The Nerd Reich

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Bryan Johnson, the tech millionaire spending heavily in a quixotic effort to avoid death, has received yet another stark reminder of his terminal mortality.

Last week, Johnson announced he has been diagnosed with autoimmune gastritis, an incurable disease that causes the immune system to attack healthy stomach cells. “My stomach is eating itself,” he wrote.

Normally, such a diagnosis would be no laughing matter. But we can make an exception for Johnson, one of the more ridiculous characters to emerge during Silicon Valley’s pivot to AI psychosis. Johnson, who claims he will not die, has started a cult movement called Don’t Die, which is based on convincing gullible people that death is optional (and getting them to buy the health supplements Johnson sells).

In his supposed quest to overcome death, Johnson has:

-Injected the blood plasma of his teenage son
-Subjected his penis to shock therapy
-Swallowed 100 pills a day
-Baked in a 200 degree sauna while icing his testicles
-Taken massive doses of psychedelics
-Tweeted details about his girlfriend’s genitals
-Declared that mankind will use AI to create God

“We are creating God in the form of superintelligence,” Johnson told Bari Weiss in an interview. “If you just say: What have we imagined God to be? What are its characteristics? We are building God in the form of technology.”

Johnson has even announced the creation of his own Network State—with plans for a private country called Don’t Die. When asked to state his goals during a 2024 interview, Johnson said:

One is start a company. Two is start a country. Three is start a religion. Four: Don't Die. Five: Become God.

Unfortunately for Johnson, it appears God—or Nature—will have the last laugh. His diagnosis isn’t terminal, but it’s a reminder that he is mortal, and will remain so no matter how much Snake Oil he swallows or teenagers he drains. He will not be God, or even see God.

This may seem like an obvious and unnecessary point to make, but it’s crucial, because Johnson is not alone. The wealthiest men in the world are spending billions of dollars in an emergency quest for life extension. From a Wall Street Journal story headlined “The Billionaires Fueling the Quest for Longer Life”:

Silicon Valley giants Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, Yuri Milner and Marc Andreessen are among the boldface names behind the influx of money in the longevity industry. Thiel’s quest for longer life spans nearly a dozen companies—some of which were funded by his venture firm and others by a nonprofit foundation he backed—that raised more than $700 million, according to the Journal's analysis.

They and other wealthy investors have helped push what was once something of an academic backwater into the cultural mainstream. Many companies ultimately fail, but the ultrawealthy and other enthusiasts are following the money and the science to decide where to invest and what to take.

The billionaire quest for political power and the billionaire quest to defeat death are, I’d argue, the same project wearing two hats. Democracy is a limit on power. Mortality is a limit on power. Both projects are, at bottom, a tantrum against the words “limit” and “reality.”

So it’s pleasing to see Johnson—the pallid mascot of Silicon Valley’s panicky death fear—get such a brutal reality check. Too many media outlets have built up his legend, giving him the attention he so desperately craves. But the media builds you up to tear you down, and the walls are closing in on Johnson and his delicate flesh.

This all ends very badly for him. In fact, it ends in death. No amount of protein powders or magic mushrooms or crotch tortures will change this simple, incontrovertible fact—and neither will billions in venture capital spending.

Which brings me to the subject of my book: not just the quest to live forever, but the quest to rule forever that runs right alongside it.

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy is out soon. Early sales make a huge difference —click here to support local bookstores and this newsletter, or here for all other buying options.

Related:

Bryan Johnson, ‘Don’t Die’ Network State Guru, Under FireBryan Johnson gained wide fame as the subject of a recent Netflix documentary. But now his carefully crafted image may be crackingMy Talk With Wajahat Ali

Earlier this week, I joined Wajahat Ali for a conversation about Elon Musk and other billionaire villains. We cover a lot of ground in this one. Click below to watch:

Elon Musk, America’s Worst Immigrant, Leads Silicon Valley’s Fascist Attack on DemocracyElon Musk openly promotes Nazi conspiracies and anti-immigrant movies as Silicon Valley billionaires are no longer hiding their end game to destroy democracy and replace it with techno-fascism.

“It’s not clear why we need these new cities.”

That’s what I told reporter Sean Morrow in More Perfect Union’s new video on the Network State cult and its bid to replace democratic government with rule by tech billionaires. The piece has already passed 175,000 views in under a day.

