Elon Musk, The 22-Point Manifesto, ”Muskism” & Tech’s Antihumanism Philosophy | Tarnoff & Slobodian

What is “Muskism”? In this conversation, I sit down with Ben Tarnoff and Quinn Slobodian to unpack the political and moral philosophy behind Elon Musk—not just the man, but the ideology forming around him. Instead of another biography, we explore Musk as a symbol of a broader Silicon Valley worldview shared by figures like Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, and the Palantir elite: a fusion of techno-utopianism, libertarian rhetoric, state power, surveillance, and anti-democratic ambition.We discuss Musk’s South African upbringing and its collaboration with Israel, the idea of “fortress futurism,” apartheid’s psychological legacy, and how those ideas evolved into a worldview obsessed with conquering politics rather than solving it. From simulation theory and Nick Bostrom’s superintelligence to the “woke mind virus,” transhumanism, and the erasure of the human person, we examine how Muskism turns morality into math and justice into an irrationality. Why does empathy become a threat? Why does “wokeness” become a virus? And what happens when billionaires start seeing themselves as the bootloaders for post-human civilization?We also explore Peter Thiel, PayPal, Thank You for Smoking, Sam Harris, Jared Kushner’s Gaza fantasies, AI hype, and whether Muskism is already collapsing under its own contradictions. Is Elon Musk a nihilist? A capitalist realist? A techno-messianic prophet? Or simply the final form of capitalism itself? This is a deep philosophical conversation about power, morality, technology, and what kind of future we are actually being asked, or forced, to accept.00:00 Coming Up...02:00 Intro to Muskism08:00 Finding a Through Line in Musk Madness11:21 Methodology to Understand the Chaos12:58 Psychological Profile of the Non-Introspective13:57 The Trouble with The Intellectual Portrait of the Digital Capitalist16:28 South Africa, Fortress Futurism, and Elon Musk's Childhood20:20 The Mecha and Transformers22:18 Beyond Musk, What Happened to the Utopian Internet Libertarianism27:04 Karp's Manifesto and the Honesty of the New Moment31:44 Thank You For Smoking and Post 9-11 Nihilism37:50 Soul Searching and Moral Philosophy42:44 Shadow People and NPC's49:09 Simulation Theory, Bostrom, and Transhumanism52:55 The Woke Mind Virus, Origins and Obsessions59:50 San Francisco as a Musk Microcosm 01:02:08 Steelmaning Musk's Future01:05:47 Wokeness as Justice or Legitimacy and Class Consent?01:11:18 Other "ism's" That Can Fight Muskism - Socialism01:17:35 End of Binary of the State and the Market01:23:13 Muskism is Hitting It's Limits01:25:58 The Answer At The Back of the BookBECOME A MEMBER - MONTHLY MEMBERS ONLY LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NIku35U9thGG9WBJjE0sw/joinFor more from Jay visit whatjaythinks.com