"I think that I now understand what he is up to. He is plotting to become a Power. He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment." - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
This is the character Treebeard describing Saruman and the deforestation of Isengard to the hobbits Merry and Pippin; Tolkien appears to have felt something ominous in the industrialization of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But as I look at this passage now I think of the tech bros destabilizing democracy to advance their own agendas: and I'm looking forward to reading The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy by Gil Durán when it comes out next year.
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