Alle afleveringen van Tech Won't Save Us – pagina 5 van 8

Chatbots Won’t Take Many Jobs w/ Aaron Benanav

20 april 2023 · 1 uur 3 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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ChatGPT Is Not Intelligent w/ Emily M. Bender

13 april 2023 · 1 uur 4 min

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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. Lees meer

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 @emilymbender@dair-community.social.

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 Benja…

How Amazon Reshapes Small Business to Serve Itself w/ Moira Weigel

6 april 2023 · 1 uur 9 min

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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. Lees meer

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…

Celebrating Three Years of Tech Won’t Save Us!

1 april 2023 · 7 min

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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. Lees meer

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

What Drives Architects to Design Saudi Megaprojects? w/ Kate Wagner

30 maart 2023 · 53 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Everyone Hates VCs After the SVB Collapse w/ Jacob Silverman

23 maart 2023 · 1 uur

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Robots Aren’t the Solution to Elder Care w/ James Wright

16 maart 2023 · 58 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Why We Must Resist AI w/ Dan McQuillan

9 maart 2023 · 59 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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What New EU Rules Might Mean for Gig Workers w/ Ben Wray

2 maart 2023 · 1 uur 1 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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The Consequences of Leaving Tech to the Private Sector w/ Rosie Collington

23 februari 2023 · 1 uur 4 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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The Untold History of Silicon Valley w/ Malcolm Harris

16 februari 2023 · 1 uur 18 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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The Tesla Crash is Only Beginning w/ Edward Niedermeyer

9 februari 2023 · 1 uur 10 min

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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. Lees meer

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 @niedermeyer@sfba.social.

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.

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Why Hollywood Writers May Strike Over Streaming w/ Anousha Sakoui

2 februari 2023 · 52 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Will AR Glasses Die Like Google Glass? w/ Quinn Myers

26 januari 2023 · 54 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Don’t Fall for the AI Hype w/ Timnit Gebru

19 januari 2023 · 1 uur 4 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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What the US-China Divide Means for Tech w/ Louise Matsakis

12 januari 2023 · 1 uur

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Why Tech Billionaires Want to Shape Our Future w/ Rose Eveleth

5 januari 2023 · 1 uur 3 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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The Year in Tech w/ Brian Merchant, Chris Gilliard, & Gita Jackson

29 december 2022 · 1 uur 47 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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FTX Goes to Zero w/ Molly White

22 december 2022 · 1 uur 27 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Tech Billionaires Are Coming for Workers w/ Wendy Liu

15 december 2022 · 1 uur 3 min

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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. Lees meer

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

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Trusting Tech Billionaires is a Recipe for Disaster w/ Douglas Rushkoff

8 december 2022 · 1 uur 1 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Tech Isn’t Fixing the Crisis on Our Streets w/ David Zipper

1 december 2022 · 1 uur

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Why Advertising Shapes the Tech Economy w/ Daniel Joseph

24 november 2022 · 53 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Why Visual Effects Look the Way They Do w/ Julie Turnock

17 november 2022 · 49 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover is a Disaster w/ Hussein Kesvani

10 november 2022 · 1 uur 2 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Tech Billionaires Are Reshaping US Politics w/ Jacob Silverman

3 november 2022 · 1 uur 12 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Mark Zuckerberg is Burning Meta to the Ground w/ Dave Karpf

27 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 11 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Don’t Fall for the Longtermism Sales Pitch w/ Émile P. Torres

20 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 4 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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How Tech is Remaking the Food System w/ Jim Thomas

13 oktober 2022 · 55 min

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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. Lees meer

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 coul…

Why Green Capitalism Won’t Fix Climate Change w/ Adrienne Buller

6 oktober 2022 · 53 min

Afspelen

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. Lees meer

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.

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Why Google’s Toronto Smart City Failed w/ Josh O'Kane

29 september 2022 · 55 min

Afspelen

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. Lees meer

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.

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Science Fiction As Tech Criticism w/ Brian Merchant and Claire Evans

22 september 2022 · 46 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Electric Vehicles Are Driving a Mining Boom w/ Thea Riofrancos

15 september 2022 · 1 uur 9 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Surveillance Won’t Protect Students w/ Chris Gilliard

8 september 2022 · 57 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Amazon’s Highly Subsidized Foray Into Middle-Earth w/ Thomas Coughlan

1 september 2022 · 51 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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Who’s Winning in China’s Fight Against 996? w/ JS Tan

25 augustus 2022 · 49 min

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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. Lees meer

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.

