October Book Club: "Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy"

Welcome to Meet the Moment Book Club, where we read books that meet the moment and make sense of it all together. Please see our [group page](https://www.meetup.com/meet-the-moment-book-club/) for a list of upcoming books.

In discussing the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we spoke about who the real powers that be are that have molded Palestine and the Middle East into the quagmire it is today. Now we turn our eyes to the urgent now: who the powers that be are today that are consolidating power as never before. Silicon Valley and Big Tech are top of mind.

Gil Durán's book "Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War On Democracy" has become an instant bestseller for good reason -- we see AI dominating and tech billionaires (now even trillionaires) amassing wealth and power in frightening proportions, even as they are not solving but exacerbating the crises we face today. It seems critical that we understand what they really have in mind and what we can do about it.

Here is an ABC article about the book: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-02/the-nerd-reich-silicon-valley-fascism-war-on-democracy-abc-2026/107091034

*** "When Silicon Valley says it is ‘‘moving fast and breaking things,’’ the world interprets the chaos as a necessary cost of innovation. Gil Durán reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule.

Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, Durán traces this ideology from its philosophical roots in *The Sovereign Individual* by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. He introduces its modern apostles—Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Elon Musk—and shows how the promise of technological liberation has transformed into a global movement for digital feudalism, powered by cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and the algorithmic propaganda of social media.

*The Nerd Reich* explains the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy for the first time. From San Francisco’s weaponized elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are building a new political order.

*The Nerd Reich* is more than a hidden history, it’s an urgent warning: democracy is being dismantled not by coups or tanks, but by code, capital, and the illusion of innovation. Durán insists there is still time to fight back—if we act now."

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-nerd-reich-silicon-valley-fascism-and-the-war-on-democracy-gil-dur-n/a6f6f0dce1150339 ***

We will be meeting at The Erko Hotel. If it's sunny, we'll be outside in the back; if rainy, we'll be at the big square raised table next to the bar.

We will start and end on time.

There's no fee, but please purchase your own food/drinks from the venue.

*** If you have trouble getting the book, message me.

On reading the book: I encourage people to read the book over just interviews or summaries, because nothing beats the slow digesting of the beauty and nuances in a book. Especially for the books in this book club that challenge our worldviews and help us see the world as it truly is, these books need to be really grappled with, to be fully engaged with, to receive the full benefits.

For reference, I use book clubs to motivate me to finish the books I want to read, so the date of the book club becomes a deadline to finish the book by. I calculate the number of pages in a book and the number of days I can realistically read, and work out how many pages on average I need to read each day. That's how I've finished many books. Invariably, they're worth reading to the end.

Of course, life happens and we're all busy. If you really can't finish a book or can only watch videos this time, that's okay. Come by with an attitude of listening, open to being inspired, and take in what others have to say; perhaps you'll want to read/finish the book afterwards.

Just know that books are like…