Tech Won’t Save Us

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Dan McQuillan, author of Resisting AI and a lecturer at Goldsmiths University of London. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jathan Sadowski to discuss the relationship between technology and capitalism, and what lessons can be taken from the Luddites to properly assess and understand these systems.

Jathan Sadowski is is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism. He’s also the co-host of This Machine Kills and a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jathan wrote about AI and the Tinkerbell Effect in Futurism.

Support the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Dwayne Monroe, a senior cloud architect and longtime consultant these kinds of projects. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Will Tavlin to discuss how the Netflix model transformed film into the Typical Netflix Movie and how the company uses claims about data to deceive the public.

Will Tavlin is a New York-based writer who has written for n+1, Bookforum, and the Columbia Journalism Review.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Will wrote about Netflix and the Typical Netflix Movie for n+1.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Cecilia Rikap to discuss the ways Amazon, Microsoft, and Google gain power from companies becoming dependent on their cloud services and how generative AI exacerbates that problem.

Cecilia Rikap is an Associate Professor in Economics at University College London.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris and Cecilia were co-authors on the “Reclaiming digital sovereignty” white paper.
• Cecilia wrote a report called “Dynamics of Corporate Governance Beyond Ownership in AI.”

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ali Alkhatib to discuss the difficulty of holding the AI industry accountable and why sometimes it makes sense for people to destroy AI systems that are harming them.

Ali Alkhatib works with Logic(s) magazine and was previously the director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ali wrote a blog post called “Destroy AI.”

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White, Brian Merchant, and Eric Wickham to discuss the highs and lows (mostly lows) of this year in tech news.

Molly White is the creator of Web3 is Going Just Great and Follow the Crypto. Brian Merchant is my co-host on System Crash, a new podcast we’re hosting. He’s also a longtime tech journalist and author of Blood in the Machine. Eric Wickham is the producer for Tech Won’t Save Us, along with a bunch of other podcast, and an independent journalist.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Molly joined Brian and Paris on System Crash.
• Peter Thiel made some dumb remarks about Luigi Mangione on the Piers Morgan show while looking very shiny.
• Apple sold fewer than half a million Vision Pro headsets this year.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the data-informed decisions that are changing the way we all experience air travel, mostly for the worse.

Amanda Mull is a senior reporter and Buying Power columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Amanda wrote about the changing flying experience for Bloomberg and the big investments being made in airport lounges for The Atlantic.
• Legacy airlines are taking budget customers with the ultracheap fares.
• In the US, budget airlines are beginning to offer premium seats and other amenities to attract more premium customers.

Support the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Aurora Gomez Delgado of Tu Nube Seca Mi Río. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Cam Wilson to discuss Australia’s plan to ban under-16s from social media, the interests driving it, and whether it’s the right approach to tackle the harms of those platforms.

Cam Wilson is associate editor at Crikey.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Cam wrote about the under-16 social media ban for Crikey.

Support the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Brid Smith, a former TD or Member of Parliament in the Irish Parliament in Dublin. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Sebastian Lehuede, a lecturer at King’s College London. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by MV Ramana to discuss the tech industry’s push to have nuclear energy power its data centers and why the reality of nuclear power isn’t as great as its promoters often make it seem.

MV Ramana is a Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Nuclear Is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Langdon Winner wrote The Whale and the Reactor and Do Artifacts Have Politics?. Timothy Mitchell wrote Carbon Democracy.
• Microsoft made an agreement to try to restart Three Mile Island, but it’s not a done deal yet.
• Data centers are fueling fossil fuel use, despite claims about nuclear and renewables. 
• Leaked documents in October confirmed Israel has nuclear weapons.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Becca Lewis to discuss the right-wing project to shape the internet in the 1990s and how we’re still living with the legacies of those actions today.

Becca Lewis is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen mentioning the Italian Futurists in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• Ruth Eveleth wrote about the Italian Futurists in the context of Silicon Valley.
• In 1995, Wired published a story on how “America’s futurist politicians” Al Gore and Newt Gingrich were in an epic struggle to shape the internet.
• Becca mentioned the work of Nicole Hemmer and Patricia Aufderheide.

Support the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Cecilia Rikap, an Associate Professor in Economics at University College London. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the fallout from the US election, what it means for the tech industry, and more importantly, what it might mean for all of us. They also celebrate the show hitting 250 episodes!

Brian Merchant is a longtime tech writer and author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Brian wrote about the results of the election on his newsletter.
• Paris wrote about why we need to remember who enabled Elon Musk to obtain his power.
• There are already reports of advertisers returning to Twitter/X to gain favor with Musk and Trump.
• OpenAI is moving away from its original non-profit status.
• Uber chief legal officer Tony West told Kamala Harris to stop attacking big business.

Support the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. Starting this week, we’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Ali Alkhatib, Logic(s) data editor and former interim director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by tante to discuss troubling developments in the open source world as Wordpress goes to war with WP Engine and a new definition of open source AI doesn’t require being open about training data.

tante is a sociotechnologist, writer, speaker, and Luddite working on tech and its social impact.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• tante wrote about the problem with the Open Source Initiative’s definition of open source AI.
• Check out this link for the full breakdown on the Wordpress drama.
• Wordpress changed its trademark guidelines on September 19 regarding the use of the WP abbreviation.
• Tumblr and Wordpress started selling user data for AI training earlier this year.
• A lot of the controversy around Richard Stallman started blowing up in 2019.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss all the money Elon Musk is pouring into the US election and what Silicon Valley’s political influence will mean regardless of who becomes president.

Jacob Silverman is the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, coming in September 2025 from Bloomsbury. His book Easy Money is now available in paperback.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• The New York Times reported on Elon Musk’s efforts to get Trump elected in the final two weeks of the campaign.
• The Pennsylvania district attorney sued Elon Musk’s PAC to stop his $1 million giveaways.
• Marc Andreessen wrote the Techno-Optimist Manifesto and the Little Tech Agenda.
• FTX was up to way more shady things that didn’t make it into the first trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. The second didn’t go ahead after he was found guilty in the first.
• The canvassing operation for Trump by Elon Musk's PAC has been flagged as potentially fraudulent.
• The US Supreme Court’s Chevron decision will have significant consequences for federal regulators.

Support the show

Tech billionaires are embracing extreme right-wing politics. It’s not just to enhance their power, but to try to realize a harmful vision for humanity’s future that could see humans merging with machines and possibly even living in computer simulations. Will we allow them to put our collective resources behind their science fiction dreams, or fight for a better future and a different kind of technology to go along with it? This is episode 4 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Postdoctoral candidate at Case Western Reserve University Émile P. Torres, features reporter at The Information Julia Black, Goldsmiths University lecturer Dan McQuillan, and former head of the Center for Applied Data Ethics Ali Alkhatib were interviewed for this episode.
• Pieces by Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, and an interview with Elon Musk were cited.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ulises A. Mejias and Nick Couldry to discuss how Silicon Valley's extractive data collection regime and the power it grants them resembles a much older form of exploitation: colonialism.

Ulises A. Mejias is a professor of Communication Studies at SUNY Oswego and Nick Couldry is a professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at the London School of Economics. They are the co-authors of Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back and among the co-founders of the network Tierra Común.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Read an excerpt of Ulises and Nick’s book.
• Ulises has helped advance the Non-Aligned Technologies Movement.
• The World Economic Forum and Accenture published a report on governance of AI.
• Geoffrey Hinton was one of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics. Paris wrote about why we shouldn’t trust his assessment of AI.
• Google told the UK Labour government it will be left behind in the AI race if it doesn’t do what the company demands.
• Data centers use 21% of electricity in Ireland, and number that could jump to 31% within the next three years.
• Home building in West London could be restricted until 2035 because data centers have used up the available energy.
• Kenya is being drafted into the US’s anti-China tech alliance, which includes building data centers while ignoring the poor working conditions of data labelers and content moderators.

Support the show

Sam Altman is clear: he’s ready to sacrifice anything for his AI fantasies. But are we? We dig into why generative AI has such extreme energy demands and how major tech companies are trying to rewrite climate accounting rules to cover how much their emissions are rising. AI isn’t just churning out visual slop; it’s also being used to transform how our society works and further reduce people’s power over their lives. It’s a disaster any way you look at it. This is episode 3 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Hugging Face Climate Lead Sasha Luccioni, Associate Professor in Economics Cecilia Rikap, former head of the Center for Applied Data Ethics Ali Alkhatib, Goldsmiths University lecturer Dan McQuillan, and Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute Alex Hanna were interviewed for this episode.
• Interviews with Sam Altman and Brad Smith were cited.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss who Curtis Yarvin is and how his anti-democratic, far-right writings have influenced the politics of Silicon Valley and the wider American extreme right.

Julia Black is a features reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Julia wrote about Curtis Yarvin and his ideas for The Information. She also wrote about the Musk-aligned tech CEOs trying to shape how we think about the future.
• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• The Dark Enlightenment is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian political project.
• Gil Duran wrote about the Reboot Conference and how it put the connections between the tech industry and the Heritage Foundation on display.
• The Heritage Foundation is flooding federal agencies with thousands of information requests to identify government employees to be purged under a second Trump administration.
• Peter Thiel wanted Balaji Srinivasan to become head of the Federal Drug Administration under the Trump presidency.
• According to Nick Land, hyperstition refers to ideas that bring themselves into being.

Support the show

As hyperscale data centers move into communities, they come with significant water and energy demands that some are not willing to put up with. We go to Ireland, Spain, and Chile to learn about the effects of data centers on the ground and why some communities are fighting back. They’re asking whether the tradeoffs they’re being expected to make are really necessary. This is episode 2 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• People Before Profit TD Brid Smith, Tu Nube Seca Mi Río organizer Aurora Gomez Delgado, and King’s College London lecturer Sebastian Lehuede were interviewed for this episode.
• Some pieces by Dara Kerr in NPR, Sarah Emerson and Emily Baker-White in Forbes, and Hannah Daly in The Irish Times were cited.
• A full transcript can be found on the show’s official website.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Spencer Ackerman to discuss the past year of Israel's actions in Palestine and the innovations in war technology being used to carry out what the ICJ has deemed a "plausible" genocide in Gaza.

Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer-prize winning author of Reign of Terror. He’s a contributor at Zeteo and publishes the Forever Wars newsletter. He’s also writing a new series of Iron Man comics that come out very soon.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Spencer wrote a piece marking a year since October 7 for Zeteo. He’s also written about the Lebanon pager attack and Israel’s innovation with quadcopters.
• Yuval Abraham has written about the use of AI in Gaza and how Israel is relying on US cloud companies for military purposes.
• Roberto González wrote a paper about the links between Silicon Valley and the military-industrial complex.

Support the show

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are the dominant players in the cloud market. Around the world, they’re building massive hyperscale data centers that they claim are necessary to power the future of our digital existence. But they also increase their power over other companies and come with massive resource demands communities are getting fed up with. Is their future really the one we want? This is episode 1 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Senior cloud consultant Dwayne Monroe and Associate Professor in Economics Cecilia Rikap were interviewed for this episode.
• Interviews with Jeff Bezos and The Oregonian journalist Mike Rogoway were cited.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Karl Bode to discuss how Mark Zuckerberg's makeover and the PR campaign that’s accompanied it shouldn’t distract from the ongoing harms of his company.

Karl Bode is a freelance tech journalist and consumer rights reporter.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris wrote about the problem with the “Zuckessance” for Disconnect.
• The New York Times published an article about the political evolution of Mark Zuckerberg.
• Facebook’s Free Basics was widely called out for being a form of digital colonialism.
• Joel Kaplan was a key figure within Facebook defending right-wing content from effective moderation.
• Neil Postman wrote the book Amusing Ourselves to Death in 1985.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Tamara Kneese to discuss the difficult question of what happens to our digital presence after we die and why some tech billionaires are so desperate to make themselves into chatbots.

Tamara Kneese is a researcher, organizer, and author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Tamara wrote some pieces on AI and death for Wired and The Baffler.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Rob Larson to discuss the recent ruling that Google is a monopolist, what consequences it might face, and what lessons we can learn from the Microsoft antitrust case in the early 2000s.

