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Ben Tarnoff

@bentarnoff.com
7.6K followers 440 following 284 posts
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 4h
Ben and I spoke to @bloomberg.com for Trumponomics podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
The World That Made Elon Musk Possible
Podcast Episode · Trumponomics · September 30 · 32m
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 28/09/2026
Me and @bentarnoff.com went long (is there any other way to go?) for @thedigradio.bsky.social with our friend @danieldenvir.bsky.social thedig.blubrry.net/podcast/musk...
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Pope reminds me of a version of Catholicism I knew growing up as a young man attending anti-war and anti-death penalty protests, where I met elderly Catholics who shared their version of faith with me. I learned that Catholicism was about love and mercy for the weak, the condemned, and the poor.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 25/09/2026
Because it's a trade book for a general audience
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 25/09/2026
lpeproject.org/blog/muskism...
lpeproject.org
Muskism as Fordism
Coined by a German economist in 1926, Fordism came to describe the dominant political-economic order of the mid-twentieth century. Could "Muskism" play a similar role in the twenty-first?
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 22/09/2026
❤️
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Mike Pusateri @mikepusateri.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Da Pope on a garbage truck is the most Chicago thing ever
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Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Oct 7: Join "Muskism" coauthor @quinnslobodian.com & "Against Tech Oligarchy" coauthors @js-tan.bsky.social & Clarissa Redwine to discuss the structural forces shaping tech power, and what we can learn from the tech worker movement, with D&S's @aihathing.bsky.social. datasociety.net/news-events/...
Graphic promoting an online book talk titled “Power and Resistance in the Age of Tech Oligarchy.” The event features authors Clarissa Redwine, JS Tan, and Quinn Slobodian, moderated by Aiha Nguyen, and takes place October 7, 2026, at 2 PM ET. The graphic includes images of the two featured books, Against Tech Oligarchy and Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, along with black-and-white portraits of the speakers.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 17/09/2026
This Monday, September 21st, I'll be talking to @js-tan.bsky.social and Clarissa Redwine at Harvard Bookstore about their new book Against Tech Oligarchy. They've written the first sustained analysis of the tech worker movement and it's a very important book www.harvard.com/event/tan-re...
harvard.com
JS Tan & Clarissa Redwine at Harvard Book Store
Harvard Book Store and Boston Review welcome JS Tan—Ph.D. Candidate at MIT whose work has been featured in The New York Times, MIT Technology Review, Foreign Policy, and The Guardian—and Clarissa Redwine—Kickstarter union organizer and cofounder of the tech organizing conference Circuit Breakers—for a discussion of their new book, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry. They will be joined in conversation by Ben Tarnoff—technologist and author of numerous books, including Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, co-authored with Quinn Slobodian.
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 16/09/2026
It's clear that left thinking about AI must not rely on categories provided by the sector itself. We already have good examples of how this can be done: @gsrnicek.bsky.social's Silicon Empires for political economy @js-tan.bsky.social & Clarissa Redwine's Against Tech Oligarchy for labor
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 15/09/2026
I took the bait and blogged on pacing, frontiers, AI, "the left" bentarnoff.substack.com/p/on-the-pac...
bentarnoff.substack.com
On the pacing of frontiers
Everybody’s talking about “pacing the frontier.” A funny phrase.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 09/09/2026
Got a review coming out soon, will be curious for your thoughts
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 03/09/2026
Hello New York residents, please consider coming to my Brooklyn Book Festival event on September 27th at 1pm with Kim Phillips-Fein, Derrick Palmer, and Sam Adler-Bell brooklynbookfestival.org/event/the-an...
brooklynbookfestival.org
The Anti-Equality Era - Brooklyn Book Festival
Join Ben Tarnoff (Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, co-authored with Quinn Slobodian), historian Kim Phillips-Fein (Country of Lords: Neo-Aristocrats, Social Darwinists, Tech Utopians, and the Long ...
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 31/08/2026
Critical support is a key Trotskyist concept
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George Eaton @georgeeaton.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This is essential reading, particularly on how Musk’s wealth has been built on state contracts and why his aim is “not to eliminate the government but to vassalise it” (from @quinnslobodian.com and @bentarnoff.com).
