Elon Musk and Jensen Huang react after being awarded the National Medal of Science during the “Golden Age of American Innovation Summit” at the Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2026.
(Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)
It’s Tech Day here at AP, so Danny and Derek speak with Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at Boston University, and writer Ben Tarnoff, co-authors of Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, about Elon Musk’s role in contemporary capitalism. They discuss Fordism and Muskism; the influence of apartheid South Africa on Musk’s approach to production; his vision of AI and human-machine integration; the political significance of his acquisition of Twitter; DOGE’s expansion of government data collection and immigration enforcement; and the potential for regulating or replacing Big Tech.
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