Rob Larson is the author of Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More and Professor of Economics at Tacoma Community College.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Rob has written about the Google antitrust case and its likely outcomes.
• Paris also wrote about why it won’t solve the problems with the internet.
• Watch a highlight reel of Bill Gates' deposition on YouTube.
• Google has been deemed to have an illegal monopoly in online search.
• A second trial over Google’s monopolistic position in the online ads market is ongoing.
• The Obama administration let Google off the hook a decade ago.
• Some tech billionaire donors are pushing Kamala Harris to remove Lina Khan as head of the Federal Trade Commission if she becomes president.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Matt Pearce to discuss how Google sidestepped two California bills aimed at funding journalism and how major tech companies are transforming the web to make hyperlinks less relevant.

Matt Pearce is the President of Media Guild of the West and a former reporter at the Los Angeles Times.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Matt wrote about the disingenuous arguments against the California Journalism Preservation Act and the changing nature of hyperlinks online.
• Google sidestepped the two California bills to carve out a separate deal that includes funding for an AI initiative.
• When you compare per capita public broadcast funding across wealthy nations, Canada is near the bottom, but the United States is barely on the chart.
• Google will distribute $100 million to news publishers in Canada after a bargaining process there.
• Digital media companies have been doing layoffs and shutting down in droves.
• The New York Times used AI to assist in identifying the deadly weapons Israel is using against the people of Gaza.
• The Media Ecosystem Observatory looked at the effects of Meta's news ban on its platforms in Canada.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Taylor Welling and Kathryn Friesen to discuss how they formed wall-to-wall unions in the video game industry and their thoughts on broader challenges like layoffs and corporate consolidation.

Taylor Welling is a producer and union member at OneBGS and Kathryn Friesen is quest designer and member of the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• OneBGS and the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild each won their union votes in July 2024.
• More video game workers have already been laid off in 2024 than did in all of 2023.
• Microsoft and the Communication Workers of America signed a labor neutrality agreement in 2022, to take effect 60 days after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard closed. In May, that agreement was extended to ZeniMax Studios.
• Microsoft laid off 1,900 gaming workers in January and closed four internal studios in May.
• Blizzard provides swords, shields, and helmets to employees celebrating 5, 10, and 20 years at the company.
• The ZeniMax Workers Union struck an agreement with their employer on the use of AI.
• Nicole Carpenter at Polygon put together a list of video game unions and an explainer on the rise of video game unions.
• Communication Workers of America has more information on unionizing as part of their CODE-CWA campaign.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner to discuss the complicity of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and how tech workers are organizing to stop it.

Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner are former Google software engineers and organizers with No Tech for Apartheid.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Find out more about No Tech for Apartheid from their website. Microsoft workers have also launched No Azure for Apartheid.
• Yuval Abraham reported on the Israeli military’s use of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft’s cloud services and AI in Gaza.
• Mohammad wrote about being fired by Google in The New Arab.
• Gabi refers to JWCC, with is a reference to the Department of Defense Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle.
• Google fired 50 workers earlier this year for organizing over its ties to Israel.
• The Information reported on how many Arab Americans in tech are scared to speak out in support of Palestinians for fear of retaliation.
• In 1970, Polaroid workers under the banner of the Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement began the first anti-apartheid boycott of a US company by organizing against their employer’s complicity in South African apartheid.
• The IBM Black Workers Alliance was central to the anti-apartheid campaign at that company.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss why the crypto industry is spending millions on this election cycle and Coinbase’s potential breach of election finance law.

Molly White writes the Citation Needed newsletter. She is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and Follow the Crypto.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Molly wrote about the Coinbase campaign finance violation and Donald Trump’s Bitcoin conference speech in her newsletter.
• Paris wrote about some of the concerns about Kamala Harris’ stance on tech.
• Fairshake spent $10 million on attacks ads against Katie Porter in California. It spent millions more targeting Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
• The crypto industry hates SEC head Gary Gensler, who is leading the regulatory effort against cryptocurrency.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Hussein Kesvani to discuss the far-right attacks that happened after the Southport stabbing in the UK and how larger structural issues in media, politics, and tech laid the groundwork for violence against visible minorities.

Hussein Kesvani is a co-host of Trashfuture and Ten Thousand Posts.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• The stabbing in Southport resulted in the deaths of three children and injuries to eight children and two adults.
• After days of far-right attacks, there were large anti-fascist and anti-racist demonstrations across the UK.
• Some fascists attacked hotels housing asylum seekers, but in places like Bristol, locals started defending the hotels.
• In 1968, Conservative MP Enoch Powell delivered the “rivers of blood” speech.
• Elon Musk has been sharing a series of incendiary posts and false information that have helped fuel these attacks.
• The billionaire’s changes to Twitter have helped fuel right-wing misinformation.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Luke LeBrun and Rachel Gilmore to discuss Shopify's connection to right-wing politics, through its interpersonal connection to a far-right news outlet and its reluctance to enforce its content policy on users selling hateful merchandise through their platform.

Luke LeBrun is the editor of PressProgress and Rachel Gilmore is an independent journalist.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Luke reported on Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian’s involvement in and funding of a right-wing Canadian “news” website called True North.
• Rachel reported on Shopify’s decisions not to disable support for stores that sell fraudulent goods and promote hate that’s in violation of their Acceptable Use Policy. She recently pointed out a series of stores Shopify still supports that sell Nazi memorabilia.
• Last year, an anonymous former Shopify worker spoke out about the right-wing culture at the company. Rachel confirmed the person had worked for Shopify.
• In 2022, Tobi Lutke was granted a “founder’s share,” guaranteeing him 40% voting power. 46% of shareholders voted against the proposal.
• Shopify found itself in the spotlight in 2021 when employees found a noose emoji had been added to the company’s Slack system.
• Shopify President Harley Finkelstein has been publicly opposing plans to raise taxes on capital gains. Only 0.13% of Canadians will be paying more tax under the plan.
• Some right-wing figures in Canada deny the truth of the residential schools.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Chris Carlsson to discuss Processed World, a tech-critical, anti-capitalist magazine that satirized the absurdity of work in its publishing run between 1981 and 2005. 

Chris Carlsson is the author of many books, including most recently When Shells Crumble. He’s the director of Shaping SF and a cofounder of Critical Mass. He was also one of the people behind Processed World.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• You can find the full archive of Processed World on the Internet Archive.
• Chris wrote about his experience making Processed World in Notes from Below.
• Jacob Silverman wrote a great piece on the legacy of Processed World for The Baffler.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss why tech billionaires have become more supportive of  Donald Trump in the upcoming US election and whether Kamala Harris’ candidacy will disrupt their plans.

Jacob Silverman is the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud and is working on a new book called Gilded Rage that is scheduled for Fall 2025.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob wrote about Silicon Valley’s embrace of Trump for The Nation.
• Paris wrote about what Silicon Valley wants from Trump in Disconnect.
• Molly White’s new project is called Follow the Crypto.
• Elon Musk is reportedly committing $45 million a month to a pro-Trump Super PAC.
• Mark Zuckerberg called Trump a badass, while saying he won’t endorse any candidate.
• Eric Schmidt is pushing the Pentagon’s embrace of AI for war.
• Peter Thiel says he’d vote for Trump this cycle if there was a gun to his head.
• Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz wrote a Little Tech Agenda containing a basic policy program.
• Reid Hoffman funded a disinformation campaign in Alabama.
• Reed Hastings has already put $7 million into a pro-Kamala Super PAC.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Sasha Luccioni to discuss the catastrophic environmental costs of the generative AI being increasing shoved into every tech product we touch.
 
Sasha Luccioni is an artificial intelligence researcher and Climate Lead at Hugging Face.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Sasha published a paper looking at the climate impacts of generative AI.
• Paris wrote about the increased emissions at Google and Microsoft, and the consequences of the growing data center buildout.
• Google’s emissions are up 48% in five years, while Microsoft’s are up 30% between 2020 and 2023.
• Bill Gates is telling governments not to “go overboard” with concerns about AI energy use. He’s been much more active in Microsoft’s AI strategizing than he’s admitted publicly.
• Microsoft President Brad Smith says its carbon “moonshot” is much farther away because of generative AI. The company is accelerating its data center construction plans.
• Sam Altman says we can geoengineer the planet if we can’t develop an energy breakthrough to power AI.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by David Gerard to discuss Jack Dorsey’s decision to leave Bluesky, his obsession with Bitcoin, and his contributions (or lack thereof) to modern technology.

David Gerard is the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and Libra Shrugged. He also makes Pivot to AI with Amy Castor.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• David wrote about Jack Dorsey abandoning Bluesky on his blog.
• Business Insider reported on how Dorsey gave money to the far-right founder of Nostr.
• Dorsey was interviewed by Mike Solana on Pirate Wires.
• Dorsey has posted in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the response to it is why he deleted his Bluesky account.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jason Koebler to discuss the AI-generated spam filling Facebook, how the platform seems to have given up trying to stop it, and where the internet goes from here.

Jason Koebler is the co-host of the 404 Media Podcast.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jason wrote about his theory of the zombie internet and what he’s been seeing on Facebook.
• Back in 2018, Motherboard reported on the rules Facebook gave its content moderators.
• Users of Facebook Free Basics and Wikipedia Zero in Angola found out how to make their own video streaming service for free.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jason Hickel to discuss how technology would change in a degrowth society and why it doesn’t make sense to organize society around profit and infinite expansion.

Jason Hickel is the author of Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. He’s also a Professor at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a Visiting Senior Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at the London School of Economics.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jason wrote about technology and degrowth and the objectives of democratic ecosocialism for Monthly Review.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by tante to discuss why it’s hard for Europe to challenge the US and China on tech and why we should change how we think about innovation.

tante is a writer, speaker, and Luddite working on tech and its social impact.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• tante spoke about innovation at re:publica 2024.
• Paris also gave a presentation on data centers.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron wrote an op-ed about shared priorities in the Financial Times.
• Sam Altman successfully lobbied to water down the EU’s AI Act.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Nitasha Tiku to discuss how US tech companies are flocking to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fund their expensive AI ambitions.

Nitasha Tiku is a tech culture reporter at the Washington Post.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Read the pieces Nitasha contributed to on Silicon Valley getting funding from Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and its embrace of the US military.
• Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. There’s still be no accountability.
• Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman met with many Silicon Valley CEOs months before Khashoggi’s murder.
• The United Arab Emirates launched its own AI strategy in 2018.
• The UAE also put Pegasus spyware on the phone of Khashoggi’s wife months before his murder.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was photographed signing a woman’s chest on June 4.
• Many Arab Americans in Silicon Valley have reported being scared to speak out in support of Palestinians for fear of retaliation.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Joseph Cox to discuss how the FBI created an encrypted phone company called Anom to read criminals’ messages and eventually carry out the largest international sting operation by law enforcement.

Joseph Cox is the author of Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever and the host of the 404 Media Podcast.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Read an excerpt of Dark Wire at Wired.
• Joseph wrote about the revelation that Lithuania hosted the Anom interception server and provided the intercepted messages to the FBI.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Nora Kenworthy to discuss how people rely on GoFundMe to access healthcare and the further inequities that adds to an already deeply unequal healthcare system. 

Nora Kenworthy is the author of Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare and an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Washington Bothell.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Nora is doing an online event with the Debt Collective on June 13.
• GoFundMe bought many of its competitors through the 2010s.
• In 2020, GoFundMe posted in a campaign it set up in response to Covid: “We’re in a growth industry: pain.”

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Gil Duran to discuss Balaji Srinivasan’s plan to implement “tech Zionism” in San Francisco and the threat posed by Silicon Valley's growing opposition to democracy.

Gil Duran is an independent journalist and former editorial page editor for the Sacramento Bee.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry. 

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Gil has written about Balaji’s Network State, Garry Tan of Y Combinator, and the plan to build a tech city in Northern California.
• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• Peter Thiel no longer feels “freedom and democracy are compatible.”
• Elon Musk claimed he sent ventilators to hospitals. They received biPAP and CPAP machines.
• Gil mentioned Quinn Slobodian’s “Crack Up Capitalism.”

