March 30, 2026
Big Brother just got an upgrade
The Digital Leviathan
Digital Leviathan? Readers split: 'Duh, old news' vs 'AI doom incoming'
TLDR: Siegel’s book says a hidden “information state” now governs through algorithmic feeds, not ballots. Commenters split between “old news,” “right‑wing spin,” and “AI will supercharge surveillance,” with extra sparks over McCarthy and censorship—underscoring the bigger fear: who quietly controls the online world steering our choices
Jacob Siegel’s new book claims the real boss of modern life isn’t Congress—it’s the “information state,” a.k.a. the invisible digital plumbing and algorithms that shape what we see, say, and share. He argues censorship isn’t a glitch but a feature of this new rule-by-feed, and that the internet creates the very “disinformation” it then promises to fix. Big ideas, big history—from Francis Bacon to today. But the comments? That’s where the fireworks begin.
One camp shrugs: “we’ve known since 2016,” with jredwards calling it “brown-nosing” and “not groundbreaking,” even saying the piece has a right‑wing tilt. Another camp is sounding alarms: jrochkind1 warns “AI makes this all go exponential,” turning those millions of cameras and data points into one searchable panopticon. And then there’s a spicy side quest: calvinmorrison charges in with the McCarthy take, detonating a mini‑brawl over history before anyone can say “algorithm.” Meanwhile, meme‑lords are out in force: “Final Boss: The Feed,” “1984 called, it wants royalties,” and “Press F for democracy.” Whether you see Siegel’s thesis as prophecy or déjà vu, the thread’s verdict is clear: the fight isn’t about tech—it’s about who gets to steer the feed link
Key Points
- •Jacob Siegel’s book “The Information State” is scheduled for publication by Henry Holt in March 2026.
- •Siegel argues liberal democracy has been displaced by an “information state” that rules via digital infrastructure, algorithms, and engineered online behavior.
- •He claims visible censorship in the Biden era is a systemic feature of this governance model, not an anomaly.
- •The book contends that disinformation problems stem from the surveillance- and attention-based internet that the state relies on; politicians criticize platforms like Facebook and Twitter but do not seek to reduce their power.
- •Siegel traces the intellectual genealogy of information governance from Francis Bacon to Jean-Baptiste Colbert under Louis XIV, framing a long arc toward technocratic control.