What connects the streets of Cluj, Romania to the hills of San Francisco, CA? In Erin McElroy's book Silicon Valley Imperialism: Techo Fantasies and Frictions in Postsocialist Times (2024) these connections are traced through the rubric of “silicon valley imperialism” defined as the “global condition in which Silicon Valley's existence is necessitated by its unending growth and in which it penetrates and devours people's intimate lives, local epistemologies and personal data.” In this short commentary I discuss how the rubric of imperialism is used to connect places, times and people in this book.