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Gavin Mueller @gavinmueller.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Breaking down (a lil bit) the connection between radical politics and subcultures geesemag.com/articles/wha...
geesemag.com
What is a Subculture? A Reply to E. Day — geese magazine
Subcultures have never been a retreat from politics. They have always been terrain of class struggle, and socialists who forget this abandon some of the richest ground the left has.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 24/08/2026
I have some decomputerization notes somewhere, someday will write them up
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 24/08/2026
I think the only real political question is where to draw the line between what to computerize and what to keep decomputerized
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 22/08/2026
Best thing I've read in awhile
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I strongly recommend “Muskism” for context on why a little weird White boy from South Africa who begged to move to an intellectually rich city grew up to hate academia.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 19/08/2026
The next Democratic administration should take money from AI and put it into biotech
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Thea Riofrancos @triofrancos.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
🚨BAY AREA: I’ll be coming to San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland next weeks for a series of events on my book EXTRACTION — and on the intersections of climate, energy, mining, geopolitics, and the supply chains of global capitalism. Come through! www.theariofrancos.com/upcoming-eve...
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Grace @areyousurebruv.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 14/08/2026
This is Japanese technology
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 14/08/2026
Quinn and I talked to @koheisaito.bsky.social about Muskism on his talk show!! English with Japanese subtitles www.youtube.com/watch?v=et9H...
youtube.com
【マスキズム vs 斎藤幸平】イーロン・マスクが変革する資本主義/巨大テックと国家の癒着/資本主義の次なるOS/スペースXの国防利権/GAFA解体論/新自由主義の崩壊/生き残る企業の条件
YouTube video by PIVOT 公式チャンネル
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Long-Haul Magazine @long-haul-mag.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Late in 2024, hundreds of tech workers at the New York Times waged the first ever official strike in their sector. Roughly a dozen worker leaders reflect on the strike and their campaign, and distill its lessons for their shop and their sector more broadly longhaulmag.com/first-tech-w...
longhaulmag.com
Sign of the Times: An Account of the First Tech Workers’ Strike | Long-Haul Mag
Workers in the New York Times Tech Guild went on the first official tech workers’ strike in the United States, during the week of the presidential election in November, 2024. Following the strike, the...
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dgorganize (he/him) @dgorganize.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I'm honored to endorse "Against Tech Oligarchy" by Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan out soon from @haymarketbooks.org An instant addition to rank & file canon, the book combines the authors' deep shop floor experience with careful empirical work on labor struggle in the world's dominant industry
actionnetwork.org
Against Tech Oligarchy Book Launch
You’re invited to the official preorder launch of Against Tech Oligarchy, the first history of the tech worker movement published by Haymarket Books. Join DSA Tech Action, Verso Books, and leaders acr...
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 05/08/2026
cheese mines
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Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
DSA-aligned Democrats are now the most pro-free-trade voting bloc in the United States, in an incredible turn of events www.theargumentmag.com/p/who-suppor...
A graph showing whether voters support or oppose free trade by party identification, showing 54% of "Dems favorable to DSA" strongly support free trade agreements
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 03/08/2026
Thank you to the inimitable @tressiemcphd.bsky.social for including Muskism on the reading list www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | A Reading List for Our Age of A.I. (Gift Article)
A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.
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George Pearkes @peark.es · 30/07/2026
An 8 employee hedge fund that was up hundreds of percent and used aggressive leverage is asking investors for more cash to meet margin calls. The tropes in this particular bull market couldn’t get any lazier. www.ft.com/content/2803...
ft.com
Leopold Aschenbrenner’s Situational Awareness seeks to raise capital after AI rout
Hedge fund has held talks with existing investors and lenders in recent days
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Dylan Gottlieb @dygottlieb.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Was Barack Obama the ultimate yuppie? That answer and more in my Q&A in the @nytimes.com today.