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How the Modem World Shaped the Internet w/ Kevin Driscoll

18 augustus 2022 · 1 uur 2 min

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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. Lees meer

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!

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Keep Capitalism Out of Space w/ Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

11 augustus 2022 · 58 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein to discuss the science behind the new space telescope, the problems with the billionaire space race, and why we need to challenge the capitalist and colonial forces driving the the effort to commercialize space. Lees meer

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is the author of The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred. She’s also an assistant professor of Physics and core faculty member in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire, and a columnist at New Scientist and Physics World. Follow Chanda on Twitter at @IBJIYONGI.

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:

Chanda wrote “Becoming Martian” for the Baffler earlier this year, and called last year for the James Webb Space Telescope to be renamed.

Paris wrote about the billionaire space race for Tribune Magazine.

Of the five initial images released from the JW Space Telescope, Chanda described the First Deep Field and noted the accessibility of its alt-text on Twitter.

As part of Joe Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia in July 2022, the country signed onto the Artemis Accords. The Accords have faced criticism as a US-centric and commercial set of bilateral agreements that seek to set new norms beyond international law.

Saturday Night Live made fun of the billionaire space race.

In July, the head of Roscosmos indicated it planned to pull out of the International Space Station, though an official notice has not been made. The segment Paris mentioned on AlJazeera can be found here.

Starlink is undemocratically altering how we see the night sky, which some Indigenous groups are callin…

Competition Won’t Fix Canada’s Telecom Woes w/ Fenwick McKelvey

4 augustus 2022 · 54 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Fenwick McKelvey to discuss the massive outage at Rogers, why it’s challenging the narrative that more competition will fix Canada’s telecom sector, and the need for better regulation and even public ownership. Lees meer

Fenwick McKelvey is the author of Internet Daemons: Digital Communications Possessed. He’s also an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University and a director of Machine Agencies at the Milieu Institute. Follow Fenwick on Twitter at @mckelveyf.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Fenwick spoke to CBC about the Rogers outage and previously spoke to Daniel Joseph about changing the way we think about media platforms in Canada.

Paris has previously argued for telecom nationalization in Canada and has written about the history of Canadian telecom.

After the outage, Canadian innovation minister François-Philippe Champagne forced telcos to come up with a new agreement on several key areas of emergency cooperation.

The Competition Bureau is objecting to a proposed merger between Rogers and Shaw.

Last year, the Rogers family was engaged in a protracted feud that affected management of the company.

ZeD was an “open-source television” series aired by Canada’s public broadcaster from 2002 to 2006.

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The Real Legacy of Stewart Brand w/ Malcolm Harris

28 juli 2022 · 58 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Malcolm Harris to discuss the legacy of Stewart Brand and why the myth we’re often told about him overstates the reality of his impact. Lees meer

Malcolm Harris is the author of Kids These Days, Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit, and his forthcoming book Palo Alto. He also writes for New York Magazine. 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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Malcolm Harris wrote a critical review of John Markoff’s Whole Earth: The Many Lives of Stewart Brand.

Benjamin Kunkel also wrote a critical review of Whole Earth.

The Stewart Brand documentary We Are As Gods about his quest to bring back wholly mammoths to solve climate change is slowly being rolled out after two years of delay and seeming lack of sales interest.

Brand’s Long Now Foundation is building a 10,000-year clock in Texas that’s funded by Jeff Bezos.

We also mention Fred Turner’s From Counterculture to Cyberculture.

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How the Cloud Reshaped the Internet w/ Dwayne Monroe

21 juli 2022 · 1 uur 8 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Dwayne Monroe to discuss what it’s like to work in a data center, how the cloud came to hold a dominant position, and the consequences of its control by companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. Lees meer

Dwayne Monroe is a cloud technologist and aspiring Marxist theorist of technology, with twenty years of experience architecting large-scale computational systems. Follow Dwayne on Twitter at @cloudquistador.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Dwayne wrote about cloud computing for Logic Magazine. He’s also written about a public cloud and the metaverse on his blog.

Amazon’s cloud infrastructure in the eastern United States experienced a major outage in December 2021.

Residents in various parts of the world have been questioning the logic of building data centers, including in the United States and New Zealand.

In July, the network of Canadian telecom giant Rogers went down, leaving millions without service.

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The Dangers of Tech that Tracks Everything We Do w/ Shoshana Wodinsky

14 juli 2022 · 57 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Shoshana Wodinsky to discuss how the digital infrastructure that companies have built out over the past couple decades to track everything we do in order to serve us ads places us at risk, and how that’s come into focus since the overturning of abortion rights in Roe v Wade in the United States. Lees meer

Shoshana Wodinsky is a privacy reporter at Gizmodo. Follow Shoshana on Twitter at @swodinsky.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Shoshana wrote about getting an abortion in the age of surveillance and why every company is becoming an ad network. With her colleagues at Gizmodo, she also wrote about how Facebook perpetuated climate denial and killed news feed changes that would anger conservatives.

Anti-abortion groups targeted ads at people who had visited abortion clinics.

Data brokers have been selling data on people who visit abortion clinics, including Planned Parenthood.

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Tech Won’t Fix the Transport System w/ Paris Marx

7 juli 2022 · 1 uur 4 min

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In a special episode to celebrate the release of host Paris Marx’s new book Road to Nowhere, Brian Merchant takes over as guest host to interview Paris about the book, the tech industry’s visions for transportation, and why they don’t solve our mobility challenges. Lees meer

Paris is the host of Tech Won’t Save Us and the author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation. Brian Merchant is a tech journalist, author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, and co-editor of Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn. 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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Road to Nowhere is available anywhere you buy books, but Verso has it discounted until July 8 as part of its Summer Reads sale.

An excerpt of Road to Nowhere about the dystopian future the tech industry is creating was recently published in Wired.

Paris recently spoke to StreetsBlog USA about the problem with Apple CarPlay.

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15 Years of the iPhone w/ Brian Merchant

30 juni 2022 · 57 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the impact of the iPhone after 15 years, including its effects on how we work, how we use technology, and what it’s meant for Apple. Lees meer

Brian Merchant is a tech journalist, author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone, and co-editor of Terraform: Watch/Worlds/Burn. 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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

In 2011, Cory Moll tried to unionize Apple stores. In June 2022, a store in Maryland became the first to vote to form a union.

Apple’s claims about privacy are, at least to some degree, a clever marketing campaign.

Paris previously wrote about some of Apple’s environmental messaging.

The previous episode with Brian on the iPhone is episode 78 (Sep 16, 2021), and I also spoke to Jenny Chan about the conditions at Foxconn factories where iPhones are manufactured on episode 27 (Sep 17, 2020).

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Canada’s Digital Contact-Tracing Experiment w/ Bianca Wylie

27 juni 2022 · 56 min

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To kick off a new monthly bonus series on tech in Canada, Paris Marx is joined by Bianca Wylie to discuss Canada’s COVID Alert app, the problems with the digital contract-tracing experiment, and why we need a public post-mortem so lessons are learned for next time. Lees meer

Bianca Wylie is a partner at Digital Public, a co-founder of Tech Reset Canada, and a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. Follow Bianca on Twitter at @biancawylie.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

This series on Canadian tech is made in partnership with Passage, a left-wing publication in Canada. Passage published an edited transcript of the conversation.

On June 17, 2022, Health Canada decommissioned the COVID Alert app.

In April, Bianca wrote that the government needed to shut down the COVID Alert app because it wasn’t working (if it ever had). She also began writing a series on the app on her Medium blog that month.

In July 2020, Bianca and her colleague Sean Mcdonald were already asking questions about the app and the planning around it.

Other digital contact-tracing apps were launched in many other countries, including Australia, France, and Iceland, with poor results.

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Technology of the Oppressed w/ David Nemer

23 juni 2022 · 1 uur 3 min

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Paris Marx is joined by David Nemer to discuss how residents of Brazil’s favelas reshape technologies developed in the Global North to serve their needs, and how technology alone does not solve social oppression. Lees meer

David Nemer is an assistant professor in the Department of Media Studies and in the Latin American Studies program at the University of Virginia. He’s also the author of Technology of the Oppressed: Inequity and the Digital Mundane in Favelas of Brazil. Follow David on Twitter at @DavidNemer.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Paris’ new book Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation is out on July 5! It’s currently on sale at Verso Books.

Ahead of hosting the World Cup, Brazil forced thousands of favela residents from their homes.

Grace Blakeley recent spoke to David Adler about Colombia’s election and the use of TikTok.

Dan Greene wrote The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope and Lindsay Ems wrote Virtually Amish: Preserving Community at the Internet's Margins.

