The World Elon Musk is Building. Interview with Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff – 14 March 2026

If Fordism built the 20th-century welfare state, Muskism is designed to undo it. It’s a political economy where freedom means self-reliance through Musk’s technology – from the cars we drive to the satellites that run our battlefields and the AI that trains our minds. Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff’s new book Muskism looks at Musk not as a man but a playbook for our new postliberal age.

• 0:00 – Intro: Musk’s influence on global politics.
• 3:14 – Defining “Muskism” vs. “Fordism.”
• 9:34 – State Symbiosis: Why Musk is NOT a libertarian.
• 11:53 – SpaceX and “Sovereignty as a Service.”
• 15:14 – The rise of the “Tech Right” in Silicon Valley.
• 18:20 – The Cyborg Half: The “Woke Mind Virus” explained.
• 23:12 – How the algorithm “tutors” and radicalizes Musk.
• 29:36 – Fortress Futurism: Resonances with Apartheid South Africa.
• 35:24 – Why Musk supports far-right parties in Europe.
• 43:35 – The NPC Theory: Does Musk see other people as human?
• 47:49 – How to resist the “Muskist” future.

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