No. 57 - Eugenia Siapera: From Disruption to Reaction: The Eschatology of Silicon Valley

This article contends that Silicon Valley’s apparent rightward turn reflects a structural continuity rather than a rupture with its founding ideology. Reconstructing the genealogy of the Californian Ideology, it shows how the fusion of libertarian market thought and countercultural individualism evolved into technocracy, meritocracy, and state platform capitalism. These formations exhibit clear affinities with neo-reactionary and accelerationist currents that reject democracy in favor of hierarchical, expert rule. Drawing on Geiger’s notion of high-tech eschatology, the article argues that contemporary tech elites mobilize apocalyptic and redemptive narratives to frame technological domination as inevitable and salvific. Silicon Valley’s endgame thus appears as a post- democratic order in which optimization replaces equality and technological destiny substitutes for political choice.

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About the author:

Eugenia Siapera

Eugenia Siapera is Professor of Digital Technology, Policy, and Society and co-Director of the UCD Centre for Digital Policy, alongside Elizabeth Farries. In 2025, she was ZeMKI Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Bremen. Her research explores the intersections of digital technologies, media, and society, with a focus on political communication, journalism, platform governance, and the role of technology in shaping social justice. She has a particular interest in the dynamics of hate speech, racism, and misogyny online. As Principal Investigator, she has led several major research projects funded by bodies including the Irish Research Council (IRC), Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), and the EU’s Horizon programme. She has published widely in academic journals and edited volumes, contributing significantly to scholarship on the societal impacts of digital media. Her publications include Understanding New Media(2nd edition, Sage, 2018, with a 3rd edition forthcoming), Gender Hate Online (2019, Palgrave, co-edited with Debbie Ging), Radical Journalism (2023, Routledge, co-edited with Seamus Farrell and George Souvlis), Platforming Cancel Culture (2025, Routledge, co-edited with Paraic Kerrigan and Elizabeth Farries), and Automating Migration (forthcoming with Palgrave, co-edited with Mariangela Veikou). Eugenia is currently working on FORSEE (Forging Successful AI Applications for European Economy and Society), a Horizon Europe project.