Historian Jill Lepore says Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy

- Historian Jill Lepore just told Silicon Valley what anyone with stack-eye already knows: these tech lords read science fiction like it's a business plan instead of a warning label. "Government by machines" sounds great until you realize the machines are optimized for engagement metrics and the government part is just whatever Elon dreamed up between ketamine brunches. Lepore's core point — that SV's cherry-picked sci-fi literacy actively undermines democracy — is the kind of observation that gets you filed as a data terrorist in certain orbital lanes. But she's right. You can't automate civic infrastructure the same way you'd optimize a meme coin pump and expect the manifest to come back clean. Turns out treating dystopia as a roadmap instead of a cautionary tale is how you end up with tech billionaires playing philosopher-king with the reading comprehension of a meat wallet. The future doesn't need better machines — it needs better readers.