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CEOs as Kings? The Tech Oligarchy Is Telling You Exactly What It Wants
This piece is Sponsored by Incogni’ #AD
When billionaires talk about replacing democracy with corporate governance, believe them. When technologists say consent is inefficient, listen. When investors build surveillance tools, connect the dots. Scifi stories are cool but, this is reality and not science fiction. This is a political economy evolving in real time right before our eyes and algorithm. I would argue that working people have two choices:
* normalize oligarchy
* or organize against it
Maximize your online privacy. Remove your exposed personal information from Google results, public websites, and the data-broker economy that trades in your identity with the Incogni Unlimited plan because when elites start arguing that democracy itself is obsolete, control over information — especially your information — becomes a central terrain of power.
Two of the most influential anti-democratic thinkers in modern tech have been preparing that terrain for years.. Curtis Yarvin and Peter Theil.
Curtis Yarvin: the blogger who wants to end democracy
Before Silicon Valley venture capitalists, senators, and tech founders were repeating his ideas, Curtis Yarvin was writing under a pseudonym: Mencius Moldbug.
His project was not policy reform. It was regime replacement.
Yarvin’s central thesis is blunt:
* Democracy produces disorder
* Equality is a myth
* Mass politics is irrational
* Elite rule is natural
* Monarchy is efficient
Curtis proposes what he calls a “neocameralist” state — essentially a country run like a corporation, where sovereignty is treated as property and governance is executed by a CEO with absolute authority.
Citizens become customers or employees. Rights become contractual privileges. Political participation disappears.That’s not a metaphor. That is his explicit model. For years, Yarvin was dismissed as an internet crank. Then his readership shifted Tech founders, venture capitalists, Right-wing intellectual circles and Policy-adjacent elites started riding his coattail legitimizing his ideology.
His essays circulated in private forums, salons, and VC networks in Silicon Valley. Eventually, figures like Peter Thiel publicly engaged his ideas. Vice President J.D. Vance acknowledged Yarvin as an influence. Hell even major media outlets began covering his philosophy as a rising ideological current in tech conservatism.
Yarvin’s thought is not novel so much as recombined. He draws from:
* 19th-century reactionary monarchists
* corporate managerial theory
* libertarian anti-state economics
* techno-futurism
* colonial governance models
The through-line is consistent.. Society should be ordered by competence and capital, not equality.
Which is why his writing repeatedly frames democracy as a historical mistake — a deviation from what he sees as the natural order of hierarchy.
Peter Thiel: the financier of anti-democratic tech
If Yarvin is the theorist, Peter Thiel is the executor.
Thiel’s biography matters here. Co-founder of PayPal. Early investor in Facebook and Founder of Palantir. One of Silicon Valley’s most powerful venture capitalists.
He has also said plainly:He no longer believes freedom and democracy are compatible.
That statement is not rhetorical flourish. It reflects a coherent worldview:
* mass democracy redistributes wealth
* redistribution constrains capital
* constrained capital limits innovation
* therefore democracy obstructs progress
From that premise, elite autonomy becomes morally justified. Thiel’s most consequential company is Palantir. Originally funded with CIA venture backing, Palantir builds data-integration and surveillance analysis platforms used by:
* intelligence agencies
* military operations
* immigration enforcement
* policing systems
Its core function is pattern detection across massive datasets — connecting identities, movements, communications, and behaviors.
This is not neutral technology. It is governance infrastructure. Technology of surveillance and domination. A technology that ignores consent to violate rights materially.
When a political philosophy skeptical of democracy aligns with tools capable of mapping entire populations, the implications extend far beyond business.
Peter Thiel has been remarkably transparent about his own position. He has stated that he no longer believes freedom and democracy are compatible. He has also said that winning elections is unnecessary if technol\gical leverage can reshape society without public approval.
That ain’t democratic persuasion. That is governance by infrastructure and look at where his capital goes:
Palantir — a data analytics firm with deep ties to intelligence agencies, policing systems, and military operations. Surveillance capacity at planetary scale.
When Yarvin imagines a CEO-king state, and Thiel funds tools capable of population-level monitoring, you are not looking at coincidence.
You are looking at ideological alignment meeting technological capacity.
This piece is Sponsored by Incogni’, ‘THECONSCIOUSLEE‘, ‘https://incogni.com/theconsciouslee‘ and get 60% off an annual plan of Incogni‘
Maximize your online privacy with Incogni’s Custom Removals
This is where the fight for democracy meets the practical reality of data surveillance. When elites argue that democracy is obsolete, control over information — especially your information — becomes a central terrain of power. Through Custom Removals, you can submit specific URLs for more targeted removal. Just paste the link into the dashboard and their team will handle the rest.’When someone searches their name or address on Google, it’s often shocking to find how many results expose their personal information without consent. These data brokers are the invisible infrastructure feeding the surveillance economy that figures like Thiel have built empires upon.
