by Douglas Rushkoff · 7 Sep 2022 · 205pp · 61,903 words
Survival of the Richest ESCAPE FANTASIES OF THE TECH BILLIONAIRES DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF For Mark Filippi, Michael Nesmith, and Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. Wish you were here. Contents Introduction: Meet The Mindset 1 The Insulation Equation
…
assumption that most humans are essentially worthless and unthinkingly self-destructive. Let’s either change them or get away from them, forever. Thus, we get tech billionaires launching electric cars into space —as if this symbolizes something more than one billionaire’s capacity for corporate promotion. And if a few people do
…
Investment. The rhetoric of Silicon Valley—whether in the pitch decks of young developers, the talks by TED speakers, or the Joe Rogan interviews with tech billionaires—always bears the same hallmarks as these business plans. Progress. The future. Optimism. Transformation. Winning. But usually these are just euphemisms for conquest, colonization, domination
…
and progress. It’s about more than even just growth for growth’s sake. It’s reaching toward something beyond victory itself: total domination. The tech billionaires have already accumulated more wealth than they or their grandchildren could ever spend. Jeff Bezos has a yacht with a helipad that serves as a
…
adds their own facts, however contradictory, into the canon. Still, the Great Awakening they hope to ignite bears more than a passing resemblance to the tech billionaire fantasies they believe they are resisting. There’s nothing incremental, no theory of change, no adaptation, and no compromise. Just enthusiastic anticipation of a cleansing
by Carissa Véliz · 21 Apr 2026 · 503pp · 129,255 words
of the way or very actively endorsed him. When Trump announced that he was running with JD Vance, a previous Silicon Valley venture capitalist, other tech billionaires like Marc Andreessen who had previously supported Democrats flipped sides. After the editorial board of The Washington Post had drafted an endorsement of the Democratic
…
the election,” posted Musk.[38] Once elected, Trump announced that Musk would lead the new Department of Government Efficiency. At Trump’s presidential inauguration, the tech billionaires were seated in front of Trump’s own cabinet. One of Trump’s first announcements was a $500 billion investment in private AI infrastructure, with
by Christian Davenport · 20 Mar 2018 · 390pp · 108,171 words
nice, at least in public. Their Twitter spat had touched off an irresistible media frenzy that pitted the pair against each other—a pair of tech billionaires fighting for cosmic domination—a made-for-large-font headline neither wanted. For someone who cultivated his image as meticulously as Bezos, it wasn’t
by James Crabtree · 2 Jul 2018 · 442pp · 130,526 words
Nilekani, the company’s best-known cofounders, were admired as models of social mobility and ethical practice, as well as being among India’s first tech billionaires. It was a throwaway phrase by Nilekani—“Tom, the playing field is being levelled”—that inspired American journalist Thomas Friedman to write The World Is
by Sandra Navidi · 24 Jan 2017 · 831pp · 98,409 words
come into great wealth by building enormously successful companies, sometimes over the span of several generations. Among them are old industrial dynasties, nouveau industrialists, or tech billionaires. Some families consist of fewer than a dozen members, while others encompass hundreds. The priority of family offices is wealth preservation. According to a saying
…
