历史学家吉尔·勒波在其新著《人工国家的兴衰》中提出警告，科技公司正在逐步接管民主政府的职能 [1]。她指出这一趋势形成了由算法、企业和机器统治的体制，构成"专制和神秘化的回归" [1]。勒波在TechCrunch播客中表示，"私营企业越来越多地承担起国家的职能，这是我的主要关切" [1]。
硅谷领导人误读了科幻文学，将原本具有警示意义的故事当作未来发展蓝图 [1]。勒波举例指出，E.M. 福斯特1909年创作的《机器停止》等科幻小说本意是对技术统治的警告，但被科技界曲解为理想愿景 [1]。
勒波通过具体案例说明了企业权力对民主进程的侵蚀。2012年Twitter发布《Twitter政治与选举手册》时，仅有五分之一的美国人拥有该平台账户，而超过90%的政治推文来自不足10%的活跃用户 [1]。在盐湖城地区，虽然70%以上的民众反对建设数据中心，但当地代表却支持该项目 [1]。勒波十多年前曾在《纽约客》撰文批评克莱顿·克里斯坦森的"颠覆性创新"理论 [1]。
Historian Jill Lepore has published a new book titled "The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State," in which she argues that technology companies are progressively assuming functions traditionally held by democratic governments [1]. Speaking on a TechCrunch podcast, Lepore contended that this shift represents "a return to tyranny and mystification in the form of rule by algorithms, corporations, machines" [1]. She emphasized that her central concern is "the ways in which private corporations have increasingly taken on the functions of the state" [1].
According to Lepore, Silicon Valley leaders fundamentally misinterpret science fiction, treating cautionary tales as blueprints for the future rather than warnings [1]. She pointed to examples demonstrating how corporate influence operates beyond democratic accountability. Twitter released a "Twitter Politics and Elections Handbook" in 2012 at a time when only one-fifth of Americans maintained accounts on the platform, yet over 90 percent of political tweets originated from fewer than 10 percent of active users [1]. In Utah's Salt Lake region, more than 70 percent of residents opposed the construction of data centers, but their elected representatives supported the project [1]. Lepore's critique builds on concerns she first articulated over a decade ago in an article for The New Yorker challenging Clayton Christensen's theory of "disruptive innovation" [1]. Her warnings echo the 1909 science fiction novella "The Machine Stops" by E.M. Forster, which explored dangers inherent in technological governance [1].