Incogni Unlimited is the most comprehensive and powerful data removal plan available. It essentially unlocks an unlimited number of removal requests to any number of websites which expose personal data without consent. With Incogni Unlimited, a majority of those results can now be removed by Incogni’s privacy specialists—even if those sites aren’t supported by their fast, efficient and automated standard removal service. That’s what makes the Unlimited Plan so much more valuable.
Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code THECONSCIOUSLEE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/theconsciouslee
The Yarvin–Thiel convergence
The relationship between Yarvin and Thiel is ideological alignment rather than formal partnership.
Yarvin supplies: a justification for hierarchical, post-democratic governance.
Thiel supplies:capital, networks, and technology that expand elite autonomy from democratic constraint.
One normalizes the idea that rule should concentrate upward. The other builds systems that make concentrated rule more feasible. Theory meets capacity. That is how political transformation actually occurs.
When billionaires entertain anti-democratic theory, it matters. When venture capital circulates it, it spreads. When political actors absorb it, it influences governance. Ideas about hierarchy and rule do not stay academic when backed by wealth.
They become institutional direction.
Why data control is central to this ideology
In a democratic system, legitimacy flows upward from people. In an oligarchic system, control flows downward from elites.
Information asymmetry determines which model prevails.
The more elites know about populations, the easier populations are to predict, segment, and influence.
Data brokerage therefore becomes structural power.
Your identity, habits, location, networks, and behavior patterns become inputs into systems you do not govern.
Which is why privacy is political, not merely personal.
Education Is Elevation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The stakes: democracy vs managerial rule
The Yarvin–Thiel axis represents a broader tension shaping the 21st century:
democratic governance Versus technocratic oligarchy
One distributes authority. The other concentrates it.
One requires consent. The other requires compliance.
One treats people as citizens. The other treats them as managed populations.
Call to action: reduce exposure, build power
Maximize your online privacy. Remove your exposed personal information from Google results, public sites, and data-broker markets with the Incogni Unlimited plan. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code THECONSCIOUSLEE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/theconsciouslee
Because the same elite networks imagining post-democratic governance operate inside an economy built on harvesting personal data at scale.
Reducing that visibility is not just self-protection. It is refusing passive participation in surveillance capitalism.
Study power. Track ideology. Organize collectively.
Because Yarvin is not hiding his monarchism. Thiel is not hiding his anti-democratic skepticism.
They are articulating a future where authority concentrates upward and public consent becomes optional.
The question is not whether they mean it. The question is whether democratic society recognizes it in time.
Education Is Elevation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By The Conscious LeeThis piece is Sponsored by Incogni’ #AD
When billionaires talk about replacing democracy with corporate governance, believe them. When technologists say consent is inefficient, listen. When investors build surveillance tools, connect the dots. Scifi stories are cool but, this is reality and not science fiction. This is a political economy evolving in real time right before our eyes and algorithm. I would argue that working people have two choices:
* normalize oligarchy
* or organize against it
Maximize your online privacy. Remove your exposed personal information from Google results, public websites, and the data-broker economy that trades in your identity with the Incogni Unlimited plan because when elites start arguing that democracy itself is obsolete, control over information — especially your information — becomes a central terrain of power.
Two of the most influential anti-democratic thinkers in modern tech have been preparing that terrain for years.. Curtis Yarvin and Peter Theil.
Curtis Yarvin: the blogger who wants to end democracy
Before Silicon Valley venture capitalists, senators, and tech founders were repeating his ideas, Curtis Yarvin was writing under a pseudonym: Mencius Moldbug.
His project was not policy reform. It was regime replacement.
Yarvin’s central thesis is blunt:
* Democracy produces disorder
* Equality is a myth
* Mass politics is irrational
* Elite rule is natural
* Monarchy is efficient
Curtis proposes what he calls a “neocameralist” state — essentially a country run like a corporation, where sovereignty is treated as property and governance is executed by a CEO with absolute authority.
Citizens become customers or employees. Rights become contractual privileges. Political participation disappears.That’s not a metaphor. That is his explicit model. For years, Yarvin was dismissed as an internet crank. Then his readership shifted Tech founders, venture capitalists, Right-wing intellectual circles and Policy-adjacent elites started riding his coattail legitimizing his ideology.
His essays circulated in private forums, salons, and VC networks in Silicon Valley. Eventually, figures like Peter Thiel publicly engaged his ideas. Vice President J.D. Vance acknowledged Yarvin as an influence. Hell even major media outlets began covering his philosophy as a rising ideological current in tech conservatism.
Yarvin’s thought is not novel so much as recombined. He draws from:
* 19th-century reactionary monarchists
* corporate managerial theory
* libertarian anti-state economics
* techno-futurism
* colonial governance models
The through-line is consistent.. Society should be ordered by competence and capital, not equality.
Which is why his writing repeatedly frames democracy as a historical mistake — a deviation from what he sees as the natural order of hierarchy.
Peter Thiel: the financier of anti-democratic tech
If Yarvin is the theorist, Peter Thiel is the executor.