and sexist as the rest of the financial industry, as numerous lawsuits have unearthed; especially when fund-raising, women often face misogynistic and inappropriate behavior. Tech billionaires, the history-making “industrialists” of our time, are exclusively male. In the venture capital industry, deep relationships are of utmost importance to source deals and
by John Sviokla and Mitch Cohen · 30 Dec 2014 · 252pp · 70,424 words
the software market. Microsoft became known not only for the Windows operating system but also for its consumer electronics and computers. In 2000, the American tech billionaire established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gate stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in 2008 to dedicate himself to the foundation. Terry Gou b. 1950
by Tim Schwab · 13 Nov 2023 · 618pp · 179,407 words
’s grand experiment in philanthropy, we are long overdue for a reappraisal of the world’s most powerful humanitarian, especially as a new generation of tech billionaires begins to follow in his footsteps. Jeff Bezos and his ex-spouse, MacKenzie Scott, have both pledged to give away most of their fortunes, more
…
, a company he views as having been an engine of social progress, inspiring a computer revolution. Villanueva told me this view is fairly common among tech billionaires, the idea that “‘We haven’t harmed anyone.’ Regardless, you have to take into account, when you look at folks who have been able to
…
.” What Murray did not clearly disclose was that he himself planned to run this new organization. He first secured a promise of $115 million from tech billionaire (and onetime Bill Gates adversary) Larry Ellison to start his new research institute at Harvard. For reasons that are not totally clear, Ellison abandoned the
…
billionaires should even exist. All around us, the signs are clearly pointing to gathering distrust in and distaste for oligarchy and the false promises of tech billionaire philanthropists. Look at the Covid-19 pandemic, which exposed how grotesquely inefficient and inequitable our economic system is, prioritizing the needs of the rich over
by Anupreeta Das · 12 Aug 2024 · 315pp · 115,894 words
people who built tech companies as even more deserving than the wealth that accrues to billionaires in, say, finance. If anything, the immense wealth of tech billionaires, the thinking goes, is dwarfed by the social, economic, and scientific progress they have created. Moreover, wealth creation in technology is seen as not a
…
can loosely be categorized as technology. Eight of the top 10 billionaires in the Forbes 2023 list of the world’s 400 richest people were tech billionaires—Musk, Bezos, Ellison, Page, Gates, Brin, Zuckerberg, and Steve Ballmer. Each had an estimated net worth of more than $100 billion. Their collective net worth
…
fifty-fourth on the list of countries based on their gross domestic product, coming in just below Iraq but ahead of Ukraine. The divorces of tech billionaires too have created new and enormous fortunes, including those of MacKenzie Scott from Bezos and of Melinda French Gates. Tech fortunes have eclipsed many of
…
the biggest on Wall Street, including the founders of hedge funds and private equity firms. Also, tech billionaires have accumulated their wealth far more swiftly than billionaires in other industries. The financial dominance and overwhelming importance of the technology sector has conferred upon
…
Omidyar, “How I Did It: EBay’s Founder on Innovating the Business Model of Social Change,” Harvard Business Review, September 2011. 37. David Gelles, “How Tech Billionaires Hack Their Taxes with a Philanthropic Loophole,” The New York Times, August 3, 2018. Chapter 8: The Gates Keepers This chapter draws partly from my
