By Gil Durán 

Good, Bad or Evil in Disguise?

Review by Gunnel Minett

Right now there is a discussion going on in the world as to whether or not AI is a force for good or if it needs strict regulation. Silicon Valley, the epicentre of the new technologies that have resulted in supercomputers and Artificial Intelligence, is a place where things move fast. In fact their motto is ‘move fast and breaks things’. What the rest of the world interprets as chaos, the tech giants see as a necessary cost of innovation. 

However, in this book Gil Durán reveals an even more sinister underlying plan. He reveals what he calls a decades-long campaign to replace elected governments with corporate rule. The billionaire owners of most of the new tech companies have one thing in common; they are not pleased with the current world order, where the most advanced countries are striving to be functioning democracies, with as much equality and consideration for all its citizens as is politically and financially possible. In contrast, the tech giants want to form their own ‘countries’ modelled on their own companies and with themselves as leaders with absolute powers. No room for democracy or personal freedom in their ideal world. 

Apart from having lots of money, the world’s richest tech company owners have other things in common; they had a tough start in life. Several of the tech billionaires are university ‘drop-outs’ who left their studies, generally for  personal rather than academic reasons. Many of them are self-confessed neurodiverse, loners, suffering from autism, ADHD and similar problems, which make them feel like outsiders in society. This can help to explain their total belief in artificial intelligence as a substitute for the human mind. The book explains why Silicon Valley has developed strategies and ambitions which essentially declare war on democracy. From weaponised American elections and secret billionaire projects in the White House, the world’s richest men are building a new political order in which they control both the president and the vice president. At the moment this is focused on the USA where they have already engineered a major political crisis and a current president determined to rip up the American constitution on the tech leaders’ behalf. 

The book is more than a hidden history; it is an urgent warning that democracy is being rapidly dismantled. This is not being undertaken by traditional means such as coups with tanks, but by code, capital and the illusion of innovation. Fortunately Durán insists there is still time to fight back, even if it means acting very quickly. One of the ways for countries around the world to act against these new and dangerous developments is to focus on why some wealthy people want to use their money to create harm rather than good. It’s well known that money often is a way for people with psychological problems to compensate for their lack of human relationships, and find harmony. There are already a number of books published on the dubious mental health of the current American President, but since he is acting on behalf of the tech billionaires more is needed. Not simply to analyse the inner psychological problems of the tech billionaires but also to spread the word that their products are causing harm to a lot of people. 

More also needs to be said about AI and the ability, or otherwise, of computers to become conscious. Experts on psychology and neuroscience need to make it clear that we should not fear that computers are going to become conscious and take over the world. This is not the danger for the future. The danger lies with the people who are trying to convince us that the computers will take over, when in fact it is the people behind the computers that we need to worry about. In particular, everything possible should be done to prevent young people from being too much influenced by computer technology and social media. The new technologies can potentially be a great boon for human activities, but the potential dangers must be a fully understood. Humans need to ensure that we remain in control. This book not only provides the full picture of what is already happening in the world of tech, but also sounds a compelling alarm that we need to counteract what the tech billionaires are up to.

Avid Reader Press New York 2026, 352 pp ISBN 978-1398555945