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Paolo Gerbaudo to discuss how Chinese electric car maker BYD operates, its growing international success against Tesla, and whether it will be able to move into the North American market.

Paolo Gerbaudo is the author of The Digital Party and The Great Recoil. He’s a senior research fellow at the Department of Political History, Theories and Geography of Complutense University in Madrid.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paolo analyzed the business model of BYD in Phenomenal World.
• The New York Times wrote an in-depth piece on BYD back in February.
• Foreign Affairs published an article on the success of the Chinese tech industry in the face of US dominance.
• After recording, the United States announced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
• In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan put quotas on Japanese car imports, making them more expensive to US consumers to help domestic automakers like GM and Ford.
• BYD is increasingly challenging on Tesla’s position as top seller of electric vehicles.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ed Niedermeyer to discuss Tesla's stagnation as an electric vehicle manufacturer and what that could mean for its future as competitors cut into their market share.

Ed Niedermeyer is the author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors and co-host of the Autonocast.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris wrote about the problems facing Tesla, written before Musk began the mass layoffs.
• Ed wrote at the end of last year about the lies that underpinned Tesla’s story being exposed.
• The Cybertruck is facing significant manufacturing issues in Austin, and recently they all had to be recalled for issues with the accelerator pedal, which caused the company to reveal that only 3,878 vehicles had been delivered to customers.
• Tesla is laying off a large number of staff, including the Supercharger and new vehicle teams.
• Elon Musk is doing mass layoffs to reestablish his power over the company, but it’s destabilizing the actual business.
• Reuters reported that Musk cancelled plans for a low-cost car in favor of robotaxis.
• Automakers were warning they couldn’t phase out Chinese minerals from the battery supply chain by 2025. After recording, the Biden administration announced some rules would be delayed until 2027.
• BYD has been looking to build a factory in Mexico.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Nicole Lipman to discuss SHEIN’s rise to the top of the fast fashion industry and how it exacerbates the sector’s labor and environment problems.

Nicole Lipman is a writer and assistant editor at n+1.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Nicole did a deep dive into SHEIN and how it operates for n+1.
• Paris wrote about the Shut Down Shein campaign.
• Amazon benefits immensely from the US de minimis rule.
• Ten years after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh, many problems remain. 

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Meghan O’Gieblyn to discuss parallels between transhumanism and Christian narratives of resurrection, despite the fact many transhumanists identify as staunch atheists.

Meghan O’Gieblyn is an advice columnist at Wired and the author of God, Human, Animal, Machine.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Meghan wrote about transhumanism and religion for n+1.
• Paris wrote about the religion of techno-optimism in Disconnect.
• Amy Kurzweil wrote about her father’s chatbot of his own father.
• In China, AI “deathbots” are being used to help people grieve.
• Richard Dawkins now identifies as a “cultural Christian” (not Catholic, as Paris mistakenly said in the episode).

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Alex Shephard to discuss the legalization of sports betting in the United States, the growing influence of gambling in professional sports, and its negative impact on the lives of sports fans.

Alex Shephard is a senior editor at The New Republic.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Alex wrote about sports gambling for The New Republic.
• The Wall Street Journal recent explored the wider backlash to sports betting in light of the Shohei Ohtani scandal.
• Last year, the New York Times gutted its unionized sports section to replace it with non-union writers at The Athletic.
• Psychologist Meredith K. Ginley explained how sports betting apps hook people on regular gambling.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Edward Ongweso Jr. to discuss Kara Swisher’s attempt to rebrand herself as the most feared journalist in Silicon Valley, how she spent her career forwarding the industry’s narratives, and the larger problems with access journalism.

Edward Ongweso Jr. is finance editor at Logics Magazine and co-host of This Machine Kills.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ed wrote a critical review of Burn Book in The Baffler.
• In Disconnect, Paris also wrote a critical review of Swisher’s book and explained his journey to becoming a tech critic.
• In 2021, Kara told CNBC that just because NFTs are digital “doesn’t mean it’s not of value.” The following year she also defended promoting investments in crypto for retirement.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Kat Tenbarge to discuss the proliferation of AI-generated, non-consensual sexual images, their impact on the victims, and the potential fallout for tech companies who helped make it all possible. Note there is some discussion of self-harm and suicide in this episode.

Kat Tenbarge is a tech and culture writer at NBC News.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Kat has reported extensively on this issue, including stories about fake nude images of underage celebrities toping search engine results, nonconsensual deepfake porn showing up on Google and Bing too, Visa and Mastercard being used to fund the deepfake economy, and why plans for watermarking aren’t enough.
• Another Body is a documentary that looks at the scale of the problem of non-consensual deepfake explicit images.
• Microsoft’s Designer AI tool was used to create AI porn of Taylor Swift.
• Middle and high schools in Seattle, Miami, and Beverley Hills are among those already facing the consequences of AI-generated and deepfake nude images.
• In 2014, Jennifer Lawrence called the iCloud photo hack a “sex crime.”

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Zach Weinersmith to discuss why building space colonies will be much more difficult than the space billionaires want us to believe.

Zach Weinersmith co-wrote A City On Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? with Kelly Weinersmith. He also makes the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal comic.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• An excerpt of A City on Mars was published by Space.com.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the motivations behind the proposed TikTok ban and what the effort tells us about US tech policy.

Jacob Silverman is a tech journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris will be speaking in Montreal on March 23 and March 26.
• Jacob wrote about the GOP megadonor who could benefit from whatever happens to TikTok.
• Paris wrote about the geopolitics of the TikTok ban and what it says about US power.
• Taylor Lorenz broke down some of the disputed claims being made about TikTok.
• Sam Biddle wrote about how Facebook knows they violated Palestinian human rights.
• Byron Tau explained how US government agencies are getting people’s personal data from data brokers.

Support the show

In a bonus episode, Paris Marx is joined by Ed Ongweso Jr. and Brian Merchant to share their thoughts on Dune: Part Two, how it relates to the modern tech industry, and whether today’s Luddites can take anything from Dune’s Butlerian Jihad.

Ed Ongweso Jr is finance editor at Logic(s) Magazine and cohost of This Machine Kills. Brian Merchant is a technology journalist and the author of Blood In the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• You can watch the entire livestream over on YouTube.
• For Disconnect, Paris wrote about how the digital revolution has failed.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ed Zitron to discuss the public’s growing disillusionment with the tech industry as it pivoted to chasing profits instead of providing us with anything useful.

Ed Zitron is the host of Better Offline and writes the Where’s Your Ed At newsletter. He’s also the CEO of EZPR.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ed wrote about how tech lost its way and the problems with the generative AI hype.
• Paris wrote the failure of the digital revolution, the material costs of data centers, and Kara Swisher’s new book.
• A lot of Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI is cloud compute credits.
• Molly White reviewed Chris Dixon’s new book.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Dharna Noor to discuss widely-held misconceptions about the effectiveness of plastic recycling and how industry lobbies invented them to protect the market for plastic products.

Dharna Noor is the fossil fuels and climate reporter at The Guardian.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• On Friday, March 8, Paris will be speaking with Ed Ongweso Jr. and Brian Merchant about Dune: Part Two and its connection to the growing Luddite movement. Watch it on our YouTube channel at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT.
• Our conversation was based in part on the Center for Climate Integrity’s new report called “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling.”
• Dharna reported on that report and has previously written about plastic materials ending up in landfills, fashion’s use of plastic, and the problem with replacing plastics with other disposables.
• In 2018, Barack Obama said, “That whole ‘suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas,’ that was me, people.
• New research has found microplastics in the placentas of unborn babies. The science isn’t settled on the effects on microplastics on human health, but there’s reason to be concerned.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss why the European Union’s Platform Work Directive isn’t moving forward, what hope remains for gig workers’ rights in Europe, and what we should make of Uber’s first annual profit.

Ben Wray is the coordinator of the Gig Economy Project and the author of Scotland after Britain: The two souls of Scottish independence.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• On March 8, Paris will be doing a livestream about Dune 2 and Luddites with Ed Ongweso Jr and Brian Merchant. Get notified on YouTube.
• Ben wrote about the failure of the Platform Work Directive, the recent conferences on platform workers’ rights in Brussels, and the Uber CEO’s admission of using driver’s “behavioral patterns” to influence pay rates.
• Paris wrote about the wider context of Uber’s first annual profit.
• Delivery Hero’s business isn’t going well and its share price has been dropping.
• Glovo is facing serious legal trouble in Spain, and even as some fines have been suspended, others have been added.
• Food delivery workers in the UK have been on a major strike. Notes from Below have been publishing some dispatches from it.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Grafton Tanner to discuss the dangers and consequences of companies and politicians leveraging nostalgia for their own purposes. 

Grafton Tanner is the author of Foreverism. He also teaches at the University of Georgia.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode: 

• Paris wrote about the material footprint of data centers in Disconnect.
• Ian McKellen broke down on the set of The Hobbit after acting with no other actors on a green screen.
• In an interview with Charlie Rose, George Lucas described differences between Soviet and US film industries.
• Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told Vanity Fair it wasn’t as fun making Star Wars films today as it was making the original trilogy.
• Jake Gyllenhaal described the difficulty of acting in a Marvel film after Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Zachary Kaiser to discuss the power of tech interfaces, why data isn’t an accurate reflection of the world, and why we need to discuss democratic decomputerization.

Zachary Kaiser is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design and Experience Architecture at Michigan State University. He’s also the author of Interfaces and Us: User Experience Design and the Making of the Computable Subject.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris is speaking in Auckland on February 18 at an event hosted by Tohatoha.
• Zachary wrote about dream reading technologies for Real Life.
• Zachary mentions specific works by David Golumbia, Ivan Illich, Aaron Benanav, John Cheney-Lippold, Thomas F. Tierney, Marisa Brandt, Arturo Escobar, and James Ferguson.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Nastasia Hadjadji to discuss Emmanuel Macron’s plan to run France like a start-up, how that justified a further dismantling of France's welfare state, and how his desire to create national tech champions is having domestic consequences.

Nastasia Hadjadji is a French journalist looking at tech from the lens of political economy and the author of “No Crypto. Comment Bitcoin a envoûté la planète.”

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris will be speaking in Auckland on February 18 in an event hosted by Tohatoha.
• Emmanuel Macron aided Uber’s lobbying efforts as Economy Minister under the former Socialist government.
• France worked hard to attract the crypto industry. Macron even took a selfie with Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, who’s now pled guilty to felony charges.
• The group Technopolice documents police surveillance in France.
• La Quadrature du Net campaigns against algorithmic video surveillance.
• Louis Pouzin is considered to have almost created the internet.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Victor Pickard to discuss the continued layoffs in news media, and how they are symptomatic of a deeper, structural crisis in journalism.

Victor Pickard is Professor of Media Policy and Political Economy at University of Pennsylvania. He’s also the author of Democracy Without Journalism?: Confronting the Misinformation Society.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation and produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris will be speaking in Christchurch on February 4 and Wellington on February 8.
• Victor wrote for Niemen Lab about the need to divorce news and capitalism, and argued for public newspapers in the Washington Post.
• In the US, two-thirds of newspaper jobs, or 43,000 journalists, have been lost since 2005.
• Robert McChesney and John Nichols propose a Local Journalism Initiative.
• Police raided a newspaper in Kansas on August 11, 2023, setting off a major scandal that’s now seen the police chief suspended.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Eric Silver to discuss Spotify’s big plan to dominate podcasting, why it’s now pulling back from those efforts, and the difference between highly produced and more independent podcasts.

