THE RIFKIND CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES AND ARTS

PRESENTS

Godwin's Engine: Muskism and the Automation of Consent

Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 5:00pm-6:30pm 

In Person (NAC 6/316, Rifkind Center) and via ZOOM

Godwin’s law holds that as an online discussion grows longer, the chance of someone making a comparison to Adolf Hitler or the Nazis approaches 100%. Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, from his origins in South Africa to his position as owner of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, can be seen as the engineer of the machinery that helps this law of the internet age come true. To what extent may Musk be considered to have engendered a fully-fledged economic and social paradigm akin to that of Henry Ford in the early 20^th century, and what are its implications in the realm of consent?

Join us for a talk by Quinn Slobodian, who will help us make sense of the phenomenon he calls “Muskism.”

Quinn Slobodian is professor of international history at Boston University, and the author of several books including Globalists, Crack-Up Capitalism and Hayek’s Bastards. Most recent is Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, co-authored with Ben Tarnoff. In 2025, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship & the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC