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hat exactly are these tech industry leaders seeking in Ancient Rome, as they play amateur historians? We are referring to the heads of the major digital companies across the Atlantic – Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Palmer Luckey and Jack Dorsey – who openly proclaim their love for Ancient Rome, saying they find there a model that is both moral and political.
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Technologia imperatores: Unpacking the tech bros' fascination with the Roman Empire
It would be easy to go through their statements one by one to correct inaccuracies or offer a more nuanced interpretation. The creator of Twitter (now X), Jack Dorsey, often draws a parallel between the advent of the internet and the development of aqueducts by the Roman Empire. As for the influential investor Marc Andreessen, he believes that the Roman Empire, in the year 250 CE, was the first California, characterized by "an explosion of culture and creativity." Yet, in 250-251, Emperor Decius, motivated by patriotic aims and under pressure from invading tribes, required the entire population of the Empire to swear allegiance to the divinity of the princeps – a prelude to a brutal crackdown on Christians who refused. Barely a decade later, the Empire suffered its first territorial losses.