Eric Silver is a podcast producer and head of development at Multitude.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation and produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris will be in Christchurch on February 4 (details here) and Wellington on February 8 (details here). He’s hoping to get an Auckland date organized and is open to going to Australia.
• Spotify pulled back on its podcasting ambitions last year, canceling big shows and laying off staff.
• After buying Gimlet and Parcast, it merged them into Spotify Originals last year.
• Ashley Carman posted a slide from a Spotify presentation presenting the RSS feed as “outdated tech” because it’s harder for them to harvest data from.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Timnit Gebru to discuss the past year in AI hype, how AI companies have shaped regulation, and tech’s relationship to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
 
Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
 
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris is speaking in Montreal on January 20. Details here.
• Billy Perrigo reported on OpenAI lobbying to water down the EU’s AI Act.
• Nitasha Tiku wrote about the push to train students in a particular idea of AI.
• Politico has been doing a lot of reporting on the influences on AI policy in the US and UK.
• OpenAI made a submission in the UK to try to get permission to train on copyrighted material.
• Arab workers in the tech industry fear the consequences of speaking out for Palestinian rights.
• 972 Magazine reported on Israel’s use of AI to increase its targets in Gaza.
• Jack Poulson chronicles the growing ties between military and tech.
• Timnit mentioned No Tech for Apartheid, Antony Loewenstein’s The Palestine Laboratory, and Malcolm Harris’ Palo Alto.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss the mass protests of the 2010s, the role that social and traditional media played in them, and why the horizontalism of those movements ultimately didn’t work.

Vincent Bevins is a longtime foreign correspondent who has worked for the Washington Post, Financial Times, and LA Times. He’s the author of The Jakarta Method and If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation and produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Read excerpts from If We Burn in The Guardian and In These Times.
• Vincent mentioned the work of Charles Tilley, Cihan Tuğal, Evgeny Morozov, and Andrey Mir.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Naomi Klein to discuss the problems with personal branding pushed social media, how the left’s insufficient response to the pandemic created an opening for the right, and the fight over the roots of Western society that will shape our future.
 
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and a columnist with The Guardian. She is the founding co-director of the UBC Centre for Climate Justice and Professor of Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia. Her newest book is Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
 
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Read excerpts of Doppelganger in The Guardian and Vanity Fair.
• Naomi mentions Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism.

Support the show

2023 is over, so it’s time to go through everything! In a special year-end episode, we review the biggest stories of 2023, what we’re thinking of the AI hype, how science fiction makes us think about the future, the worst villains in the tech industry, and what we’re watching in 2024.
 
Gita Jackson is a journalist and cofounder of Aftermath. Molly White is the creator of Web3 is Going Just Great. Aaron Thorpe is co-host of Everybody Loves Communism.
 
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
 
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• If you become a Patreon supporter before the end of the year, you’ll be entered into a giveaway for five signed copies of Joanne McNeil’s Wrong Way and Paris Marx’s Road to Nowhere. Sign up now!
• Gita recently launched Aftermath, and you can go subscribe!
• Molly is getting started on TikTok. Go follow her!
• Aaron posts a lot of cool science fiction art over on Twitter. Give him a follow!
• You can see the Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos photos we discuss in the Worst Person in Tech segment on Twitter, Bluesky, and Mastodon.
• Paris was mistaken: Enya sang “May It Be” for Fellowship of the Ring, not “Gollum’s Song” for the Two Towers. That was Emilíana Torrini. But Paris listened to both of them too much.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Astra Taylor to discuss how capitalism creates insecurity to sustain itself, the way tech is used to make us more insecure, and what it will take to change that.

Astra Taylor is a writer, filmmaker, and political organizer. She’s the author of The Age of Insecurity and co-founder of the Debt Collective. Her next book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea, written with Leah Hunt-Hendrix, comes out in March.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
 
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Astra wrote about the Insecurity Machine for Logic Magazine and the Dads of Tech for The Baffler.
• Find excerpts from The Age of Insecurity in The New York Times and The Walrus.
• Become a supporter on Patreon to join our giveaway.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Émile Torres to discuss Silicon Valley’s recent obsession with effective accelerationism, how it builds on the TESCREAL ideologies, and why it shows the divide at the top of the AI industry.
 
Émile Torres is a postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University. They’re also the author of Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
 
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Emile wrote about the TESCREAL ideologies and AI extinction scaremongering.
• Timnit Gebru also did a great presentation on TESCREAL.
• Paris wrote about the religious nature of Marc Andreessen’s techno-solutionist manifesto and about Sam Altman’s (temporary) ouster from OpenAI.
• The Year In Tech livestream for Patreon supporters is on December 17 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm GMT. More details on Patreon or Twitter.
• The Information did a great profile on effective accelerationism.
• Forbes revealed the man behind the e/acc moniker Beff Jezos.
• 972 Magazine reported on Israeli’s use of AI to expand targets in Gaza.
• UK plans a “hit squad” to replace public servants with AI. Paris wrote about the threat it poses.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Tim Schwab to discuss why the story we hear about Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation doesn’t reflect their real impact on education and health around the world.

Tim Schwab is an investigative journalist and the author of The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Bill Gates was pied in Belgium in 1999 and made fun of on The Simpsons.
• You can watch highlights from Gates’ deposition in the antitrust trial on YouTube.
• Gates had a reputation about questionable and inappropriate conduct toward women below him in the workplace.
• Aaron Gordon wrote there’s an adage that “everyone thinks Musk is a genius until you hear him talk about a subject you know something about.”
• In 2008, the head of the World Heath Organization’s malaria program criticized the growing dominance of the Gates Foundation in the research area.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Joanne McNeil to discuss her new novel dealing with the human labor behind self-driving cars and the challenges of being a good tech critic.

Joanne McNeil is the author of Wrong Way and has written for Dissent Magazine, New York Magazine, and The Nation.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Joanne has written about the need for tech critics that aren’t insiders and tech media warming back up to Facebook.
• Paris wrote about the recent scandal around GM’s Cruise division.
• In 2014, Ursula Le Guin was awarded the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and gave a speech that skewered capitalism.
• Joanne’s fictional tech founder was in part inspired by Holacracy and Dan Price.
• The fantasy of self-driving cars is highly reliant on remote drivers.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Mike Isaac to discuss the drama around Sam Altman being temporarily removed from OpenAI, what it means for the future of the company, and how Microsoft benefits from its partnership with the company.

Mike Isaac is a technology reporter at the New York Times. He’s also the author of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Mike summarized the OpenAI-Sam Altman affair with his colleagues in the New York Times. He's been reporting on it since it began.
• Paris wrote about the Sam Altman-Microsoft relationship in Disconnect.
• Semafor reported that in 2018, Elon Musk tried to take over OpenAI but was pushed out instead.
• Forbes reporter Sarah Emerson went through Emmett Shear’s old tweets — and yikes.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Marwa Fatafta to discuss the ongoing Israeli campaign in Gaza, the importance of social media for sharing what’s happening on the ground, and what listeners can do to support peace and Palestinian rights.
 
Marwa Fatafta is a Palestinian digital rights advocate and researcher. She is Access Now’s Policy and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• 1 in 200 people in Gaza have been killed. >4,600 of the 11,100 dead are children.
• An Israeli government minster called their actions the “Gaza Nakba.”
• Instagram inserted “terrorist” into translations of Palestinian bios and removed hospital bombing photos for nudity. Whatsapp generated stickers of gun-wielding children for Palestinian terms.
• Facebook’s terrorism algorithms removed non-violent Arabic content 77% of the time.
• 7amleh tracked hate speech in Hebrew on social media. WSJ reported Meta’s Hebrew hate speech classifier doesn’t actually work.
• FAIR detailed Western media bias in reporting on Israel-Palestine.
• Access Now published a report on the internet shutdowns happening in Gaza.
• CNN and other Western outlets allow the Israeli army to review their Gaza footage.
• Al Jazeera, Channel 4, NYT, and WaPo found holes in Israel’s hospital explosion story about.
• Israel has been actively creating and spreading disinformation.
• The Israeli parliament passed a bill criminalizing the “consumption of terrorist materials” as dozens are arrested for social media posts.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, why he was found guilty, and how his negative traits are common across Silicon Valley.
 
Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor. Find more of Jacob’s work on jacobsilverman.com.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob recently wrote about the Sam Bankman-Fried trial for Air Mail, The Nation, and his newsletter.
• Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison in May for an 11-year sentence for swindling investors in Theranos.
• Sam Bankman-Fried is facing further charges in a second trial scheduled for March 11. He’s also due to be sentenced for the guilty charges in the first trial on March 28.
• Caroline Ellison revealed the leaked balance sheet that ultimately tanked FTX and Alameda was one of seven fakes made at the behest of Bankman-Fried.
• Max Chafkin and Hannah Miller wrote about the role of Bankman-Fried’s parents in Bloomberg Businessweek.
• Binance is in crisis in the face of a serious Department of Justice investigation.

Support the show

After building an empire, now Elon Musk wants us to believe he deserves it. He built a myth of his genius, and now he’s using the same to seed harmful ideologies into the public that justify how he hoards wealth to pursue the projects he should be central to humanity’s future, leaving behind a ton of suffering in their wake. But is Musk’s future really the one we want? This is episode 4 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.
 
 Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Astrotopia author Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Human Extinction author Émile P. Torres, science fiction author Annalee Newitz, The Information reporter Julia Black, New York Times Johannesburg bureau chief John Eligon, Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, and environmental compliance expert Eric Roesch were interviewed for this episode.
• Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, and Liftoff by Eric Berger were the books cited.

Support the show

Elon Musk has built himself a corporate empire, but how did he do it? He’s styled himself at as the cofounder of Tesla, but the real innovations came from its actual founders before he took the credit and spun a ton of deceptive tales he couldn’t follow through on to boost its share price. Ultimately, his interventions have had some serious consequences. This is episode 3 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, CNBC.com journalist Lora Kolodny, Ludicrous author Edward Niedermeyer, transportation journalist Alissa Walker, and climate journalist Amy Westervelt were interviewed for this episode.
• Ludicrous by Edward Niedermeyer, Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, and Road to Nowhere by Paris Marx were the books cited.
• A full transcript can be found on the show's official website.

Support the show

Elon Musk is man, but he’s also a character that he crafted and which the media blew up to unimaginable scale. Without the media, Musk would not be the man he is today because that myth — and the way it exaggerated some of his traits and virtually hid others — was essential to his success. This is episode 2 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Science fiction author Annalee Newitz, CNBC.com journalist Lora Kolodny, Ludicrous author Edward Niedermeyer, freelance journalist Karl Bode, and Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez were interviewed for this episode.
• Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, The Founders by Jimmy Soni, and The PayPal Wars by Eric Jackson were the books cited.
• A full transcript can be found on the show's official website.

Support the show

Elon Musk wasn't always the influential billionaire he is today. To begin our dive into the myth of Musk, we need to go back to his origins — to find out where he came from, what inspired him, and how he became the man he is today. Those details set the foundation for the three episodes to come. This is episode 1 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, New York Times Johnannesburg bureau chief John Eligon, CBC documentary producer Ira Basen, and science fiction author Annalee Newitz were interviewed for this episode.
• Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, and The Founders by Jimmy Soni were the books cited.
• A full transcript can be found on the show's official website.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the start of the criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, what we know about the case, and whether he’s likely to be found guilty.
 
Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor. Find more of Jacob’s work on jacobsilverman.com.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob wrote about the trial on his newsletter.
• Molly White has also written a preview of what’s to come in the Bankman-Fried trial.
• Sam Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison’s diaries to the New York Times. Soon after, his bail was revoked and he was sent to prison for over witness tampering.
• Sam Bankman-Fried was interviewed by Matt Levine on Odd Lots and basically admitted yield farming was a Ponzi scheme.
• Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh have all pleaded guilty and are expected to be collaborating with the government against Bankman-Fried.
• Bankman-Fried’s parents are also being sued over the millions they got from FTX.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the history of the Luddites, why we have their story all wrong, and what we can learn from them today.
 
Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times and the author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• An excerpt from Brian’s book was published in Fast Company. He also explained why he’s a Luddite in the Washington Post.
• In 2014, Brian wrote “You’ve Got the Luddites All Wrong.”
• On October 12, we’ll be holding a Luddite Tribunal in New York City.
• We also mentioned the work of David Noble, Eric Hobsbawm, and E. P. Thompson.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Eric Roesch to discuss the aftermath of the SpaceX Starship launch that caused so much environmental damage in April 2023 and the broader consequences of Elon Musk’s consistent regulatory evasion.
 
Eric Roesch is an expert in environmental compliance and risk assessment who writes about intersection of capitalism, markets and greenwashing as ESG Hound. You can follow Eric’s newsletter on Substack.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Eric wrote about the damage the Starship launch was going to have, SpaceX’s violation of the Clean Water Act, and Elon Musk’s general regulatory evasion. He also shared a lot of photos of the aftermath of the Starship launch.
• Paris wrote about the late David Golumbia and his work on Disconnect.
• The Federal Aviation Administration says SpaceX needs to take 63 corrective measures before another Starship launch.
• The FAA was sued by environmental groups over the impacts of the Starship launch. SpaceX joined that lawsuit.
• SpaceX still needs approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service before it can launch again. They’ve previously not been happy with SpaceX.
• Ronan Farrow put shed light on the power Elon Musk has amassed in the New Yorker.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Yangyang Cheng to discuss the growing divide between the United States and China, and how nationalistic narratives distract us from a better understanding of tech in both countries.
 
Yangyang Cheng is a particle physicist and research scholar at Yale Law School. She’s written for the New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, WIRED, and many others. You can follow Yangyang on Twitter at @yangyang_cheng.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Yangyang wrote about the myth of the TikTok spy and the US fixation on Chinese espionage for Wired.
• She mentioned the coming expiry of a science and technology agreement between the US and China. It’s been temporarily extended.
• Paris recently wrote about the benefits the US receives from the global footprint of its tech companies, and why that makes China look like a threat.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Dean Preston to discuss the havoc robotaxis are wreaking in San Francisco and the wider impacts the tech industry has had on the city.
 
Dean Preston is the District 5 Supervisor in San Francisco and the first democratic socialist elected in the city in 40 years. He’s also a tenant attorney and founder of Tenants Together. You can follow Dean on Twitter at @DeanPreston.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris interviewed one of the activists placing cones driverless cars to disable them and draw attention to the California Public Utilities Commission’s pro-corporate regulatory decisions.
• In 2011, Twitter got a massive tax break to stay in San Francisco instead of moving its offices elsewhere in the Valley.
• Salesforce CEO Marx Benioff was a rare tech mogul to support San Francisco’s ballot measure to create a new tax to fund help for homeless residents.
• A ballot measure to increase the transfer tax on properties over $10 million won in 2020, despite industry opposition.
• The campaign against progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin was bankrolled by tech and real estate money. Jacob Silverman put this into wider context in a piece about the rise in the political influence of David Sacks.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole to discuss why they launched 404 Media, how it was inspired by their work at Motherboard, and their reflections on the state of tech media.
 
Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole are co-founders of 404 Media. Jason was editor-in-chief of VICE’s Motherboard. Samantha was a senior editor at Motherboard and is the author of “How Sex Changed the Internet.” Find out more about 404 Media.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Last week the 404 team introduced themselves. Among the stories they published were pieces looking into Apple AirPods Max and AI-generated porn.
• Vice declared bankruptcy in May 2023.
• Paris argued in Disconnect that the media failed the public in how they reported on Elon Musk.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Tarnoff to discuss the ELIZA chatbot created by Joseph Weizenbaum in the 1960s and how it led him to develop a critical perspective on AI and computing that deserves more attention during this wave of AI hype.
 
Ben Tarnoff writes about technology and politics. He is a founding editor of Logic, and author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @bentarnoff.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ben wrote a long article about Weizenbaum and what we can learn from his work for The Guardian.
• Paris wrote a skeptical perspective on AI hype and the promises of ChatGPT in Disconnect.
• Zachary Loeb has also written about Weizenbaum’s work and perspective on AI and computing.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss Sam Bankman-Fried having his bail revoked and Sam Altman’s plan to scan all of our irises to get us into crypto and supposedly protect us from AI.
 
Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab. You can follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Molly wrote about Sam Bankman-Fried going to prison and what’s going on with Worldcoin in her newsletter.
• Paris also dug into Worldcoin in the Disconnect newsletter.
• The New York Times published a story about Caroline Ellison based on details provided by Sam Bankman-Fried.
• MIT Tech Review and Buzzfeed News did in-depth investigations of Worldcoin and its exploitation of people in the Global South.
• Worldcoin has been shut down in Kenya and is under regulatory scrutiny in the European Union.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Edward Ongweso Jr. to discuss how the venture capital industry works, why the technologies it funds don’t deliver on their marketing promises, and how that’s once again being shown in the hype around AI.
 
Edward Ongweso Jr. is a freelance journalist, co-host of This Machine Kills, and guest columnist at The Nation. You can follow Ed on Twitter at @bigblackjacobin.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Edward wrote about the problems with venture capital and what the AI hype shows us about the industry for The Nation. Earlier this year, he wrote about the tantrum VCs threw after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
• Paris wrote about where Elon Musk’s vision for the X superapp comes from, why his Twitter rebrand isn’t going so well, and why ChatGPT isn’t a revolution.
• In 2020, Sam Harnett wrote about the problem with tech media’s coverage of the gig economy.
• Uber used to want to be the “Amazon for transportation” and the “operating system for everyday life.”
• TIME reported on how OpenAI lobbying watered down EU AI rules.
• Marc Andreessen wrote his pitch for “Why AI Will Save the World.”

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss how the right-wing of the tech industry are funding media platforms like Rumble to reshape the political discourse and why they’re helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenge Joe Biden.
 
Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor on CBC Podcasts. You can check out Jacob’s Substack.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob wrote about Rumble as a MAGA platform, why tech is boosting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., revolutionary war reenactors getting caught up in Facebook’s purge of militia groups, and David Sacks.
• Mark Zuckerberg chose to go easy on Alex Jones and other right-wing figures on Facebook.
• Trump Media may be going public via a SPAC merger.
• Darren Blanton was involved in a scheme to keep Black voters from the polls.
• Wendy Siegelman put together a chart of the connections between Rumble, Trump Media, and other groups.
• Rumble went public via SPAC in 2022.
• Brandy Zadrozny wrote about RFK Jr. and his views for NBC News.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Kelsey Atherton to discuss the renewed interest in UFOs, where the conspiracy theories of aliens in the sky came from, and whether flying saucers might really be watching us.
 
Kelsey Atherton is a military technology journalist. He contributes to Popular Science and has written for Slate. Follow Kelsey on Twitter at @AthertonKD.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Kelsey has written about how the military’s culture of secrecy breeds UFO conspiracy theories, why sensors are an important aspect to consider, and the truth of Area 51.
• A U-2 pilot took a selfie with the Chinese balloon shot down earlier this year.
• The military later confirmed the Chinese balloon was not actually spying on the United States.
• One of the balloons that were shot down likely belonged to a hobbyist group called the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade.
• In 2019, a bunch of people online planned to hold a “Naruto run” at Area 51.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Keoni Mahelona to discuss the colonial nature of data extraction by major tech companies, and how Te Hiku takes a very different approach to revitalize the Māori language.
 
Keoni Mahelona is the Chief Technology Officer at Te Hiku Media. Follow Keoni on Twitter at @mahelona.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Keoni and some of his colleagues wrote about why OpenAI’s Whisper is another example of colonialism.
• Wired and MIT Tech Review have written about the work Te Hiku is doing with Māori language in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Mark Zuckerberg owns a lot of land in Hawaiʻi, and it’s quite controversial.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Antony Loewenstein to discuss how the Israeli weapons industry tests new military technologies on occupied Palestinians before selling them internationally.
 
Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist who’s written for the New York Times and the Guardian. He’s the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology Of Occupation Around The World. Follow Antony on Twitter at @antloewenstein.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Excerpts from Antony’s book have been published by In These Times, Declassified Australia, and Jamal Khashoggi-founded Democracy for the Arab World Now. Antony also wrote a good overview of the book for Middle East Eye.
• Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and Yesh Din have called Israel’s actions apartheid.
• Google and Amazon workers protested Project Nimbus. They also faced shareholder revolts over the project.
• Airbnb lists properties in illegal Israeli settlements.
• Red Wolf is deployed at checkpoints to scan Palestinians’ faces and add them to surveillance databases without their consent.
• Facebook has been criticized for removing Palestinians’ posts.
• The New York Times reported on Israel’s use of NSO Group surveillance tools for diplomatic leverage.
• The Committee to Protect Journalists found Israel killed 20 journalists.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by David Moscrop to discuss Canada’s plan to make Google and Meta pay news publishers, and what might happened now that they’re threatening to pull Canadian news from their platforms.
 
David Moscrop is a freelance writer and the author of Too Dumb for Democracy?: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. Follow David on Twitter at @David_Moscrop.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• David Moscrop wrote about the larger context of the Online News Bill in his Substack newsletter.
• Paris also wrote about Google and Meta threatening to pull news in Canada and why Canada should take a hard line with them.
• Sandy Garossino wrote about how much money Google and Meta extract from Canada.
• Media conglomerates Postmedia and Nordstar are in talks to merge.
• California is also looking at a similar process to force Google and Meta to pay media in that state.
• On Wednesday, the Canadian government pulled advertising from Facebook and Instagram, but said Google was still talking to find a way forward. The government said it won’t back down, and two opposition parties — the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois — voiced their support.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly Crabapple to discuss why AI image generation tools are a threat to illustrators and why we need to refuse the idea that Silicon Valley’s visions of technology are inevitable.
 
Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun with Marwan Hisham. Follow Molly on Twitter at @mollycrabapple.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Molly wrote an op-ed for the LA Times about the threat of AI-generated tools for artists, and co-wrote an open letter about restricting AI illustration for the Center for Artistic Inquiry and Reporting.
• Karla Ortiz wrote about how teaching an AI to copy an artist’s style isn’t democratization; it’s theft.
• Corridor Digital claimed they were “democratizing” animation by using AI trained on Vampire Hunter D to generate their own animated video.
• Rest of World reported on how AI was being used to take video game illustrators’ jobs in China.
• AI is already being used to justify laying off journalists.
• In February, Creative Commons published an article arguing that using copyrighted works to train generative AI should be considered fair use.
• Stable Diffusion and Midjourney were hit with a copyright lawsuit, and Getty Images launched its own suit against Stable Diffusion.
• The US Copyright Office says AI generated images are not eligible for copyright protection.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the vision of the future of computing offered by Apple’s Vision Pro headset and why it should be resisted.
 
Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times. He’s also the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris will be in Edmonton, Alberta on June 24. More info here.
• Brian wrote a column about the Apple Vision Pro for the LA Times, and another about Uber drivers in California getting payouts.
• Paris also wrote about why Apple Vision Pro should be ridiculed for Disconnect.
• David Karpf called virtual reality the “rich white kid of technology.”
• Meta employees are not working in the metaverse.
• Mark Gurman reported on the internal division at Apple over whether to release the Vision Pro in its current form.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase and what they might mean for the future of the crypto industry.
 
Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at Harvard Library Innovation Lab. Follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Tech Won’t Save Us was in the New York Times!
• Molly wrote about the Binance and Coinbase cases for Rolling Stone. She also wrote about both cases in her newsletter.
• Amy Castor and David Gerard broke down the Coinbase lawsuit.
• Matt Levine has also written about the lawsuits and what it means for crypto being seen as a security.
• In 2020, Forbes reported on the Tai Chi documents about Binance’s efforts to evade regulators.
• Binance is also being sued by the CFTC and there are reports that criminal charges could also be coming from the Department of Justice.
• Prometheum Capital registered to deal in crypto securities.
• Binance recently withdrew from Canada.
• Robinhood ended support for tokens the SEC listed as securities.
• Crypto.com is winding down US institutional trading.
• Nigeria’s SEC said Binance’s operations are illegal.
• Elon Musk is being sued over manipulation of the price of Dogecoin.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Emily Hund to discuss the creation of the influencer industry, how it’s been formalized by companies who profit from it, and what can be done to make it fairer for the people who work in it.
 