by Jacob Silverman · 9 Oct 2025 · 312pp · 103,645 words
to keep more people from dying. In time, the resentment over Covid protocols helped catalyze an antisocial worldview that saw baroque conspiracies around every corner. Tech billionaires led the growing backlash against urban homelessness and criminal justice reform. They funneled money to right-wing politicians and bloggers trying to breathe life into
…
, which eventually led to a rift between the tech industry’s most famous right-wing venture capitalist and the president. An impression formed that the tech billionaire who had bucked his liberal peers to give a defiant speech at the 2016 Republican National Convention had had enough of politics. Yet while Thiel
…
often aren’t allowed in rank-and-file unions. A general lack of class consciousness meant that some still subscribed to the fiction that a tech billionaire could be a populist threat to the establishment, just as Trump supposedly was. As a result, a range of political and cultural figures treated Musk
…
attendance at one of them: Michael Milken, Steven Mnuchin, Rupert Murdoch, Peter Thiel, and Travis Kalanick. The group represented the alliance of bitterly anti-Biden tech billionaires and financiers coalescing behind Trump. Their combined fortunes would be a huge asset for Trump in the general election. So would the media assets at
…
Twitter’s management learned about the spy ring from the FBI, Al Asaker tweeted a photo of Dorsey meeting with MBS in New York. The tech billionaire and the dictator shook hands and grinned. For Al Ahmed, the relationship was difficult to explain. “If somebody was spying on my company, would I
…
inequality—were the same being faced by cities across the country. But San Francisco had become not just a political testing ground for Silicon Valley tech billionaires. It had become part of a broader national struggle over how the country would be governed and what values it would pursue. “I thought I
…
the company and locals had deteriorated into open conflict. Mistrust bloomed, as people with century-old connections to the area wondered why a bunch of tech billionaires wanted a piece of their county. People worried about water rights, vehicle traffic, promises of jobs, and the unknown designs of
…
tech billionaires. Residents of nearby towns demanded answers of California Forever officials at local town halls. The US government wanted answers, too. Members of Congress asked the
…
heroic struggle against an obvious enemy. Against this depressing political horizon, it seemed to voters like me that the stakes were fascism—underwritten by the tech billionaires—or another exhausting round of electoral politicking that might delay the country’s backslide into authoritarian rule. Even as the swapping out of Joe Biden
…
-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B 28 https://www.phoenixprojectnow.com/thephoenixpapers 29 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/12/san-francisco-tech-billionaires-political-influence 30 https://www.phoenixprojectnow.com/thephoenixpapers 31 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/12/san-francisco
…
-tech-billionaires-political-influence 32 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/07/san-francisco-police-accessed-business-district-camera-network-spy-protestors 33 https://www.nytimes.com/
by Max Chafkin · 14 Sep 2021 · 524pp · 130,909 words
the filings became public. “A good place to start is voting for Ron Paul.” * * * — paul and those close to him found the idea of a tech billionaire throwing his weight behind their campaign thrilling—and a little perplexing. Paul had no major supporters in the business world—though that was part of
…
