule by algorithms, corporations, and machines threatens to dismantle centuries of civil rights and democratic governance.
Speaking on the latest episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian discussed the evolution of this “artificial state”—the growing belief that our society should be governed by automated systems rather than democratic consensus.
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The Rise of the Artificial State
Lepore clarifies that she is not a critic of technology itself, but rather of the unchecked expansion of corporate power into the public sphere. “My beef is the ways in which private corporations have increasingly taken on the functions of the state,” she explains. This shift, she posits, has been a gradual, often accidental transformation that has accelerated over the last two decades, driven by a desire for efficiency and, more recently, a deliberate effort to bypass nation-states.
She points to Silicon Valley leaders, including Elon Musk, as figures who seem to be architecting a future based on a flawed, superficial understanding of science fiction. The full conversation explores these themes, ranging from the legacy of Apple’s iconic “1984” ad to the modern-day resistance against massive data center projects.
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From Macintosh to AI Presidents
Lepore traces the roots of the “artificial state” back to the 1984 Macintosh Super Bowl ad, which positioned the personal computer as a tool for liberation against totalitarian “mainframe” states. However, she argues that this promise of personal empowerment has warped into a delusional fantasy. She highlights recent developments, such as Anthropic hiring a philosopher to write a “constitution” for AI and Sam Altman suggesting to Joe Rogan that an “AI president” could be a viable solution.
“They’re not people with a sophisticated political philosophy, but it’s like a cartoon version of that 1984 Macintosh ad, except that it takes itself so seriously,” Lepore notes.
The Myth of the Digital Town Hall
A key focus of the discussion is the “Twitter revolution” narrative. Lepore argues that the idea of social media as a digital town hall is “bananas.” She highlights that platforms like Twitter were never designed to save democracy; they were built to drive engagement and profit. By the time companies began marketing their platforms as democratic tools, they were already distorted by hyper-partisan, unrepresentative user bases. “It’s really just a distortion machine,” she says, noting that politicians relying on these platforms for electorate feedback are operating on flawed data.
Science Fiction as a Dangerous Manual
The latter half of Lepore’s book examines how science fiction has long predicted the failure of the artificial state. She highlights E.M. Forster’s 1909 story, “The Machine Stops,” as a prophetic look at a society entirely dependent on a machine that eventually fails. She suggests that today’s tech leaders are misreading these cautionary tales as blueprints for progress.
“The artificial state will destroy the natural world, and yet it needs the resources of the natural world to run,” Lepore argues. Because of this inherent contradiction, she believes the current model is doomed to failure.
Reclaiming Democratic Control
When asked about how to push back, Lepore emphasizes the importance of local democratic processes. Recent backlashes against data centers across the U.S. serve as examples of citizens demanding accountability from their representatives. She stresses that the decline of local journalism has made this harder, but the political cost of ignoring the electorate is beginning to manifest in elections.
Reflecting on her seminal 2014 piece regarding “disruptive innovation,” Lepore maintains that the theory is merely a business observation, not a law of nature. She concludes by calling for a more robust dialogue between historians and technologists, suggesting that understanding how previous technological shifts—like the arrival of the automobile—were managed through law and guardrails is essential for navigating the current era.
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