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DreamingAgainstTheMachine @dreamingagainstthemachine.com · 28/07/2026
The authors of MUSKISM, Quinn Slobidian and Ben Tarnoff are our guests this week, tune in tomorrow! (You won't believe who we talk about on this episode) #ai #datmpodcast #books #author #booktok #future #mars #muskism #wokemindvirus @multitudeshows.com @adambecker.bsky.social
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
New poll: Americans believe the U.S. should arrest Benjamin Netanyahu by a +22 margin Total: 49-27 Black: 53-13 Hispanic: 52-15 Ages 18-29: 58-17 Harris voters: 74-10 Independents: 55-20 23% of Trump voters agree as well Economist/YouGov:
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LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Today, @gabrielwinant.bsky.social explains why a clear picture of how age mediates class would reveal not gerontocracy, but capitalism and the fractionated class system it produces.
lpeproject.org
Cradle to the Grave
As Sam Moyn has recently argued, "class reductionism" fails to explain differentiation along the generational gradient — a pattern clearly visible in economics, politics, and ideology.
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Adam Becker @adambecker.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
This week's episode of @dreamingagainstthemachine.com, with guests @bentarnoff.com and @quinnslobodian.com, drops TOMORROW! Check it out wherever you get your podcasts!
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“Zero died because of DOGE," Elon Musk said in his interview with the Economist. This claim is utter nonsense and has been widely debunked. But Musk tried to back this up with additional dissembling that's just as bad. We took it on here: newrepublic.com/article/2135...
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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I’ve been reading Muskism. I know I’m annoying with this BUT every evil person isn’t dumb. and every evil person being dumb on X isn’t merely dumb. It’s very much worth your time to parse why Musk uses this rhetoric the way that he does.
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Mags Display Name @mags.colvett.online · 16/07/2026
Raffi you’re so right
Threads post from raffi_music:
stay creative. after Baby Beluga, I didn't worry about how can I top that.. just kept growing as a person and musically. 14 years later, Bananaphone!
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 14/07/2026
Oh cool
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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Lots of folks had been hoping since last spring that the attacks on 18F and USDS would incite a resurgence of municipal public interest technology!
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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
"Bracingly original. . . .Slobodian’s book offers an illuminating history to our current bewildering moment."—Jennifer Szalai, New York Times Hayek's Bastards by @quinnslobodian.com is out now in #paperback! Learn more: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Hayek's Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right by Quinn Slobodian. Now in Paperback. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism. How neoliberals turned to nature to defend inequality after the end of the Cold War.
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 04/07/2026
This week on “Galaxy Brain,” Charlie Warzel talks with the “Muskism” authors Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff about what fuels the world’s richest man:
bit.ly
How Elon Musk Became More Powerful Than Ever
The authors of Muskism break down the beliefs, business strategy, and political influence behind the world’s richest man.
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 02/07/2026
Graphic paying accidental homage to an ad for Robotech-themed powdered fruit drink that appeared in South African newspapers
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 02/07/2026
Grateful for @mrkocnnll.bsky.social's eloquent meditation on Muskism in the latest @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/articles/202...
nybooks.com
Space Oddity | Mark O’Connell
Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff’s Muskism examines how Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, by selling a vision of the future that very few people would want to inhabit.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 23/06/2026
I like my expression here
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19/06/2026
i’m reading the new @quinnslobodian.com on Musk and the book makes a very persuasive case that Musk’s upbringing in apartheid south africa are at the core of his ideology
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David Kaye @davidakaye.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
highly recommend Muskism by @quinnslobodian.com & @bentarnoff.com. even if you know the details, the urgency/analysis illuminates. dark ending & extremely well-written. minor takeaway: musk seeks to impose on the world a warped reality defined by racism, misogyny, sf tv/film, & games.
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Ben Tarnoff @bentarnoff.com · 18/06/2026
The tone of the administration is not... consistently... a Christian tone...
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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
We relied on @bentarnoff.com's great new book with @quinnslobodian.com for this piece. We try to offer a real theory on what Musk really means in decrying "suicidal empathy." We argue that his gutting of USAID (also justified by denigrating "empathy") is a test run for much worse to come:
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