The Mutational Romances of Silicon Valley Speculation

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Our ideology critique of contemporary tech fascist SciFi begins with the first selections from Fredric Jameson's 1977 seminar at the Institute On Culture & Society, followed by a journalists narration of the tech fascist turn in Silicon Valley [10:00], ideological analysis of Alt-Right speculative fiction [37:00], and technofeudal yearning to convert probability to prophecy [70:00].

Cast (in order of appearance):

Fredric Jameson was the Knut Schmidt Nielsen Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of the Institute of Critical Theory at Duke University. For more about his work, I recommend the “Jameson at 90” series produced by Verso, his longtime publisher, including of his final book, The Years of Theory.

Jordan S. Carroll is the author of Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction & The Alt-Right (U. Minnesota, 2024), which is nominated for a Hugo Award, as well as Reading The Obscene: Transgressive Editors & The Class Politics of U.S. Literature (Stanford UP, 2021), which won the MLA Prize for Independent Scholars.

Jacob Silverman is a freelance reporter and the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk & The Radicalization of Silicon Valley, forthcoming from Bloomsbury.

Matt Seybold is Associate Professor of American Literature & Mark Twain Studies at Elmira College, as well as resident scholar at the Center For Mark Twain Studies and executive producer of The American Vandal Podcast.

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All music for this season of The American Vandal Podcast comes from the Tennessee-based roots ensemble DownRiver Collective. Most of the tracks come from their most recent EP, Off The Shelf. You can purchase it direct from the band here. It's also available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Tracks featured in this episode include "Kettleridge," "As It Was,” “Wasted Time,” “Steam Whistle,” and “Daylight Breaks.”

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Episode Bibliography:

Marc Andreessen, "The Techno-Optimist Manifesto" (October 16, 2023)

Jesse Armstrong, Mountainhead (HBO, 2025)

Isaac Asimov, Foundation (Gnome, 1951)

Jordan S. Carroll, Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction & The Alt-Right (U. Minnesota, 2024)

Jodi Dean, Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism & The New Class Struggle (Verso, 2025)

Gil Duran, "Where J.D. Vance Gets His Weird, Terrifying Techno-Authoritarians Idea" The New Republic (July 22, 2024)

Gil Duran, "The People of Solano County Versus The Next Tech-Billionaire Dystopia" The New Republic (January 4, 2024)

Gil Duran, "The Tech Plutocrats Dreaming of A Right-Wing San Francisco" The New Republic (February 12, 2024)

Cedric Durand, How Silicon Valley Unleashed Techno-Feudalism (Verso, 2020) [French Edition, 2020]

Ronan Farrow, “Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule” The New Yorker (August 21, 2023)

Charles Ferguson, Inside Job (2010)

Bryant Morey French, Mark Twain & The Gilded Age: The Book That Named An Era (Southern Methodist UP, 1965)

Bruce Gibney, “What Happened To The Future?” Founders Fund (2011)

Robert Heinlein, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (Putnam, 1966)

Fredric Jameson, Marxism & Form (Princeton UP, 1974)

Fredric Jameson, “Postmodernism & The Consumer Society” [Original Version, 1983], revised and extended version published as first chapter of The Cultural Turn (Verso, 1998)

Fredric Jameson, “Reification & Utopia in Mass Culture” Social Text (Winter 1979)

Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (Duke UP, 1992)

Fredric Jameson, The Years of Theory: Postwar French Thought to The Present (Verso, 2024)

Fredric Jameson, The Prison-House of Language: A Critical Account of Structuralism & Russian Formalism (Princeton UP, 1972)

George Lucas, Star Wars (1977)

Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle, Oath of Fealty (Phantasia, 1981)

George Packer, “No Death, No Taxes” The New Yorker (November 20, 2011)

Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged (Random House, 1957)

Theodore Schleifer, “It’s Not 2016 Anymore’: Trump Finds Friends in Silicon Valley” New York Times (June 6, 2024)

Matt Seybold, "Authoritarianism Is The Bailout" The American Vandal (February 21, 2025)

Matt Seybold et al, “Solidarity & Speculation” The American Vandal (May 14, 2025)

Matt Seybold et al, "From Technostructure To Technofeudalism" The American Vandal (May 5, 2025)

Matt Seybold et al, "Newspapers Worse Than Dead (Bur Print Is A Rent Strike)" The American Vandal (April 4, 2025)

Jacob Silverman, Gilded Rage: Elon Musk & The Radicalization of Silicon Valley (Bloomsbury, 2025) [forthcoming]

Jacob Silverman, "Silicon Valley's Selfish Embrace of Trump" The New Republic (September 13, 2024)

Jacob Silverman, “From Trump Convictions to Assassination Attempts: How Prediction Markets Have Turned American Politics Into A Casino” Vanity Fair (September 26, 2024)

Jacob Silverman, “Three Coin Monte” American Prospect (May 27, 2025)

Jacob Silverman, "Rise of the Crypto Keepers" The Nation (May 7, 2025)

Jacob Silverman, "Elon Musk Eyes A Shadow Presidency" The Nation (October 30, 2024)

Jacob Silverman, “This Is The Biggest Trump-Musk Scandal That No One’s Talking About” The New Republic (February 27, 2025)

Jacob Silverman, “Future Fail” Baffler (September 2017)

Quinn Slobodian, Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals & The Dream of A World Without Democracy (Metropolitan, 2023)

Mark Twain & Charles Dudley Warner, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873) [2006 Modern Library Edition]

Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism (Melville House, 2024)

Yanis Varoufakis, "Trump & The Triumph of The Technolords" Project Syndicate (April 30, 2025)

Paul Verhoeven, Starship Troopers (1997)

McKenzie Wark, Capital Is Dead: Is This Something Worse? (Verso, 2019)