Historian Jill Lepore on the 'Artificial State' and why Silicon Valley leaders are bad sci-fi readers

Jill Lepore on the ‘Artificial State’ and why Silicon Valley’s leaders are bad sci-fi readers

Harvard historian Jill Lepore argues in her upcoming book that tech companies are gradually taking over democratic government functions—Twitter as a 'town hall,' Anthropic writing a constitution for Claude. She says Silicon Valley leaders mistake tech progress for political progress and openly declare they want to replace the nation-state. Lepore also calls them bad sci-fi readers: they cherry-pick the tech spectacle and ignore the warnings about power. The interview aired on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosted by Anthony Ha and Theresa Loconsolo.

Why it matters: Lepore's argument is backed by named examples, not just rhetoric; Anthropic being called out adds industry relevance. Score capped at 78 because this is a podcast interview, not the book itself — the full argument isn't laid out yet.