Newsletter: In Silicon Valley’s Shadow: Facing the New Tech Oligarchy
Where do we go next?
This week’s episode of Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum, “Tools, Methods, and Political Games in the Age of Musk,” features an interview with Stuart Shulman, PhD, the founding Editor of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. We discussed his research involving deep data and quantitative studies and talked about many pressing issues facing our culture today. These issues include concern over who is acting in the role of the Executive Office, what we can do about criminal overreach by a non-elected official acting within that role, and whether the Supreme Court and Department of Justice will exercise independence despite Trump’s loyalty demands. You can also listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Next week’s episode, “The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley,” will feature an interview with Marietje Schaake, a Dutch politician whose thought-provoking book shares the same title. She also served as a member of the European Parliament from the Netherlands between 2009 and 2019. We will be addressing the problems of free speech and preserving democracy in the new technological landscape.
In light of recent international developments, I felt strongly that the connection between Trump and the KGB should be highlighted. To this end, I have published important posts on this subject available for free. First, my two-part special on Russian influence covering my interview with author Craig Unger and Former KGB Agent Yuri Shvets: part one is “Russian Influence on Trump and World Politics: American Kompromat”, part two is “Putin, Navalny, Ukraine and Russian Influence.” The video interview is called “Trump’s SHOCKING Ties to Putin & Russia.” Then, to update this subject and explore the topic further, I have published “Trump and the KGB,” an in-depth post with new information as well as quotes from my book, The Cult of Trump.
For February, my monthly blog post in Psychology Today, “Cults, Sex, and Neurodivergent Individuals” focuses on how the unique trait of autistic individuals can ease the path into harmful cults and, in turn, put individuals at risk of sexual exploitation. I think you’ll find it a fascinating and informative article.
I’m pleased to announce that my Fellowship at Fielding Graduate University has been renewed for 2025-26. Also, I will be speaking at Harvard Medical School’s conference, Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Navigating Complexity in Community, on March 6th and 7th. I’ll share insights on my Influence Continuum and BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. I’ll also discuss MDMA and Ketamine—often used in this field despite their non-psychedelic status status—and stress the importance of firm therapy boundaries to protect vulnerable clients from undue influence and ethical violations. In addition, I will emphasize the need for therapists to conduct thorough family-of-origin histories, as past authoritarian or abusive environments should be addressed before considering psychedelics. I look forward to learning more from this evolving field.
This week’s livestream will be Thursday, Feb. 27, at 3-4 pm EST; I welcome everyone to tune in with questions and comments! Last week’s livestream was a great success; you can see the replay here if you missed it.
And have you filled out our bitemodel.com survey yet? Please consider doing so for healthy relationships and groups, too! Please give the name of the healthy group. You can make multiple entries if you have been involved in more than one group. Please feel free to share it on Reddit, Facebook, and anywhere ex-members can be found. Our wish is to collect data on a range of groups, and eventually maintain a database of reliable information on both authoritarian and healthy groups backed by strong evidence. Thank you!
Stuart Shulman, PhD, is the founding editor of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. He holds a PhD in American Politics and has done extensive teaching and leadership roles in collaborative interdisciplinary research. Additionally, as founder and CEO of Texifter, he discussed the analysis of Twitter data, his work supporting academic access to data, and federal agency review of public comments on proposed rules. He delivered a conference paper in October of last year titled “Tools, Methods, and Political Games in the Age of Musk,” prepared specifically for a conference titled Decrypting Digital Authoritarianism.
Read the blog post or listen to the podcast below:
Here are the posts I have shared on this vital topic, starting with the fascinating interview I conducted with author Craig Unger and former KGB agent Yuri Shvets:
Part 1: Russian Influence on Trump and World Politics: American Kompromat
Part 2: Putin, Navalny, Ukraine and Russian Influence
The video interview: Trump’s SHOCKING Ties to Putin & Russia
And my newest post: Trump and the KGB
Although they exert robust psychological control, cults do their utmost to appear warm and welcoming, especially to individuals who feel isolated and long for acceptance. Individuals on the autism spectrum, who often crave rigidity and structure, can be especially at risk of being drawn into high-control organizations that appear to offer both friendship and a strict organizational hierarchy.
How can you tell if that group your family member has joined is safe? Is your relationship hitting a “rough patch,” or is there actual cause for concern? With this anonymous, easy-to-use diagnostic tool, you can answer simple questions and determine if any group or relationship is beneficial or destructive, ethical or unethical, healthy or unhealthy. And now, you can share your results on your social media if you wish!
As always, please let us know what you think about these pieces or what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. Thanks so much!