Emily Hund is the author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media. She’s also a research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilyadh.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• An excerpt of Emily’s book was published in Wired.
• After Elon Musk took over Twitter, a menswear account was suddenly in everyone’s feeds.
• Instagram is offering a paid subscription service that includes customer service.
• Countries have begun regulating the influencer industry. For example, Norway requires retouched photos to be labeled, while France has an even stricter law that regulates the types of products that can be promoted along with other requirements.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the history of consumerism and where ecommerce goes in the next few years as interest rates rise and its market share stalls.
 
Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes the Material World column. She’s also a shop steward at The Atlantic Union. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amandamull.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Amanda has written about consumerism, buying less junk, the pivot to TikTok, and why free returns are coming to an end.
• Paris wrote about the problem with Apple’s town square store concept.
• Amazon curtailed massive warehouse expansion plans it made early in the pandemic.
• Lauren Smily wrote about the shut-in economy in 2015.
• William Leach wrote Land of Desire: Merchants: Power and the Rise of a New American Culture.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Mary-Jane Rubenstein to discuss how ideas that underpinned colonization and Manifest Destiny are now setting the foundation for the billionaire space race and the plan to colonize the cosmos.
 
Mary-Jane Rubenstein is the author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race. She’s also a Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• An excerpt of Mary-Jane’s book was published in Metapolis.
• Paris wrote about the business behind the billionaire space race and the problem with Starlink.
• Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin recently got a contract to build a moon lander for NASA.
• One of Barack Obama’s legacies is pushing for the privatization of space flight.
• The US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 and Artemis Accords are attempts to unilaterally rewrite space law for US commercial interest.
• Catherine L. Newell wrote Destined for the Stars: Faith, the Future, and America's Final Frontier.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss tech billionaires’ embrace of pronatalism and how it’s part of a broader rationalist project to remake society and protect their privileged positions.
 
Julia Black is  a senior correspondent at Insider and previously worked at Esquire and Vox. Follow Julia on Twitter at @mjnblack.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Julia wrote about pronatalism, Lex Fridman, and Sam Altman.
• Paris wrote about eugenics in Silicon Valley.
• Marc Andreessen wrote “It’s Time to Build” in April 2020.
• Timnit Gebru gave a presentation on the TESCREAL bundle of ideologies. Émile Torres made a thread on Twitter about it.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by David A. Banks to discuss how cities have been reshaped to attract tech companies and what the consequences have been for the people who live in them.
 
David A. Banks is the author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. He’s a lecturer in the Geography and Planning department at University at Albany, SUNY. David also writers Other Day and co-hosts Iron Weeds. Follow David on Twitter at @DA_Banks.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• David wrote about Richard Florida, the creative class, and his book The New Urban Crisis.
• An excerpt of his book was published in Dwell.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Matt Binder to discuss Elon Musk’s first six months at Twitter and how his obsession with blue checks has decimated the company’s finances.
 
Matt Binder is a reporter at Mashable and the host of Scam Economy and Doomed. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattBinder.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Matt wrote about how few people are signing up for Twitter Blue, the people subscribing to Musk’s tweets, the Block the Blue campaign, and whether Bluesky will challenge Twitter.
• Paris wrote about what a recent BBC interview tells us about Musk’s knowledge of what’s happening on Twitter and what his history tells us about his plans for Twitter.
• Twitter revenue from its top 10 advertisers dropped 89% from September-October to March-April.
• William Shatner said his trip to space left him with “among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered.”
• After Musk gave many high-profile users blue checks again, many wonder if he could be sued for false endorsement since they haven’t actually paid for the service.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Shoshana Wodinsky to discuss the unconvincing arguments being made for a TikTok ban in the United States, then by Daniel Greene to explore how the turn against Chinese technology signals a shift in US policy on the internet and technology.
 
Shoshana Wodinsky is a freelance reporter, previously at Marketwatch and Gizmodo. She writes the Tubes newsletter. Daniel Greene is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and the author of The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope. Follow Shoshana on Twitter at @swodinsky and Daniel at @Greene_DM.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris wrote about the effort to ban TikTok and why it shows the US desire to protect its technological dominance.
• Shoshana broke down the Congressional hearing with TikTok’s CEO in her newsletter and explained how data brokers get data from many social media apps.
• A priest was outed through his Grindr data, which was part of a campaign by Catholic conservatives to identify priests using gay dating apps.
• The Strava fitness app gave away the location of secret US military bases when soldiers used the app on their runs.
• The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have been buying US phone data.
• Meta paid a firm linked to the Republican Party to smear TikTok.
• In Foreign Affairs, Dan Wang explained how China has developed its tech industry with insights gained through the manufacturing process.
• After TikTok, there’s a campaign to get Shein in the crosshairs of lawmakers.
• Adam Tooze wrote for Foreign Policy about why the US shouldn’t feel it can dictate the path of China’s development.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Aaron Benanav to discuss OpenAI’s claims that generative AI will take our jobs, how previous periods of automation hype haven’t resulted in mass job loss, and why we need to ensure it doesn’t further empower employers.
 
Aaron Benanav is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and the author of Automation and the Future of Work. Follow Aaron on Twitter at @abenanav.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron wrote about why chatbots won’t take your job for the New Statesman.
• Microsoft is rolling out generative AI in its enterprise software services and its Azure platform.
• The Writers Guild is proposing contract language on AI in scriptwriting to ensure writers still get the credit.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender to discuss what it means to say that ChatGPT is a “stochastic parrot,” why Elon Musk is calling to pause AI development, and how the tech industry uses language to trick us into buying its narratives about technology.
 
Emily M. Bender is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington and the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master’s Program. She’s also the director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilymbender or on Mastodon at @[email protected].

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
 
Also mentioned in this episode:

• Emily was one of the co-authors on the “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots” paper and co-wrote the “Octopus Paper” with Alexander Koller. She was also recently profiled in New York Magazine and has written about why policymakers shouldn’t fall for the AI hype.
• The Future of Life Institute put out the “Pause Giant AI Experiments” letter and the authors of the “Stochastic Parrots” paper responded through DAIR Institute.
• Zachary Loeb has written about Joseph Weizenbaum and the ELIZA chatbot.
• Leslie Kay Jones has researched how Black women use and experience social media.
• As generative AI is rolled out, many tech companies are firing their AI ethics teams.
• Emily points to Algorithmic Justice League and AI Incident Database.
• Deborah Raji wrote about data and systemic racism for MIT Tech Review.
• Books mentioned: Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil, Algorithms of Oppression by Safiya Noble, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, Race After Technology by Ruha Benjamin, Ghost Work by Mary L Gray & Siddharth Suri, Artificial Unintelligence by Meredith Broussard, Design Justice by Sasha Costanza-Chock, Data Conscience: Algorithmic S1ege on our Hum4n1ty by Brandeis Marshall.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss the third-party sellers who supply many of the goods sold through Amazon, how the company’s policy decisions reshape small businesses to act like mini-Amazons, and what that means for regulatory responses.

Moira Weigel is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, and a founding editor of Logic Magazine. Her most recent book is Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk about What They Do--And How They Do It, co-edited with Ben Tarnoff. Follow Moira on Twitter at @moiragweigel.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Moira recently wrote a report for Data & Society looking into Amazon’s “trickle-down monopoly,” and previously worked with Ava Kofman and Francis Tseng on research into white nationalist publishing on Amazon.
• Aiha Nguyen and Eve Zelickson wrote a report on how Ring doorbells are used to surveil delivery workers.
• Logic Magazine published an interview with an anonymous AWS engineer.
• In March 2020, an Amazon seller bought 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer and tried to price gouge.
• Marketplace Pulse found that Amazon fees for sellers now account for 51.8% of an average sale, rising from 35.2% in 2016.
• Amazon is now the third-largest digital advertising company after Google and Facebook.
• In January, John Herman wrote about the state of Amazon that touched on some of the Chinese brands.
• Amazon has been scaling back its private label business, in part due to regulatory fears.
• Books mentioned: Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organization by Sarrah Kassem, Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China's Countryside by Xiaowei Wang, and The Labor of Reinvention: Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy by Lin Zhang.

Support the show

Tech Won’t Save Us is turning three years old, so Paris recorded a quick update on the show and announced plans for a new Elon Musk series if the show gets 200 new Patreon supporters in April.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Kate Wagner to discuss the goals behind Saudi Arabia’s architectural megaprojects, the incentives for major architects to work on projects for despotic regimes, and how architecture’s relationship to tech is driven by profits and PR.

Kate Wagner is an architecture critic and journalist. She’s also the creator of McMansion Hell. Follow Kate on Twitter at @mcmansionhell.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Kate wrote about Saudi Arabia’s big architecture projects, the problem with PR-chitecture, the ethical failings of modern architecture, and why utopian architectural projects suck.
• In 2020, Bjarke Ingels met with Jair Bolsonaro about a tourism plan for Brazil.
• Workers in the architecture industry have begun to unionize.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, how it’s part of a larger crisis in the tech sector, and why it’s turning people against the industry’s venture capitalists.

Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the host of The Naked Emperor, a new CBC podcast. Follow Jacob on Twitter at @SilvermanJacob.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob wrote about the lessons from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in the Globe and Mail.
• Paris wrote about how the SVB collapse should be a radicalizing moment against venture capitalists.
• A video circulated about Jason Calacanis bragging about SVB offering him favorable banking services.
• A screenshot shows a founder complaining about Chase closing his bank account because his company doesn’t have a physical office, saying SVB never required one.
• Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund told its portfolio companies to pull their money out of SVB before its collapse.
• SVB’s President pushed for Congress to reduce regulations and oversight on banks like SVB as it grew.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by James Wright to discuss Japan’s efforts to develop robots to care for its growing elderly population, what the government hoped to achieve with that plan, and why it hasn’t worked out as planned.

James Wright is a research associate with Turning Institute and a visiting lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. He’s also the author of Robots Won’t Save Japan. You can follow James on Twitter at @jms_wright.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris is visiting New Zealand and doing a number of events through the latter half of March. Find all the dates and details here.
• James wrote about Japan’s efforts to automate elder care for MIT Tech Review.
• Jennifer Robertson spoke about the gendering of robots to cement conservative gender norms.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Dan McQuillan to discuss how AI systems encourage ranking populations and austerity policies, and why understanding their politics is essential to opposing them.

Dan McQuillan is a Lecturer in Creative and Social Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London. He’s also the author of Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence. You can follow Dan on Twitter at @danmcquillan.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Dan wrote specifically about ChatGPT and how we should approach it on his website.
• Dan mentions TWIML as a podcast that has conversations with industry players that’s informative for how these technologies work (though you’re not likely to get a critical perspective on them), and Achille Mbembe’s book Necropolitics.
• OpenAI used Kenyan workers earning $2/hour to make ChatGPT less toxic.
• The UK had to scrap a racist algorithm it was using for visa applications and many councils dropped the use of algorithms in their welfare and benefits systems.
• Dan mentions a Human Rights Watch report on the EU’s flawed AI regulations and its impacts on the social safety net.
• The Lucas Plan was developed by workers at Lucas Aerospace in the 1970s, but rejected by their bosses.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss the fight to win a pro-worker Platform Work Directive in the European Union, Uber’s rollout of dynamic pricing, and how Barcelona taxi workers have fought back against ride-hailing.

Ben Wray is the coordinator of The Gig Economy Project and the co-author of Scotland after Britain: The two souls of Scottish independence. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @Ben_Wray1989.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• The Gig Economy Project has a weekly newsletter on the gig economy in Europe.
• Ben wrote about the Platform Work Directive for Context.
• In 2022, the Uber Files gave us greater insight into Uber's lobbying activities, with a specific focus on what had gone on in Europe. The leaks implicated French President Emmanuel Macron, but he said he’d do it all again.
• The Gig Economy Project broke down what dynamic pricing would mean for workers and spoke to Leïla Chaibi about the Platform Work Directive.
• The UCLA Labor Center, transport analyst Hubert Horan, and Rideshare Drivers United with the Asian Law Caucus have all found Uber raising prices while cutting driver pay.
• Spain passed the Riders Law to regulate gig work, and Barcelona has pushed back against ride-hailing with the backing of a taxi union called Élite Taxi.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Rosie Collington to discuss the consequences of outsourcing tech to the private sector, how it causes governments to lose important capacities to serve the public, and how the push for open government data empowered large tech firms.

