We Are Living in the Fantasy World of 13-Year-Old Boys

Many of the tech billionaires who built our world have taken the wrong lessons from their favorite science fiction. They regard “humanness, and Earth itself … as a burden to be sloughed off.” Gal Beckerman contemplates the new book “The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State” by Jill Lepore.

Like Musk, Thiel and Sam Altman, I grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov and Adams. I found the writing inspiring. But I stopped taking it literally a long time ago. https://www.theatlantic.com/books/2026/08/silicon-valley-science-fiction-jill-lepore-book-review/688467/?gift=_aFBI00lj0Z6Gzv9uVJeWOioXlRT_V3rLqTrRQ33rrk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share