{"id":86636,"date":"2026-11-07T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=86636"},"modified":"2026-11-07T10:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T15:59:14","slug":"86636","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=86636","title":{"rendered":"

Even the billionaire ex-wife of one of the Google bros declares the Burning Man ‘demonic’<\/span><\/h1>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Demonic\u2019: Silicon Valley Billionaire Blasts Burning Man<\/h1>\n

<\/p>\n

A Silicon Valley billionaire has declared Burning Man \u201cdemonic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gil Duran
\nThe Nerd Reich<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is a very heavy concept to drop on a bunch of people who are currently tripping balls at the annual festival in Nevada\u2019s Black Rock Desert. But Nicole Shanahan, a former Burning Man attendee\u2014and ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin and former vice-presidential running mate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2014made the stunning accusation on Twitter yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have come to believe that Burning Man is not just an eccentric festival, but rather a powerful vehicle for deception,\u201d wrote Shanahan<\/a>. \u201cIn fact, it may be one of the most effective tools for Satan to misdirect souls away from our Heavenly Father. When you surrender yourself to \u2018the playa,\u2019 you do not simply embrace freedom; you also open yourself to profound distortions of what is good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanahan\u2019s outburst reflects an emerging trend: Silicon Valley billionaires publicly discussing the devil. On September 15, PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel will begin a secretive four-part lecture series about \u201cThe Antichrist<\/a>\u201d in San Francisco. The Nerd Reich newsletter will provide Special Coverage of this historic event.<\/p>\n

Shanahan says she attended the festival as a guest of the elite \u201cFirst Camp\u201d\u2014among the most important camps in the Burner hierarchy, the organizational center of the festival\u2014for several years. This makes her criticism of the scene noteworthy. Shanahan’s missive brims with righteous anger and judgment against the desert art and drug party.<\/p>\n

In her statement, Shanahan noted that she is now a born-again Christian who is \u201cdevouring\u201d theology.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I devote myself to Scripture, to my family, and to walking in the light of the Lord, I find that this process of renewal continues to unfold, deepening day by day, step by step,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI no longer desire to ‘Burn the Man;’ I now burn with zeal in the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shanahan’s attack on Burning Man seems timed for maximum effect. The festival peaks on Saturday and Sunday nights, with intense festivities that culminate in the burning of a large wooden statue of a human figure. Many of her Burner brethren will be \u201csitting in mangrove valley<\/a> chasing light beams\u201d right about now.<\/p>\n

The choice to attack Burning Man during the festival itself seems calculated. By targeting people in altered states during peak vulnerability, she supercharges the emotional impact of her unusual statement while minimizing rational pushback.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there are constant orgies,\u201d wrote Shanahan. \u201cYes, drugs are consumed in staggering quantities. And yes, sexual assault and rape occur at Burning Man, along with tragic, often preventable deaths. Nudity is everywhere. Overdoses happen so frequently that they rarely interrupt a party or shut down a camp. Yes, many openly practice magic, summoning spiritual entities as if for entertainment. Self-proclaimed \u2018healers\u2019 abound, offering their versions of medicine and ritual. Occult symbols and ceremonies are practiced so frequently that they become ingrained in the fabric of daily life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing herself as a \u201cnewbie\u201d to demonology, she cited a 17th century book of magic<\/a> to offer a possible explanation for Burning Man\u2019s allegedly demonic influences:<\/p>\n

Take the demon Morax, for example. Also known as Marax or Forax, he appears in several occult texts, including \u201cThe Lesser Key of Solomon<\/em> and Pseudomonarchia Daemonum<\/em>.\u201d He is described as a Great Earl and President of Hell, commanding between 30 and 36 legions of demons, each capable of taunting, tempting, and tormenting humans. He is often portrayed as a bull with a human face, or a man with the head of a bull. What is striking is his supposed abilities: teaching astrology, liberal sciences, and the properties of herbs and precious stones, as well as bestowing spiritual docents. Does any of this sound familiar?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Many tech billionaires and their friends faithfully attend the week-long festival. In fact, Sergey Brin, Shanahan’s ex-husband from whom she reportedly received $1 billion in a 2023 divorce<\/a>, has been described as a \u201crabid\u201d attendee. Google has even provided free employee shuttles to the event.<\/p>\n