Rosie Collington is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London. She’s also the co-author of The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies with Mariana Mazzucato. You can follow Rosie on Twitter at @RosieCollingto.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Rosie wrote a paper called “Disrupting the Welfare State? Digitalisation and the Retrenchment of Public Sector Capacity” for New Political Economy, and a report calling “Digital Public Assets” for Common Wealth.
• Palantir has a massive and controversial contract with the NHS. That hasn’t stopped Peter Thiel from criticizing the UK’s public healthcare system.
• Mar Hicks wrote about the masculinization of the computer workforce in Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Malcolm Harris to discuss the sordid history of Silicon Valley, including the long influence of eugenics at Stanford, how Silicon Valley profited from the United States’ wars throughout the 20th century, and why the libertarian narrative of tech hide a much darker reality.

Malcolm Harris is the author of Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. You can follow Malcolm on Twitter at @BigMeanInternet.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• You can read an excerpt of Malcolm’s book in The Atlantic.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Edward Niedermeyer to discuss the rollercoaster ride of Tesla’s share price, the escalating regulatory and legal scrutiny the company faces, and the challenges it faces in the electric car market.

Edward Niedermeyer is the author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors and a co-host of The Autonocast. You can follow Edward on Twitter at @Tweetermeyer or on Mastodon at @[email protected].

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Argo AI shut down in October and Apple pushed back its car project again in December.
• California found “Full Self-Driving” was a misleading term and couldn’t be used in Tesla marketing.
• A Tesla engineer testified that a 2016 video to promote Autopilot was staged.
• Tesla is facing a number of Autopilot cases in the coming months, including an important one in Florida.
• Liza Dixon wrote about “autonowashing”.
• In January, Tesla admitted it was under investigation by the Department of Justice.
• Tesla’s Head of Autopilot Software testifying he doesn’t know what an operational design domain is presents serious red flags.
• Chinese car companies are planning to significantly expand vehicle exports, as BYD is already selling more vehicles in China than Tesla sells globally.
• Since recording, Elon Musk was found not liable in the “funding secured” trial.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Anousha Sakoui to discuss the prospect of a writer’s strike later this year, what workers are fighting for, and how the move to streaming has affected working conditions and compensation in Hollywood.

Anousha Sakoui is an entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times, covering topics including labor and litigation in Hollywood. She was part of the team that was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist in breaking news for work covering the tragic shooting on the “Rust” film set. You can follow Anousha on Twitter at @anoushasakoui.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Anousha wrote about how the Writers Guild and Directors Guild are approaching upcoming negotiations with studios.
• David Robb wrote about the history of Writers Guild strikes, and why another one seems overdue.
• WGA West recently blasted Warner Discovery for reducing opportunities for content creators after its merger.
• In 2021, IATSE was poised to go on strike before reaching a last-minute deal with the studios that was accepted by members.
• A new deal will loosen some Covid protocols on film sets.
• In 2021, Apple was paying lower rates to production crews because it said its TV+ service has less than 20 million subscribers. In July 2022, it started paying the higher rate.
• In 2018, the Hollywood Reporter reflected on the 2007 writers strike after ten years.
• The 2007 writers strike helped revive Donald Trump’s flagging The Apprentice show with a spinoff, The Celebrity Apprentice.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Quinn Myers to discuss the launch of Google Glass, why the product failed so badly, and what lessons we can learn from it as tech companies make another push for AR glasses.

Quinn Myers is the author of Google Glass and a freelance writer who used to write for MEL. You can follow him on Twitter at @quinmyers.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Apple is planning to release a mixed-reality headset, but its AR glasses have reported been delayed due to ongoing technical issues.
• Mark Zuckerberg said you’ll be able to text people during a meeting on your glasses.
• Google released a video called “One Day” that vastly overpromised what Glass would deliver.
• Sergey Brin’s affair with an employee working on Glass was revealed in 2013.
• After 8 years, the “Twitter tax cut” finally ended in 2019.
• Residents protested against Google’s use of public bus stops in San Francisco.
• The PRISM revelations showed the NSA had access to tech company servers.
• The Daily Show skewered Google Glass in a 2014 segment.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Timnit Gebru to discuss the misleading framings of artificial intelligence, her experience of getting fired by Google in a very public way, and why we need to avoid getting distracted by all the hype around ChatGPT and AI image tools.

Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute and former co-lead of the Ethical AI research team at Google. You can follow her on Twitter at @timnitGebru.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Timnit wrote about the exploited labor behind AI tools and how effective altruism is pushing a harmful idea of AI ethics.
• Karen Hao broke down the details of the paper that got Timnit fired from Google.
• Emily Tucker wrote an article called “Artifice and Intelligence.”
• In 2016, ProPublica published an article about technology being used to “predict” future criminals that was biased against black people.
• In 2015, Google Photos classified black women as “gorillas.” In 2018, it still hadn’t really been fixed.
• Artists have been protesting AI-generated images that train themselves on their work and threaten their livelihoods.
• OpenAI used Kenyan workers paid less than $2 an hour to try to make ChatGPT less toxic.
• Zachary Loeb described ELIZA in his article about Joseph Weizenbaum’s work and legacy.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Louise Matsakis to discuss the growing divide between the US and China, the long history of Western concern about the East, and why we should pay attention to who these anti-China narratives benefit.

Louise Matsakis is a technology reporter at Semafor who previously worked at NBC News, Rest of World, and Wired. You can follow her on Twitter at @lmatsakis.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Louise wrote about YouTube videos predicting China’s collapse, the rise of Shein, and the prospect of TikTok bans.
• Many US states are banning TikTok from government-issued devices.
• In 2000, Bill Clinton said that trying to place restrictions on the internet was like trying to nail Jello to a wall. China proved him wrong.
• India has already banned TikTok and a number of other Chinese apps.
• Speakers of the Khmer language in Cambodia used voice chat on Messenger because keyboards weren’t designed to work with their language.
• Shein is taking off in Mexico.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Rose Eveleth to discuss the end of her long-running podcast, why thinking about the future is important, and how tech billionaires try to shape our idea of the future to serve their ends.

Rose Eveleth is the creator and host of the Flash Forward podcast and the author of Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (And Not So Possible) Tomorrows. You can follow them on Twitter at @roseveleth.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Elon Musk says Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a big inspiration, but he seems to have missed its message.
• Karen Hao and Gideon Lichfield explained how Facebook’s PR team nitpicked one of their stories
• Books mentioned: Ruha Benjamin’s Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want and Jimmy Soni’s The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.
• The New York Times recently wrote about a group of Luddite teens.
• Tommy Douglas won CBC’s Greatest Canadian contest for winning public healthcare. You can see the episode here.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant, Chris Gilliard, and Gita Jackson to discuss the year in tech, including Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the biggest stories of the year, what they’ll be watching in 2023, and the worst person in tech of 2022.

Brian Merchant is the author of The One Device and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Chris Gilliard is a Just Tech Fellow at the Social Science Research Council. Gita Jackson is a tech and culture journalist. You can follow them on Twitter at @bcmerchant, @hypervisible, and @xoxogossipgita.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris wrote about Netflix and streaming services for Business Insider.
• Brian wrote about how 2022 was a disastrous year for the tech industry for The Atlantic.
• Chris and Kishonna Gray wrote about digital migration and what it means for Black users for Wired.
• Gita wrote a review of Dwarf Fortress’s Stream release.
• Part of the show discusses a Twitter policy that was briefly launched to restrict sharing of links from several other social media platforms. It was rescinded after the initial discussion.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss the ongoing collapse of the crypto industry, what to make of the implosion of FTX and Alameda Research, and what happens next with Sam Bankman-Fried.

Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab. You can follow her on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Since recording, Sam Bankman-Fried has been extradited from the Bahamas to the United States, and it’s been revealed that Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder have plead guilty and are cooperating with authorities against Bankman-Fried.
• Molly has been analyzing the collapse of FTX on her newsletter.
• Paris wrote about effective altruism and longtermism for the New Statesman.
• Journalists at Forbes wrote about Caroline Ellison and her history.
• After Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested, effective altruist Kelsey Piper published a series of direct messages she exchanged with her supposed friend.
• The Southern District of New York’s attorney’s office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have all filed charges against Sam Bankman-Fried.
• There are rumors that Caroline Ellison is working with authorities against Sam Bankman-Fried.
• US Justice Department is split on when to charge Binance executives. There are also growing questions about Binance’s books.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Wendy Liu to discuss what it was like to work in tech in the 2010s and why structural changes in the industry are empowering an increasingly reactionary capitalist class to strike back at workers and upend the expectations of the boom period.

Wendy Liu is a writer and the author of Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism. You can follow her on Twitter at @dellsystem.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer wrote about how tech CEOs are inspired by what Musk is doing at Twitter
• Mel Krantzler and Patricia Krantzler wrote Down and Out in Silicon Valley: The High Cost of the High-tech Dream
• Jacob Silverman wrote about David Sacks and the reactionary turn of tech billionaires
• Paris wrote about how longtermism is designed to justify the position of billionaires in society
• Julia Black wrote about the embrace of pronatalism within the tech industry

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Douglas Rushkoff to discuss why internet visions of the 1990s were wrong to ignore corporate power, how the dot-com boom was like a Ponzi scheme, and why we desperately need to stop elevating tech billionaires.

Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. His most recent book is Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires and he’s the host of Team Human podcast. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushkoff.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• An excerpt from Survival of the Richest was published in The Guardian.
• Paris was recently on the Team Human podcast to discuss Road to Nowhere with Douglas.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by David Zipper to discuss how Silicon Valley pitched new technologies as the fix for a whole range of transport problems, and how that really just distracted us from solutions while allowing issues like  road deaths, emissions, and traffic to get even worse.

David Zipper is a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Taubman Center for State and Local Government and a contributing writer at Bloomberg CityLab. You can find his articles and sign up for his newsletter at DavidZipper.com and follow him on Twitter at @DavidZipper.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• David wrote about why traffic safety is getting worse in the US, and compared it to Canada, Finland, France, and Japan. He also wrote about the history of self-driving cars, the danger posed to pedestrians on the roads, the problem with infotainment systems, and what’s wrong with positioning car tech as the solution to our problems.
• Paris wrote about how Elon Musk designed the Hyperloop to try to get California’s high-speed line canceled.
• AAA puts the annual cost of car ownership in the US at over $10,000 a year in 2022. In Canada, CAA put it at $8600 to $13,000 a year in 2017 — a number that is surely even higher now.
• Peter Norton wrote about how the auto industry took over US roads in the early 1900s in Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Daniel Joseph to discuss why advertising is central not just to the tech economy, but modern capitalism itself, and how the business models of companies are increasing shaped by serving ads and collecting data to inform them.

Daniel Joseph is a Senior Lecturer of Digital Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He’s also written for a number of publications, including Briarpatch Magazine, Motherboard, and Real Life Magazine. Follow Daniel on Twitter at @DanjoKaz00ie.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Daniel wrote about how advertising and the need to create audiences is much more central to the tech economy than is often discussed.
• Shoshana Wodinsky explained why so many companies are getting into advertising, including hotel chains, retailers, and more.
• Unity faced criticism for merging with IronSource, a known advertising malware distributor.
• After reporting a subscriber decline earlier this year, Netflix launched an ad-supported tier in October.
• Companies like Apple and Uber are expanding their efforts to increase advertising revenue.
• Ramon Lobato wrote Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Julie Turnock to discuss the history of the visual effects industry, the role that George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic played in setting industry standards, and what its current form dominated by Disney means for visual effects workers.

