New techno-authoritarian nightmare just dropped

+ Clout bnb, mini-retirements, ‘Rocky Horror’ for TikTok kids, Canva coding, IRL picture in picture, ICE thoughtcrimes, the state of media in <25 minutes, and how MrBeast is keeping Africa poor

To unlock more of my reporting on how the internet is reshaping politics, business, media, and culture, and to read my deep dives into emerging online spaces and internet trends, become a paid subscriber today.

I cannot produce this newsletter without your financial support. Your money goes directly towards reporting costs.

Silicon Valley millionaires can't stop trying to build their own cities

Imagine a lush green walkable town 90 minutes north of San Francisco home to a small community of passionate, brilliant, and driven people who host regular group dinners, book clubs, pickup sports. There is no crime, transport around town is easy, and residents are never confronted with things like poverty or conflict.

This is the utopian dream that Devon Zuegel, a software engineer and a former director of product at GitHub is selling to people in her quest to build a new town north of San Francisco called Esmeralda.

“Our team has an exclusive option on a beautiful piece of land 90 mins north of SF, in California wine country,” she announced this past fall. “If you dream of living in a small town while being surrounded by creative, high-agency people, we’re building this for you… Imagine living on a college campus. You run into friends, and everyone is learning and creating side by side together. Why only live this way for 4 years? Wouldn't people of all ages thrive like that? Why don't more places like this exist?" 

Putting aside the very obvious reasons why many adults with families don't want to go back to college dorm life, Esmerelda, is just the latest offshoot of a movement by a group of extremist Silicon Valley tech billionaires to buy up land and establish a physical community in hopes of expanding what they call the "Network State."