Thiel’s money—and the legitimacy it conferred on Trump—as well as about the potential to use Thiel as a conduit to reach other tech billionaires. For his part, Thiel hadn’t instantly appreciated Trump’s value either. After the convention, Thiel enjoyed his boundary-breaking role—he had been the
…
, 2016, https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/might-an-anti-gawker-benefactor-be-covering-hulk-hogans-legal-bills/. a public service: Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Peter Thiel, Tech Billionaire, Reveals Secret War with Gawker,” The New York Times, May 25, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/business/dealbook/peter-thiel
…
-tech-billionaire-reveals-secret-war-with-gawker.html. bully media outlets: Marina Hyde, “Peter Thiel’s Mission to Destroy Gawker Isn’t ‘Philanthropy.’ It’s a Chilling
by Alex Cuadros · 1 Jun 2016 · 433pp · 125,031 words
by Rupert Darwall · 2 Oct 2017 · 451pp · 115,720 words
by W. David Marx · 18 Nov 2025 · 642pp · 142,332 words
by Michael Gross · 1 Nov 2011 · 613pp · 200,826 words
by Ruchir Sharma · 5 Jun 2016 · 566pp · 163,322 words
by Henry Sanderson · 12 Sep 2022 · 292pp · 87,720 words
by Ingrid Robeyns · 16 Jan 2024 · 327pp · 110,234 words
by Linda McQuaig and Neil Brooks · 3 Mar 2026 · 291pp · 83,422 words
by Naomi Klein · 12 Jun 2017 · 357pp · 94,852 words
by Peter W. Bernstein · 17 Dec 2008 · 538pp · 147,612 words
by Corey Pein · 23 Apr 2018 · 282pp · 81,873 words
by Kurt Andersen · 14 Sep 2020 · 486pp · 150,849 words
by Carrie Sun · 13 Feb 2024 · 267pp · 90,353 words
by Mark O'Connell · 13 Apr 2020 · 213pp · 70,742 words
by Nate Silver · 12 Aug 2024 · 848pp · 227,015 words
by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac · 17 Sep 2024
by Kashmir Hill · 19 Sep 2023 · 487pp · 124,008 words
by Grace Blakeley · 11 Mar 2024 · 371pp · 137,268 words
by Paul Collier · 6 Aug 2024 · 299pp · 92,766 words
by Adam Becker · 14 Jun 2025 · 381pp · 119,533 words
by Brad Stone · 10 May 2021 · 569pp · 156,139 words
by Gabrielle Bluestone · 5 Apr 2021 · 329pp · 100,162 words
by Peter Geoghegan · 2 Jan 2020 · 388pp · 111,099 words
by Patrick Radden Keefe · 12 Apr 2021 · 712pp · 212,334 words
by Steven Levy · 25 Feb 2020 · 706pp · 202,591 words
by Jonathan Tepper · 20 Nov 2018 · 417pp · 97,577 words
by Bradley Hope and Justin Scheck · 14 Sep 2020 · 339pp · 103,546 words
by Mollie Hemingway · 11 Oct 2021 · 595pp · 143,394 words
by Jill Abramson · 5 Feb 2019 · 788pp · 223,004 words
by Parag Khanna · 5 Feb 2019 · 496pp · 131,938 words
by Margaret O'Mara · 8 Jul 2019
by Kurt Wagner · 20 Feb 2024 · 332pp · 127,754 words
by Oliver Morton · 26 Sep 2015 · 469pp · 142,230 words
by Zoë Schiffer · 13 Feb 2024 · 343pp · 92,693 words
by Bill McKibben · 15 Apr 2019
by Ashlee Vance · 8 May 2023 · 558pp · 175,965 words
by Edward Chancellor · 15 Aug 2022 · 829pp · 187,394 words
by Andrew Keen · 1 Mar 2018 · 308pp · 85,880 words
by Tamara Kneese · 14 Aug 2023 · 284pp · 75,744 words
by Naomi Klein · 11 Sep 2023
by Christopher Caldwell · 21 Jan 2020 · 450pp · 113,173 words
by Keach Hagey · 19 May 2025 · 439pp · 125,379 words
by Wendy Liu · 22 Mar 2020 · 223pp · 71,414 words
by Paris Marx · 4 Jul 2022 · 295pp · 81,861 words
by Karen Hao · 19 May 2025 · 660pp · 179,531 words
by Paul Kingsnorth · 23 Sep 2025 · 388pp · 110,920 words
by Sarah Jaffe · 26 Jan 2021 · 490pp · 153,455 words
by Timothy Ferriss · 14 Jun 2017 · 579pp · 183,063 words
by Bregman, Rutger · 9 Mar 2025 · 181pp · 72,663 words
by Cory Doctorow · 6 Oct 2025 · 313pp · 94,415 words
by James Rickards · 15 Nov 2016 · 354pp · 105,322 words
by Rebecca Fannin · 2 Sep 2019 · 269pp · 70,543 words
by Brian Merchant · 25 Sep 2023 · 524pp · 154,652 words