Burning Man, which draws up to 80,000 people to northern Nevada every August, features art, nudity, spirituality and heavy use of drugs, especially psychedelics. \u201cThe\u00a0preliminary census<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 drawn from\u00a0random sampling\u00a0at the city gates \u2014 shows a community that remains largely middle-aged, highly educated and overwhelmingly white,\u201d reported the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Last week, the site was hit by powerful storms<\/a> that flooded roads and destroyed the famed Orgy Dome<\/a>. One man was seriously injured when he suffered an accidental electric shock. In addition, a 36-year-old woman gave birth to a baby girl despite claiming not to have known she was pregnant. The newborn has been dubbed \u201cPuddles\u201d and \u201cCitizen Zero<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Official Nerd Reich Tech Politics Forecast<\/strong> assumes a significant uptick in religion-themed meme warfare as the Tech Right attempts to merge with the extreme religious wing of the Republican Party. For a glimpse of what’s to come, read my 2024 review of Unhumans<\/em>, a book which depicts Democrats as murderous communist demons. Vice President JD Vance\u2014the main connection between the Tech Right and Religious Right\u2014extolled the book. Steve Bannon wrote the foreword.<\/p>\n

Full disclosure: <\/strong>I went to Burning Man in 2005 and 2006. It was an interesting experience, but I haven\u2019t been back in twenty years. However, I did not view it as especially orgiastic or satanic. I saw friends, listened to music, rode a bicycle in the alkaline dust and thought about life.<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of people create a fantasy\u2014Black Rock City\u2014and fill it with art and diversions for a week. They consume heavy quantities of drugs and escape reality in a dream landscape with a \u201cgift economy\u201d where money is supposedly useless.<\/p>\n

Of course, the millionaires and tech billionaires have the best camps at Burning Man, so money talks on \u201cthe playa\u201d as well as it does anywhere. Their influence has apparently grown stronger over the past two decades. I did not witness any demonic rituals, but I camped among the regular people, not with Silicon Valley elites.<\/p>\n

One thing I did not enjoy was the actual burning of the human effigy, which filled the air with thick smoke and made me feel like I\u2019d sucked down three packs of unfiltered Pall Malls. It seemed like an excessive and needless indulgence on an already-burning planet.<\/p>\n

Coming soon:<\/strong> Antichrist 101, a public education effort to empower citizens to debunk the coming wave of spirituality-based political propaganda.<\/p>\n

MDMA: A Devil\u2018s Bargain In The Desert?<\/h2>\n

Speaking of Burning Man…<\/p>\n

Elon Musk\u2019s DOGE lieutenant, billionaire Antonio Gracias, has gained control of Lykos Therapeutics, the most prominent MDMA company in the U.S.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has the jaw-dropping story of how an encounter at a Burning Man rave turned into a business deal that raises some major red flags.<\/p>\n

DOGE has engaged in wanton destruction of government, carrying out Curtis Yarvin\u2019s deranged blueprint. DOGE\u2019s assault on USAID will mean 14 million preventable deaths<\/a> by 2030\u2014including 4.5 million children under five\u2014according to the Lancet. And they\u2019re just getting started.<\/p>\n

Talk about a bad trip.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mistake me for an anti-drug scold. I am very aware of the promise\u2014and the peril\u2014of these powerful substances. However, there is no question that the forces seeking to capture our political system for tech fascism also seek to harness the power (and profit) of these drugs. And the roots of tech fascism are unquestionably tangled up in psychedelics and other substances.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe psychedelics are inherently fascist. I don\u2019t think psychedelics have an opinion at all. Like any technology, they can be used for good or for ill, and they can amplify darkness as well as light.<\/p>\n

Once a year, I remind people about a book called Mindfuckers: The Source Book On The Rise of Acid Fascism in America<\/em><\/a>. While most hippies sought free love and peace through LSD, some people used it for power and control.<\/p>\n

For example, Charles Manson convinced his young followers he was a messiah destined to rule the world after a race war that would be kicked off by a sequence of horrific murders. And he convinced them that the Beatles\u2019 White Album<\/em> contained secret messages about him and this coming revolution.<\/p>\n

On acid.<\/p>\n

In the wrong hands, psychedelics can be used to manipulate beliefs, emotions, and perceptions. The CIA conducted experiments to see if they could be used for mind control, but they couldn\u2019t quite produce a \u201ctruth serum\u201d or \u201cManchurian candidate\u201d drug.<\/p>\n

In recent years, the stigma on psychedelics has lifted and science is finding promising ways to use these substances to help people. People-led movements have sprung up to decriminalize psychedelics and entheogens\u2014and corporate interests have begun to circle.<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, researcher Ne\u015fe Devenot warned that a \u201cutopian discourse<\/a>\u201d around psychedelics \u201cprovides insight into the ways that global tech elites are instrumentalizing both psychedelics and artificial intelligence (AI) as tools in a broader world-building project that justifies increasing material inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can download and read the entire paper: TESCREAL hallucinations: Psychedelic and AI hype as inequality engines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

____
\nhttps:\/\/www.thenerdreich.com\/demonic-silicon-valley-billionaire-blasts-burning-man\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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