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From Californian to Texan Ideology: Conservatism, Religion and Extractivism in the Tech Sector

On the occasion of a special session co-organized with the CNRS Center for Internet and Society, the médialab seminar welcomes Fred Turner (Stanford University). He will offer a critical reading of the ideological transformations underway in the American tech world, from California’s libertarian utopia to the more conservative ideology now embodied by Texas.

Event, Research Seminar

N201, 1 Place Saint-Thomas d'Aquin, 75007 Paris

Abstract

As they leave California for Texas, major digital companies are doing more than looking for new spaces. Their leaders (Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Joe Lonsdale...) are settling in a state where religion plays a major role, in a Bible Belt dominated by oil billionaires. Texan politics can be summed up in a few words: tax refusal, deregulation, and the narrative of a new frontier populated by “those who are willing to take the necessary risks.” 

Just like oil, digital technologies, including AI and cryptocurrencies, as well as space exploration, depend on public funding and environmental leniency to thrive. So why not take power directly? Tech leaders are now pursuing that path, following in the footsteps of speculative oil investors. 

How did the digital world move from the Californian ideology, where entrepreneurialism was mixed with the legacies of counterculture, to the Texan ideology, shaped by a rejection of any interference except that of the Gospels, and where great, deserving men are seen as working in the name of God? 

Biography  

After a career in journalism in Boston and teaching at MIT and Harvard, Fred Turner is now Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Stanford University.

His research explores the relationships between media technologies and cultural transformations, with a particular focus on the role of emerging media in shaping American society since World War II.

He is the author of three influential books: The Democratic Surround: Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties, From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network and the Rise of Digital Utopianism, and Echoes of Combat: The Vietnam War in American Memory.

Fred Turner’s work has received numerous academic awards and has been translated into French, Spanish, German, Polish and Chinese. 

Practical information

This seminar will be held in hybrid format (in person and online), in English, on Tuesday, November 4 2025, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., in room N201, 1 Place Saint-Thomas d’Aquin, 75007 Paris.

Registration is mandatory via this link.

Following the seminar, a conference also featuring Fred Turner will take place from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., to explore further aspects of the topic, including the concept of “California authoritarianism”.

This seminar is co-organized by the Sciences Po médialab and the CNRS Center for Internet and Society.