by Nick Maggiulli · 22 Jul 2025
by Felix Gillette and John Koblin · 1 Nov 2022 · 575pp · 140,384 words
by Emily Chang · 6 Feb 2018 · 334pp · 104,382 words
by Jonathan Taplin · 17 Apr 2017 · 222pp · 70,132 words
by James Ashton · 11 May 2023 · 401pp · 113,586 words
by Extinction Rebellion · 12 Jun 2019 · 138pp · 40,525 words
by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson · 17 Sep 2024 · 588pp · 160,825 words
by Mark R. Levin · 12 Jul 2021 · 314pp · 88,524 words
by Johan Norberg · 14 Jun 2023 · 295pp · 87,204 words
by Gottfried Leibbrandt and Natasha de Teran · 14 Jul 2021 · 326pp · 91,532 words
by David Ariosto · 24 Mar 2026 · 433pp · 116,344 words
by Steven Pinker · 13 Feb 2018 · 1,034pp · 241,773 words
by Luke Dormehl · 10 Aug 2016 · 252pp · 74,167 words
by Sergey Young · 23 Aug 2021 · 326pp · 88,968 words
by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian · 7 Oct 2024 · 336pp · 104,899 words
by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson · 15 May 2023 · 619pp · 177,548 words
by Dan Lyons · 4 Apr 2016 · 284pp · 92,688 words
by Douglas Rushkoff · 22 Jan 2019 · 196pp · 54,339 words
by Peter S. Goodman · 11 Jun 2024 · 528pp · 127,605 words
by Neal Stephenson · 19 May 2015 · 945pp · 292,893 words
by Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami and Jeremy M. Weinstein · 6 Sep 2021
by Annie Lowrey · 10 Jul 2018 · 242pp · 73,728 words
by William Poundstone · 3 Jun 2019 · 283pp · 81,376 words
by Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms · 2 Apr 2018 · 416pp · 100,130 words
by Erik Baker · 13 Jan 2025 · 362pp · 132,186 words
by Richard Watson · 5 Nov 2013 · 219pp · 63,495 words
by Greta Thunberg · 14 Feb 2023 · 651pp · 162,060 words
by James D. Miller · 14 Jun 2012 · 377pp · 97,144 words
by Mark O'Connell · 28 Feb 2017 · 252pp · 79,452 words
by Rana Foroohar · 5 Nov 2019 · 380pp · 109,724 words
by Eben Kirksey · 10 Nov 2020 · 599pp · 98,564 words
by Peter H. Diamandis and Steven Kotler · 28 Jan 2020 · 501pp · 114,888 words
by Liz Pelly · 7 Jan 2025 · 293pp · 104,461 words
by Lonely Planet
by Ryan Avent · 20 Sep 2016 · 323pp · 90,868 words
by Dan Conway · 8 Sep 2019 · 218pp · 68,648 words
by Michael Shellenberger · 11 Oct 2021 · 572pp · 124,222 words
by Jeremy Rifkin · 27 Sep 2011 · 443pp · 112,800 words
by Andrew Yang · 15 Nov 2021
by Jaron Lanier · 6 May 2013 · 510pp · 120,048 words
by Annalee Newitz · 3 Jun 2024 · 251pp · 68,713 words
by Lucy Corne · 1 Sep 2015 · 1,203pp · 124,556 words
by Jon Ronson · 9 Mar 2015 · 229pp · 67,869 words
by Fintan O'Toole · 22 Jan 2018 · 200pp · 64,329 words
by Fintan O'Toole · 2 Oct 2019
by Celeste Headlee · 10 Mar 2020 · 246pp · 74,404 words
by Rufus Pollock · 29 May 2018 · 105pp · 34,444 words
by Jonathan Haskel and Stian Westlake · 7 Nov 2017 · 346pp · 89,180 words
by Nancy Jo Sales · 17 May 2021 · 445pp · 135,648 words
by Scott Davis, Carter Copeland and Rob Wertheimer · 13 Jul 2020 · 372pp · 101,678 words
by Vincent Ialenti · 22 Sep 2020 · 224pp · 69,593 words
by Raj M. Shah and Christopher Kirchhoff · 8 Jul 2024 · 272pp · 103,638 words
by Jeanette Winterson · 15 Mar 2021 · 256pp · 73,068 words
by Sara Gibbs · 23 Jun 2021 · 263pp · 89,341 words
by Nick Frost · 7 Oct 2015 · 292pp · 97,911 words
by Jonathan Haidt · 13 Mar 2012 · 539pp · 139,378 words
by Guy Branum · 29 Jul 2018 · 301pp · 100,597 words
by Lonely Planet · 30 Sep 2015 · 190pp · 50,133 words
by John Temple · 28 Sep 2015 · 308pp · 96,604 words
by Sonja Thiel and Johannes C. Bernhardt · 31 Dec 2023 · 321pp · 113,564 words
by Max Fisher · 5 Sep 2022 · 439pp · 131,081 words
by Scott J. Shapiro · 523pp · 154,042 words
by Nicholas Carr · 28 Jan 2025 · 231pp · 85,135 words