We get into Silicon Valley’s strange obsession with building new cities controlled by tech moguls—from Gaza, Greenland and Guantanamo to Próspera and California Forever.

“Wherever you look these days with Trump or with these tech guys, there’s always the idea of a new city that they’re proposing,” I told Morrow. “And it’s not clear why we need these new cities.”

Watch the full video below. Morrow does a great job of explaining the playbook. The more people see what this is and how it works, the harder it is to pull off. Please watch and share!

Nerd Reich Podcast Hits Major Milestone

The Nerd Reich podcast now has 25,000 subscribers on YouTube. It’s a pretty big milestone for us—especially since I did not really want to start a podcast, much less a video one.

Much praise is due to my producer, R.R. Robbins, whose hard work and expertise make all the difference. Someday we might tell you the true story of how we met and became friends. But only if you’re a paid subscriber.

That’s right. Our 779 paid subscribers make all of this possible. We’re only here because of them, and we’re just getting started. (Thank you!)

Make a billionaire squirm. Become a paid subscriber today. Click here to join.

The Nerd Reich Audiobook is Coming!

By popular demand, I’m locked in a dark studio this week to record the audiobook for The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and The War On Democracy. I’m staying hydrated and drinking lots of Throat Coat tea, but I’m already tired of the sound of my own voice.

Pre-orders make a huge difference! So, if you plan to buy the audiobook, please do it this week in honor of my exhausted and struggling vocal cords. Click here for a range of purchase options.

Last week, Elon Musk threatened Rep. Ro Khanna for saying that an estimated 4.5 million children will die as a result of Musk feeding USAID “into the woodchipper.”

But the statement hurts because it’s true. By January, over 700,000 people had already died preventable deaths due to the USAID cuts, according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota:

One year after the Trump administration began its dismantling of USAID, a model that tracks the impact of USAID funding cuts on global disease prevention programs estimates that more than 762,000 people have died as a result of those cuts, including more than 500,000 children. 

These deaths are the inevitable outcome of slashing life-saving aid programs. With the wave of a chainsaw, the richest man in the world condemned the poorest people in the world to death. Then he became a “trillionaire.”

This is like a 21st-century version of a Greek myth. Either Elon Musk is doomed—or humanity is. Musk’s legacy won’t be electric cars, spaceships or satellites. Musk’s legacy is dead children.

Last week, I joined Krystal Ball and Kyle Kulinski to discuss the USAID cuts, which I call a “Silicon Valley Genocide” in my book. We talk about Silicon Valley’s fantasy of replacing human beings with AI, a nightmare scenario that would render the majority of us economically useless and in need of aid. And judging by what the tech billionaires did to USAID, we won’t be getting any of their “abundance.”

This interview crossed 124,000 views in under two days. And yes—the thumbnail gives Musk devil horns. Watch it and tell me they aren’t earned.

Click to Watch: Why I Call the USAID Cuts a Silicon Valley Genocide.

Audio Version: Click here to listen to the episode on Substack.

Coming Soon: The Nerd Reich book

This is only a peek at what you’ll get in my forthcoming book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and The War On Democracy. It details how a cult of billionaires is chasing a self-fulfilling prophecy of societal collapse.

Early sales make a huge difference. If you can, please pre-order it today!

Click this link to support independent bookstores and this newsletter.

Publishers Weekly: “This transfixing debut from journalist Durán investigates the antidemocratic ideologies espoused by tech billionaires linked to the second Trump administration ... It’s an ominous look at an insular elite arrayed against American democracy.”

Here’s what some amazing writers are saying about The Nerd Reich:

“Gil Durán is an essential voice on this technofascist moment—where it comes from and where we are going.” —Carole Cadwalladr, investigative journalist, The Nerve

“A clear and compelling account of the threats posed by technofascism to democracies everywhere.” —Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian and author of Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present

“Reader take note: Gil Durán is a deep, thoughtful, and expansive observer of events that shape the current and future of our American democracy.” —George Lakoff, author of The All New Don't Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate

“The Nerd Reich is a clarion warning about the rise of techno-fascist sociopaths who seek to profit off of our collective misery. In clear, compelling and meticulously-researched detail, Gil Durán sounds the alarm about this incestuous cabal of broligarchs. He brings the receipts and the righteous rage.” —Wajahat Ali, The Left Hook