Julie Turnock is an associate professor of Media and Cinema Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the author of The Empire of Effects: Industrial Light and Magic and the Rendering of Realism. Follow Julie on Twitter at @JulieTurnock.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris will be speaking at Marxism Festival in Dublin on November 19, the Lighthouse Bookshop on November 24, and details on an event in London on November 25 are coming soon.
• In a series of recent articles, visual effects workers have been speaking out about conditions in the industry.
• The Mandalorian introduced ILM and Disney’s new visual effect technology dubbed “Stagecraft” that uses LED video walls instead of green screens.
• The declining quality of effects in major films is forcing people to look at labor and production practices.
• Disney accounted for nearly 40% of box office returns in 2019, and made 80% of the top earning films of the year.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Hussein Kesvani to discuss the mess of Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the problem with his solution to blue check privilege, and what we should learn from how he posts.

Hussein Kesvani is a journalist and the co-host of Trashfuture and Ten Thousand Posts. Follow Hussein on Twitter at @hkesvani.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris wrote about Elon Musk’s new plan to allow users to pay $8 to get a blue check, priority on their posts, and other features as part of an updated Twitter Blue.
• Private texts revealed from the Delaware court showed the rich and powerful groveling to Elon Musk.
• A long list of companies have stopped advertising on Twitter after Musk’s takeover. He blamed it on activists.
• Roko’s Basilisk brought Elon Musk and Grimes together.
• Elon Musk has decreed that people making fun of him by impersonating him on Twitter will be banned.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, the politics of the PayPal Mafia tech billionaires, and how they’re trying to reshape US political discourse to serve themselves.

Jacob Silverman is a journalist who writes for The New Republic, The Baffler, Slate, and many others. He’s also the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud with Ben McKenzie. Follow Jacob on Twitter at @SilvermanJacob.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob wrote about Musk’s Twitter acquisition for The Baffler and the politics of David Sacks and these other tech billionaires for The New Republic.
• Paris wrote about Musk’s Twitter acquisition for NBC News and Marc Andreessen’s housing politics for Business Insider.
• The Delaware court case revealed text messages between Elon Musk and all the people trying to gain his favor.
• Saudi Arabia had an intelligence operation running through Twitter, which led some former employees to be charged with spying. Saudi Arabia has imprisoned people over their tweets.
• There were accusations that Twitter had an Indian official associated with the far-right Modi government on payroll.
• Banks are expecting to suffer major losses on the loans provided to Musk to acquire Twitter.
• The LA Times reported that Twitter bots helped build the cult of Musk.
• In 2016, Thiel and Sacks’ Diversity Myth comments were resurrected and Thiel has to issue a statement.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Dave Karpf to discuss Meta’s misguided attempt to turn Facebook into a metaverse company, how Wired Magazine has evolved, and why the tech billionaires are destroying the world.

Dave Karpf is an Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University. He’s also the author of The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy and Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy. Follow Dave on Twitter at @davekarpf.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Dave wrote about the history of WIRED Magazine’s future predictions and why VR never dies.
• People Make Games made a video looking at what’s going on in VRChat.
• Meta’s legs demo wasn’t real.
• Douglas Rushkoff’s new book Survival of the Richest looks at how the rich are trying to protect themselves from the crises they’re making worse.
• Science fiction books mentioned: Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, and William Gibson’s The Peripheral.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Émile P. Torres to discuss the ongoing effort to sell effective altruism and longtermism to the public, and why they’re philosophies that won’t solve the real problems we face.

Émile P. Torres is a PhD candidate at Leibniz University Hannover and the author of the forthcoming book Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. Follow Émile on Twitter at @xriskology.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Émile recently wrote about the ongoing effort to sell longtermism and effective altruism to the public.
• Peter Singer wrote an article published in 1972 arguing that rich people need to give to charity, which went on to influence effective altruists.
• NYT recently opined on whether it’s ethical for lawyers to defend climate villains.
• Nathan Robinson recently criticized effective altruism for Current Affairs.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jim Thomas to discuss how digital technologies are being integrated into the industrial food system, how it empowers agribusiness firms and major tech companies, and its implications for farmers and farm workers.

Jim Thomas is the research director at ETC Group, which has over 25 years international experience tracking the impact of emerging technologies on human rights, biodiversity, equity and food systems. Follow Jim on Twitter at @jimetc or follow @ETC_Group.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• ETC Group recently released its Food Barons 2022 report, providing a snapshot of the world’s the biggest players up and down the industrial food and agriculture chain, with a lot of insight on the use of technologies throughout the food system.
• The ETC Group has also put together a children’s book and video to make information about the digital takeover of food more accessible.
• The war in Ukraine is only exacerbating preexisting problems in the global food system.
• The Gates Foundation uses its vast wealth to shape the global food system so it works as Bill Gates wants it to and benefits major agribusiness and tech companies. Groups in Africa have long been speaking out about Gates’ plans for agriculture on the continent.
• The UN finds that food systems are responsible for 80% of deforestation, 29% of emissions, and a leading share of biodiversity loss. It also reports that 70% of the world’s agricultural land is owned by 1% of all farms, mainly large agribusiness firms.
• The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems put together a report on what a long food movement could look like.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Adrienne Buller to discuss how the tech and finance industries are selling us false solutions to the climate crisis that are designed for their own benefit.

Adrienne Buller is the Director of Research at Common Wealth and the author of The Value of a Whale: On the Illusions of Green Capitalism. Follow Adrienne on Twitter at @adribuller.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Adrienne originally wrote about the problem with the finance industry’s approach to climate change for Novara Media. She recently wrote about the failure of green capitalism for the Guardian and the power BlackRock wields for Jacobin.
• Common Wealth recently produced a report on Asset Management Capitalism.
• Elon Musk called ESG a scam after Tesla was booted from the S&P 500’s ESG fund.
• Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen wrote The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Josh O’Kane to discuss how Sidewalk Labs decided to build a city “from the internet up” in Toronto, the concerns that existed with the project, and why it ultimately fell apart.

Josh O’Kane is an award-winning technology reporter at the Globe and Mail and the author of Sideways: The City Google Couldn't Buy. Follow Josh on Twitter at @joshokane.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• An excerpt of Josh’s book was published in the Globe and Mail.
• Josh wrote about how Canada’s Liberal government under Justin Trudeau isn’t as friendly with tech companies as it was earlier in its time in power.
• Around the time of Sidewalk Toronto, opponents were able to defeat Amazon’s HQ2 project in New York, Google’s Berlin startup hub, Apple’s planned central Stockholm store, and its planned store in Melbourne’s Fed Square.
• Bianca Wylie was one of the prominent critics of the project, and was called the “Jane Jacobs of the smart city.”
• In 2019, documents leaked showing Sidewalk Labs wanted a lot more power and access to more land than was agreed upon, and that further fueled opposition.
• In May 2020, Wylie wrote about the cancelation of the project and the lessons that should be learned.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant and Claire Evans to discuss their new science fiction anthology, how it uses the genre to critically interrogate the technologies being rolled out around us, and how it pushes back on the desire of tech billionaires to use science fiction to get the public to buy into their corporate futures.

Brian Merchant is a tech journalist and author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone. Claire L. Evans is the author of Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet and singer of the Grammy-nominated pop group YACHT. They are the cofounders of Terraform at VICE's Motherboard and the co-editors of Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn.  Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant and follow Claire at @TheUniverse.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Brian and Claire wrote about their science fiction anthology and what you can expect from it.
• Some of the stories mentioned in our conversation are “Busy” by Omar El Akkad, “One Day, I Will Die on Mars” by Paul Ford, and “Devolution” by Ellen Ullman.
• Brian also wrote about the metaverse and the science fiction that inspired it for Vice.
• Langdon Winner wrote about the concept of epistemological Luddism in his book Autonomous Technology. Zachary Loeb expanded on it in a great essay called “Luddism for These Ludicrous Times.”
• Cory Doctorow wrote about science fiction being a Luddite literature.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Thea Riofrancos to discuss how the push for electric vehicles is driving governments in the United States and Europe to onshore mining after decades of doing the reverse, what that means for companies in the sector, and how movements are pushing back against this resource-intensive vision for a green transition.

Thea Riofrancos is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow,  an Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College, and a member of the Climate + Community Project. She’s also the author of Resource Radicals: From Petro-Nationalism to Post-Extractivism in Ecuador. Follow Thea on Twitter at @triofrancos.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Thea wrote about the push to onshore mining activities and what it means for climate justice, and recently published an academic article on the “security-sustainability nexus” relating to lithium onshoring.
• EV raw material costs doubled during the pandemic, forcing many automakers to raise prices.
• A lithium mine in Portugal was scrapped after local opposition, but other projects continue to move ahead.
• The US Inflation Reduction Act included many benefits for mining companies and tied EV tax credits to mineral supply chains.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss the push to expand surveillance technologies in schools during the pandemic and in response to school shootings, and why they’re making life worse for students without addressing the problems they claim to solve.

Chris Gilliard is Just Tech Fellow at the Social Science Research Council at a recurring columnist at Wired. Follow Chris on Twitter at @hypervisible.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Chris recently wrote about why school surveillance won’t protect kids from shootings.
• Chris and David Golumbia wrote about luxury surveillance for Real Life.
• Pia Ceres wrote about how students’ school devices are still tracking what they do on them.
• Amazon is launching a new show called “Ring Nation” to make Ring surveillance videos seem less invasive.
• Studies by the Center for Democracy and Technology have found negative effects from surveillance on student expression and increasing their contact with police.
• After nine members of Axon’s AI ethics board resigned, plans for a taser drone in schools seem to still be inching forward.
• Todd Feathers reported on how school monitoring tools could flag searches for sexual and reproductive health resources.
• Pasco County in Florida deployed a predictive policing system targeting children. 
• Some books mentioned: David Noble Progress Without People and Forces of Production, and Dan Greene wrote The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Thomas Coughlan to discuss Amazon’s foray into Tolkien’s fantasy world, the big subsidies it received to film in New Zealand, and how its decision to move the series to the UK is giving fuel to demands to reassess the support for Hollywood productions.

Thomas Coughlan is a senior political reporter at NZ Herald, and formerly was a journalist at Stuff and Newsroom. Follow Thomas on Twitter at @coughlthom.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Thomas wrote for Stuff about the effort by the New Zealand government to attract Amazon to New Zealand and how it hoped the relationship would go beyond the TV series. For the NZ Herald, he also wrote that Amazon’s decision to move the series away from New Zealand will have implications for tourism and wasn’t communicated to the government until the last minute.
• Benjamin Clark wrote about how film subsidies have been essential to attracted big Hollywood productions to New Zealand.
• Madelaine Chapman dug into how much Peter Jackson has benefited from those subsidy schemes.
• Amazon is spending about $464 million on the first season of The Rings of Power.
• Amazon announced it was moving future seasons of the show to the UK in August 2021, causing frustration in New Zealand.
• There were concerns about safety on the set of The Rings of Power after stunt workers were injured and they didn’t seem to be properly reported to authorities.
• In November 2021, Unity acquired the technology division of Jackson’s Weta Digital.
• There’s also a growing debate in New Zealand over whether it should be the site of major data centers.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by JS Tan to discuss how Chinese tech workers fought against “996” work practices and whether the its phaseout is being driven by that movement or by the changing needs of the government and tech companies.

JS Tan is a graduate student at MIT, a former tech worker, and a member of Collective Action in Tech, a project to advance the tech worker movement. Follow JS on Twitter at @organizejs.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• JS wrote about why China’s 996 work schedules are changing and the factors driving it.
• Rest of World also had recent reporting on changes to 996 practices.
• Collective Action in Tech has an embedded organizer program that is open for applications.
• The Verge wrote about Justin Sun, a controversial figure in crypto.
• In 2020, Ant Group's US IPO was canceled.
• China has launched a number of policies to crack down on its tech industry in recent years.

Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Kevin Driscoll to discuss the networks and services built by volunteers and hobbyists on top of the telephone network before the internet took over the in the 1990s, and what it can teach us about the internet and social media today.

Kevin Driscoll is the author of The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media and an associate professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevindriscoll.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Kevin wrote about The Modem World in Wired.
• textfiles.com is a good source for historical documents about the modem world.
• Find out more about Paris’ event with Sabrina Fernandes in Berlin on August 26!

Support the show