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Streaming Wars: Revenge of the Cinema? w/ Gita Jackson

16 juni 2022 · 1 uur 9 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Gita Jackson to discuss how streaming has altered the film and television industry, what happens as their business models are coming under question, and whether cinemas have reason to celebrate streaming’s woes. Lees meer

Gita Jackson is a staff writer at Motherboard, Vice’s tech vertical. Follow Gita on Twitter at @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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Gita wrote about why Eternals was still bad even though it was diverse, Netflix laying off Tudum writers, and some of the challenges Netflix faces.

Paris wrote about the end of the Paramount Decrees, the need to break up the media giants, and the problem with the new Spider-Man movies.

EA considered a merger with NBC Universal, and had talks with other companies.

Raven Software at Activision Blizzard and Bioware contractors at Keywords Studios have voted to unionize. Microsoft’s Phil Spencer said the company would recognize the Raven Software union if its acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through.

CNN+ was shut down after a few weeks of operation.

Netflix is changing its content investment strategy as investors lose confidence.

Netflix’s share price plummeted in April after reporting it lost subscribers. The following week, the cinema celebrated the negative turn on streaming at CinemaCon.

The Mandalorian pioneered a new kind of film set with massive LED screens instead of green screen.

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Privatizing the Internet Was a Mistake w/ Ben Tarnoff

9 juni 2022 · 1 uur 13 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Ben Tarnoff to discuss why the problems with the modern internet, including its excessive concentration in the hands of a few companies and the way its dominant firms shape our interactions to generate profit, find their root in the decision to privatize the network. To fix them, that needs to be changed. Lees meer

Ben Tarnoff is the author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future and the co-founder of Logic Magazine. 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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

An excerpt of Ben’s book was published in the New York Times.

Victor Pickard wrote about the history of public media in Democracy Without Journalism.

Newt Gingrich and George Gilder, once featured by Wired for their visions for the internet, have now become big crypto fans.

The United States has terrible broadband access.

Major tech companies are buying up undersea internet cables.

Tarleton Gillespie wrote about the politics of platforms and what the term suggests.

Jathan Sadowski compares platforms to shopping malls.

Tressie McMillan Cottom wrote about the predatory inclusion of the internet.

Community internet has shown success in the United States, while provincial public telcos have a history of positive outcomes in Canada.

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Tech Media Needs to Do Better on Crypto and Elon Musk w/ Ed Zitron

2 juni 2022 · 1 uur 8 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Ed Zitron for a wide-ranging discussion on the responsibility tech media has to its readers, the problems with crypto, and why bosses like Elon Musk are desperate to force workers back into the office. Lees meer

Ed Zitron is the CEO of EZPR and writes the Where’s Your Ed At newsletter. Follow Ed on Twitter at @edzitron.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

New Tech Won’t Save Us merch is now available in our store (including tote bags!).

Ed wrote about the problem with Kara Swisher’s aggressive response to a listener asking why Pivot had run an ad telling people to put their retirement savings into crypto. (Listen to the ad here.)

Elon Musk wrote a set of emails telling workers they need to return to the office for a *minimum* of 40 hours a week, or they can “pretend to work elsewhere.”

Ed has written many times about employers pushing their workers back to the office.

In March, Kevin Roose wrote a Latecomer’s Guide to Crypto, and Ed was one of the critics that Molly White got to contribute to an edited version.

Sam Harnett wrote an essay on how the early, uncritical coverage of the gig economy helped legitimize its exploitative business model.

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The Dangerous Ideology of the Tech Elite w/ Émile P. Torres

26 mei 2022 · 55 min

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Paris Marx is joined by Émile P. Torres to discuss why longtermism isn’t just about long-term thinking, but provides a framework for Silicon Valley billionaires to justify ignoring the crises facing humanity so they can accumulate wealth and go after space colonization. Lees meer

Émile P. Torres is a PhD candidate at Leibniz University Hannover and the author of the forthcoming book Human Extinction: A History of Thinking About the End of Humanity. Follow Phil 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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Émile wrote about the dangers presented by longtermism and its relationship to Elon Musk.

Paris wrote about Jeff Bezos’ vision of life in space and why Elon Musk is planning for climate catastrophe.

Elon Musk was tweeting about birth rates again (he has some odd views on who should be having kids) and retweeted someone praising a paper by longtermist Nick Bostrom.

After moving to Texas, its governor said Elon Musk liked the state’s “social policies” (in reference to abortion limitations) to little pushback, then Musk forced California employees to move to Texas.

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