On Saturday March 14 welcome two of today’s most incisive thinkers on technology, capitalism, political imagination and the rise of the populist right: Quinn Slobodian (Crack-Up Capitalism, Hayek’s Bastards) and Ben Tarnoff (Internet for the People, Voices from the Valley).
Together, they will unpack their new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. In this highly anticipated work they examine Elon Musk not as an individual, but as a symptom and avatar of our postliberal age. Musk isn’t a glitch in the system—he is the system. His worldview promises sovereignty through technology: plug in, power up, and become self-reliant. But the more you connect, the more he owns you.
If Fordism defined the capitalism of the twentieth century, Muskism may define the twenty-first. Fordism helped build the welfare state. Musk undoes it. He thrives on dependence while preaching freedom. His rockets run on subsidies; his satellites run the battlefield; his social networks train the AI that trains us. Muskism sells itself as the future, but entrenches age-old hierarchies. It offers autonomy for some and exclusion for others. It’s libertarian but state-fed, pro-natalist but anti-immigrant, futurist but reactionary.
Join for a discussion on how Muskism shapes our digital lives, our political culture, and our collective future.
Organizers: De Dépendance
Date: 14/03/2026
Location: Arminius (Museumpark 3, 3015 CB Rotterdam)
Entrance: €12,50,- (regular), €7,- (reduced)
Language: English
Register: via this link