Harvard historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Jill Lepore discusses her upcoming book 'The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State,' arguing that tech companies are increasingly usurping democratic government functions. She traces this trend from the 1984 Apple Macintosh ad through the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Twitter's political evolution, and current AI leaders like Sam Altman and Elon Musk. Lepore contends that Silicon Valley leaders misread science fiction warnings as blueprints, and that the artificial state is ultimately doomed because it destroys the natural resources it depends on. She calls for democratic consultation on tech decisions, citing data center opposition as an example of public pushback, and advocates for more engagement between historians and technologists.
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What is Jill Lepore's 'artificial state' concept and how does it relate to tech companies?
The artificial state refers to private corporations increasingly taking over functions traditionally held by democratic nation-states — without public consent. Lepore traces this from early internet policy decisions like the 1996 Telecommunications Act through modern examples: Facebook creating its own 'Supreme Court,' Anthropic hiring a philosopher to write a constitution, and Sam Altman endorsing an AI president. She sees it as a return to rule by algorithms and corporations. Developers shaping AI products that touch governance will find the policy debate around this on daily.dev.