Thiel’s biography matters here. Co-founder of PayPal. Early investor in Facebook and Founder of Palantir. One of Silicon Valley’s most powerful venture capitalists.
He has also said plainly:He no longer believes freedom and democracy are compatible.
That statement is not rhetorical flourish. It reflects a coherent worldview:
* mass democracy redistributes wealth
* redistribution constrains capital
* constrained capital limits innovation
* therefore democracy obstructs progress
From that premise, elite autonomy becomes morally justified. Thiel’s most consequential company is Palantir. Originally funded with CIA venture backing, Palantir builds data-integration and surveillance analysis platforms used by:
* intelligence agencies
* military operations
* immigration enforcement
* policing systems
Its core function is pattern detection across massive datasets — connecting identities, movements, communications, and behaviors.
This is not neutral technology. It is governance infrastructure. Technology of surveillance and domination. A technology that ignores consent to violate rights materially.
When a political philosophy skeptical of democracy aligns with tools capable of mapping entire populations, the implications extend far beyond business.
Peter Thiel has been remarkably transparent about his own position. He has stated that he no longer believes freedom and democracy are compatible. He has also said that winning elections is unnecessary if technol\gical leverage can reshape society without public approval.
That ain’t democratic persuasion. That is governance by infrastructure and look at where his capital goes:
Palantir — a data analytics firm with deep ties to intelligence agencies, policing systems, and military operations. Surveillance capacity at planetary scale.
When Yarvin imagines a CEO-king state, and Thiel funds tools capable of population-level monitoring, you are not looking at coincidence.
You are looking at ideological alignment meeting technological capacity.
This piece is Sponsored by Incogni’, ‘THECONSCIOUSLEE‘, ‘https://incogni.com/theconsciouslee‘ and get 60% off an annual plan of Incogni‘
Maximize your online privacy with Incogni’s Custom Removals
This is where the fight for democracy meets the practical reality of data surveillance. When elites argue that democracy is obsolete, control over information — especially your information — becomes a central terrain of power. Through Custom Removals, you can submit specific URLs for more targeted removal. Just paste the link into the dashboard and their team will handle the rest.’When someone searches their name or address on Google, it’s often shocking to find how many results expose their personal information without consent. These data brokers are the invisible infrastructure feeding the surveillance economy that figures like Thiel have built empires upon.
Incogni Unlimited is the most comprehensive and powerful data removal plan available. It essentially unlocks an unlimited number of removal requests to any number of websites which expose personal data without consent. With Incogni Unlimited, a majority of those results can now be removed by Incogni’s privacy specialists—even if those sites aren’t supported by their fast, efficient and automated standard removal service. That’s what makes the Unlimited Plan so much more valuable.
Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code THECONSCIOUSLEE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/theconsciouslee
The Yarvin–Thiel convergence
The relationship between Yarvin and Thiel is ideological alignment rather than formal partnership.
Yarvin supplies: a justification for hierarchical, post-democratic governance.
Thiel supplies:capital, networks, and technology that expand elite autonomy from democratic constraint.
One normalizes the idea that rule should concentrate upward. The other builds systems that make concentrated rule more feasible. Theory meets capacity. That is how political transformation actually occurs.
When billionaires entertain anti-democratic theory, it matters. When venture capital circulates it, it spreads. When political actors absorb it, it influences governance. Ideas about hierarchy and rule do not stay academic when backed by wealth.
They become institutional direction.
Why data control is central to this ideology
In a democratic system, legitimacy flows upward from people. In an oligarchic system, control flows downward from elites.
Information asymmetry determines which model prevails.
The more elites know about populations, the easier populations are to predict, segment, and influence.
Data brokerage therefore becomes structural power.
Your identity, habits, location, networks, and behavior patterns become inputs into systems you do not govern.
Which is why privacy is political, not merely personal.
Education Is Elevation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The stakes: democracy vs managerial rule
The Yarvin–Thiel axis represents a broader tension shaping the 21st century:
democratic governance Versus technocratic oligarchy
One distributes authority. The other concentrates it.
One requires consent. The other requires compliance.
One treats people as citizens. The other treats them as managed populations.
Call to action: reduce exposure, build power
Maximize your online privacy. Remove your exposed personal information from Google results, public sites, and data-broker markets with the Incogni Unlimited plan. Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code THECONSCIOUSLEE at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/theconsciouslee
Because the same elite networks imagining post-democratic governance operate inside an economy built on harvesting personal data at scale.
Reducing that visibility is not just self-protection. It is refusing passive participation in surveillance capitalism.
Study power. Track ideology. Organize collectively.
Because Yarvin is not hiding his monarchism. Thiel is not hiding his anti-democratic skepticism.
They are articulating a future where authority concentrates upward and public consent becomes optional.
The question is not whether they mean it. The question is whether democratic society recognizes it in time.
Education Is Elevation is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theconsciouslee.substack.com/subscribe