The End of Reality
How Four Billionaires are Selling a Fantasy Future of the Metaverse, Mars, and Crypto

Quotes

“A wake-up call as to what happens when a society elevates people who don’t have the public’s best interests in mind. Jonathan Taplin has a gift for storytelling that turns the bitter pill (reality check) into a fascinating read.”  —Scott Galloway, NYU Stern professor of marketing and bestselling author of Adrift

“Tech culture has to improve for the sake of humanity, and that’s not going to happen without critiques like The End of Reality. Please take the time to read this carefully, especially if you are sure it must be wrong.”—Jaron Lanier, author of Who Owns the Future?

“Reading Taplin’s invigorating The End of Reality is akin to attending a huge outdoor feast. There is so much nourishment in his book, so much provocative thinking, so much vivid writing, so much thought that went into the book’s vast menu, that by the final page the reader is left in awe. Taplin is a delightful iconoclast and a daring thinker.”—Ken Auletta, author of Hollywood Ending

“Once again, Taplin has cut to the core of a heartless techno-oligarchy. If names like Musk, Thiel, and Zuckerberg only cause you distress, Taplin’s careful exposé will move you to outrage, though with hope the hyper-barons can be curbed.”—Sean Wilentz, George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History, Princeton University

“I’ve followed technology, and politics, for decades. But I found a tremendous amount of new information and insight in The End of Reality. Anyone interested in where culture is headed, and how democracy can survive, will want to read this book.”—James Fallows, national correspondent, Atlantic

“Taplin takes us to the inner sanctum of the plutocratic insurgency: where libertarian billionaires, resentful that they are not universally acclaimed as heroes, are spinning a ‘populist’ technophantasmagoria designed first and foremost to distract the rest of us from the vast anti-democratic power and privilege they have amassed for themselves.”—Nils Gilman, senior vice president, the Berggruen Institute

“The End of Reality is incredibly timely and powerful. The technologists pushing us into a world dominated by AI need to abandon their Ayn Rand mindset of ‘who’s going to stop me’ and consider the power of the new, regenerative economics tool set Taplin proposes.”—John Seely Brown, former director, Xerox PARC

“Taplin understands true creativity comes from real people, not the lazy musings of the super-rich or the idea factories of the giant corporation. That’s why he’s fought so hard for so long to protect every human who dreams of making a better world—or just singing a more beautiful song—from the dystopian projects of America’s new autocrats. Want a future that works for you and your family? Here’s your guide.”—Barry Lynn, director of the Open Markets Institute and author of Liberty from All Masters

“[A] vigorous polemic…Persuasive and insightful, this cutting portrait of America's slide toward oligarchy hits home.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review