- Published on
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State by Jill Lepore review β an ominous warning of tech takeover
- Authors
- Name
- DeepHorus
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jill Lepore has issued an ominous warning about the threat artificial intelligence poses to liberal democracy in her new book, "The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State." Lepore argues that a small group of Silicon Valley billionaires are actively building an "Artificial State" that could destroy civilisation as we know it. The book, she admits, is "a grumpy book," filled with dire predictions about the future of democratic governance.
Lepore defines the Artificial State as both a fantasy and an emerging reality. The fantasy, she writes, is an atomised society where elites transcend biological and planetary limits, abandoning constitutional democracy for rule by automation and government by machine. The reality is that public discourse has already shifted to privately owned social media platforms, where monetised attention trumps all other values. These platforms, she argues, are engineered to manipulate user behaviour, polarising citizens through algorithmic rage-bait.
The book identifies five tech leaders as the architects of this new order: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Peter Thiel and Sam Altman. Lepore criticises their priorities, noting that while humanity faces climate change, these billionaires focus on space travel, AI arms races and energy-guzzling datacentres. Their ultimate plans, she claims, include escaping to Mars, hiding in bunkers in New Zealand or uploading their frozen brains to machines.
Lepore enriches her argument with historical micro-stories, tracing the roots of techno-libertarianism to Cold War science fiction. She observes that while classic sci-fi authors like Isaac Asimov intended their works as cautionary tales, the architects of the Artificial State read them as instruction manuals. She also recounts the ancient Mesopotamian origins of the census, emphasising that counting people gives rulers the power to tax and torment populations.
Despite her grim outlook, Lepore insists she is not a true AI doomer. The problem, she clarifies, is not the technology itself but the lack of a coherent, democratically forged strategy for its development and use. However, critics may question her tendency to lump together vastly different technologies under the banner of AI. A Russian chatbot fomenting political discontent, for instance, is categorically different from machine-learning models creating life-saving drugs.
The book's sweeping approach raises important questions about how to analyse technology's impact on political order with conceptual precision. Lepore's central warning, however, is clear: humanity is ceding enormous power to a tiny group of unelected businessmen. Whether her call for democratic oversight will be heeded remains uncertain, but the debate she has sparked is vital for the future of governance.
