Episode · The Ezra Klein Show · 2026-10-30
Books mentioned on Elon Musk’s Endgame
Ahead of the midterm elections, Elon Musk has become the single largest campaign donor in any election cycle, giving about $450 million to Republicans. It is just a fraction of a percent of his near-trillion-dollar net worth.
Quinn Slobodian recommended Extraction by Thea Riofrancos, Silicon Empires by Nick Srnicek, and Against Tech Oligarchy by JS Tan and others, and discussed Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, Foundation by Isaac Asimov, and The Bell Curve by Richard J. Herrnstein and others. Ezra Klein discussed Hayek's Bastards by Quinn Slobodian.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Superintelligence
Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom is an influential examination of the potential paths, scenarios, and existential risks associated with the emergence of artificial superintelligence.
Discussed“And we know that in 2015, he started open AI with Sam Altman. Really at that time, under the influence of the Swedish philosopher Nick Bosstrom, whose book Superintelligence had come out the year before.”
Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a prominent popular science book exploring evolution through a gene-centric view of natural selection.
Discussed“So the term "viruses of the mind" was coined by Richard Dawkins in the early 1990s, well-respected if his sort of incendiary conservative evolutionary biologist, and not coincidentally, the same guy who coined the term "meme" in his book, The Selfish Gene, from 1976.”
Where to get it
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Foundation
Foundation by Isaac Asimov is a groundbreaking science fiction series chronicling the collapse and rebirth of a galactic empire through the predictive science of psychohistory.
Discussed“Well, here I think it's actually helpful to come in through the backdoor through some of his science fiction obsessions, right? I mean, the Foundation series from Isaac Asimov is something he refers to constantly.”
Where to get it
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Hayek's Bastards
Discussed“One of the reasons I wanted to have you on was because you wrote a book before the book you did with Bentarnof on "Muskism" that I think is important to understanding Musk maybe to understand some of the modern, right? The book is called "High Expasters," which is, if you don't mind, just tell me about the main argument”
Where to get it
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The Bell Curve
The Bell Curve by Richard J.
Discussed“The arguments that put it back on the table were especially those of Charles Murray, the think tanker, and Richard Hernstein, the Harvard psychologist in their enormous best seller, the bell curve from 1994.”
Where to get it
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Extraction
Extraction by Thea Riofrancos is a book that examines the political economy, environmental impacts, and geopolitical frontiers of green capitalism.
Recommended“So I wanted to draw attention to three exceptional recent books that kind of, I would say, move up the stack from under the ground to the clouds and the apps. The first book would be Thea Rhea Frankus's book, Extraction, the Frontiers of Green Capitalism, which is about something that we've kind of put out of our minds for”
Where to get it
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Silicon Empires
Silicon Empires by Nick Srnicek is a nonfiction book examining the power, structure, and political economy of modern technology corporations.
Recommended“The second book would be a book by Nick Cernichak called Silicon Empires. I think one of the handicaps we have right now in talking about tech ideology and tech political economy is a lot of things get jumbled together.”
Where to get it
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Against Tech Oligarchy
Against Tech Oligarchy by JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine is a nonfiction book exploring the internal dynamics and socio-political impacts of major technology companies.
Recommended“The third book is one I think is really special. It's called against tech oligarchy by JS 10 and Clarissa Radwine. And both of them were organizers within tech companies in Silicon Valley.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (5) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“He's the author of several books, including globalist Hayek Spastards, but relevant for her, Muskism, which he co-authored with Ben Tarnoff, he joins me now.”
“He's the author of several books, including globalist Hayek Spastards, but relevant for her, Muskism, which he co-authored with Ben Tarnoff, he joins me now.”
“He's the author of several books, including globalist Hayek Spastards, but relevant for her, Muskism, which he co-authored with Ben Tarnoff, he joins me now.”
“And this is where the relationship to the Hayek's Bastards discourse is actually relevant again. Because one of the arguments I make in that book is that under these, in atmosphere of uncertainty, time to unrest, then there is a tendency as within the investor world to do a flight to safety.”
“I mean, the way that my co-author and I were talking about this and we had interestingly, I would say more pragmatic conversations about Musk and Muskism in the book in Europe than we've had in the United States.”