Nolan Young, Author at Public Seminar

The Silicon Empire’s Interregnum

Nick Srnicek’s new book maps an emergent form of techno-nationalism

July 9, 2026 • by Nolan Young

Military and surveillance tech giant Palantir recently published an unsettling and dystopian manifesto penned by billionaire CEO Alex Karp. Karp’s 22-point document extolls American hegemony and claims that democracies need “hard power” to survive; it also treats one thing as a foregone conclusion—the militarization of artificial intelligence. “Our adversaries will ...

Panama Against Trump

A country’s fate hangs in the balance as protestors take to the streets

October 13, 2025 • by Nolan Young

As Donald Trump prepared to take office in late 2024, the American president-elect issued a stunning threat: to “take back” the Panama Canal, almost a quarter century after the United States had returned control of the canal and the zone around it to the sovereign state of Panama. Once in office, ...