“Racism and capitalism are impossible to separate from each other in the American story,” says author Quinn Slobodian. “And [Elon] Musk is a modern variant of that.”Alex Brandon/AP
Elon Musk is an avatar of digital capitalism: He both embodies and defines it. In “Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed,” co-author Quinn Slobodian examines how Musk’s actions have altered American capitalism by changing its relationship with the federal government while ushering in a new, technologically driven political economy that’s upending our lives.
On this week’s More To The Story, Slobodian talks with host Al Letson about how the world’s richest person exploits government investment to his own financial benefit and the many ways this intersects with his views on race and technology. It’s nothing less than a futuristic vision of a frightening new world order.
“What is the social contract of Muskism?” Slobodian asks. “You will be locked into a kind of cult of Elon and so ideologically bolted onto him that you’d never question his decisions.”
Slobodian also touches on the ways Musk fused himself to the American economy—and our imagination—and how growing up in South Africa shaped Musk’s white supremacist worldview.
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