Alle afleveringen
500 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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240. Anthropology of Algorithms, Ethnography of Engineers, Theory of Traps (ft. Nick Seaver)
17 maart 2023 · 1 uur 27 min
We are joined by Nick Sever – author of the new book Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation – to discuss his excellent ethnographic research on the creation of algorithmic recommendation systems. Nick spent a long time getting to really know the people who make these systems and his book offers so much original, granular detail about the various practices, theories, and relationships that influence the engineers behind these algorithms. Nick’s book also contains extremely interesting and surprising applications of classic anthropological theory to contemporary algorithmic technology. Lees meer
••• Nick’s book – Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo183892298.html
••• Nick’s twitter – https://twitter.com/npseaverSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 239. Ventures in Capitalist Innovation, Part 2: Constraints and Consequences
14 maart 2023 · 8 min
Disclaimer: this episode was recorded before Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. We will do a post-mortem on that debacle in the next premium episode. Lees meer
In part 2 of our discussion on venture capitalism, we dig further into an excellent (and very long) new law article that is crucial for understanding VC. How did this very particular model of investment, which is guided by its own idiosyncratic interests and structural imperatives, come to hold the reins of our global innovation system? And what does that mean for how key decisions are made about technological development?
Article we discuss:
Enhancing the Innovative Capacity of Venture Capital | Peter Lee https://yjolt.org/enhancing-innovative-capacity-venture-capitalSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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238. Ventures in Capitalist Innovation, Part 1: History and Mechanics
9 maart 2023 · 1 uur 25 min
In this week’s episodes, we dig into an excellent (and very long) new law article, which is crucial for understanding the history, mechanics, constraints, and consequences of venture capitalism. How did this very particular model of investment, which is guided by its own idiosyncratic interests and structural imperatives, come to hold the reins of our global innovation system? And what does that mean for how key decisions are made about technological development? Lees meer
Article we discuss:
••• Enhancing the Innovative Capacity of Venture Capital | Peter Lee https://yjolt.org/enhancing-innovative-capacity-venture-capitalSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 237. Kissinger Has Seen the True Face of AI God
6 maart 2023 · 8 min
Now we know why Henry Kissinger looks the way he does. He peered into the true face of the New God // New Technology. He is paying the price for this forbidden glance – cursed to live for eternity in a shriveled flesh husk, damned to preach about its power, along with Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher. Their reverence is tempered by vague warnings of risk and responsibility. Their hysterical register is offset by the hushed tones of sober reflection. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• ChatGPT Heralds an Intellectual Revolution | Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, Daniel Huttenlocher https://www.wsj.com/articles/chatgpt-heralds-an-intellectual-revolution-enlightenment-artificial-intelligence-homo-technicus-technology-cognition-morality-philosophy-774331c6
••• How the Enlightenment Ends | Henry Kissinger https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/henry-kissinger-ai-could-mean-the-end-of-human-history/559124/
••• Planning for AGI and beyond | Sam Altman https://openai.com/blog/planning-for-agi-and-beyond/
••• The Myth of Artificial Intelligence | Meredith Whittaker, Lucy Suchman https://prospect.org/culture/books/myth-of-artificial-intelligence-kissinger-schmidt-huttenlocher/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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236. Butterflies on History’s Collage (ft. Malcolm Harris)
2 maart 2023 · 1 uur 18 min
We are joined by Malcolm Harris—author of Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World—to discuss his magisterial book on how a hellmouth in Northern California has, for the last two hundred years, been a vortex of power for capital. We discuss some of the lesser known people and products of Palo Alto—like Herbet Hoover and William Shockley—that have had very important impacts (for worse and worse) on the direction of modern society, but have largely been looked back on in very myopic ways. We only scratch the surface of the amazingly detailed histories, social maps, and historical materialist analysis that Malcolm digs up in his book. Buy a copy right now! Lees meer
••• Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World | Malcolm Harris: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/malcolm-harris/palo-alto/9780316592031/
••• Follow Malcolm: https://twitter.com/BigMeanInternetSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 235. Fired By an Al-guy-rithm Named Bob
25 februari 2023 · 6 min
We look at the latest way bosses are outsourcing the dirty work of owning capital and managing workers to techno-consultants. Then see why venture capitalists are loudly crying about a light touch rule that will require them to prove they actually did due diligence before spending billions of other people’s dollars. And we wrap things up by checking in on the plight of Amazon under its new CEO Andy Jassy – and wonder if the company’s troubles will lead to a second imperium of Bezos? Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• AI is starting to pick who gets laid off https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/20/layoff-algorithms/
••• Venture World Watches As SEC Moves To Regulate Industry https://news.crunchbase.com/policy-regulation/venture-sec-regulations-web3-ftx/
••• Can this man turn Amazon around? https://www.ft.com/content/a8cdfe3a-a445-476c-b4a7-367468ac1398Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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234. Supermarket Data Sweep!
22 februari 2023 · 1 uur 15 min
We discuss the supermarkets for data – giant grocery chains like Kroger have created powerful capacities for data extraction and monetization. This forces us to expand our analysis of data surveillance beyond the usual suspects in big tech and reckon with the fact that data capital is not a thing that can be excised from the political economic system, but is now an essential component of that whole system’s operations. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Forget Milk and Eggs: Supermarkets Are Having a Fire Sale on Data About You https://themarkup.org/privacy/2023/02/16/forget-milk-and-eggs-supermarkets-are-having-a-fire-sale-on-data-about-you
••• “Out Of Control”: Dozens of Telehealth Startups Sent Sensitive Health Information to Big Tech Companies https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2022/12/13/out-of-control-dozens-of-telehealth-startups-sent-sensitive-health-information-to-big-tech-companies
••• Now for sale: Data on your mental health https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/13/mental-health-data-brokers/
••• Senators Launch Inquiry into Telehealth Companies for Tracking and Monetizing Personal Data https://themarkup.org/pixel-hunt/2023/02/07/senators-launch-inquiry-into-telehealth-companies-for-tracking-and-monetizing-personal-dataSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 233. Floating Objects, Vinyl Chloride, Buy American
18 februari 2023 · 7 min
In this installment of What the Fuck is Happening in America: floating “objects” keep getting shot down; a train carrying the toxic gas vinyl chloride has turned Ohio into a sacrifice zone; the Biden administration ramps up its investments in industrial policy, but in such a way that apparently the entire purpose of the economy is to try incentivizing private companies, with tax credits and subsidiaries, into directly competing with China. Sorry folks, the economy can’t do anything else for any other reason *shrug* Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Derailed Ohio Train Carried Toxic Ingredient for “Worst” Kind of Plastic https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2023/02/derailment-east-palestine-ohio-train-carried-toxic-chemical-vinyl-chloride-plastic-pvc/
••• America’s government is spending lavishly to revive manufacturing https://www.economist.com/briefing/2023/02/02/americas-government-is-spending-lavishly-to-revive-manufacturingSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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232. 400 Hundred Years of Capitalism Led Directly to Microsoft Viva Sales
15 februari 2023 · 1 uur 14 min
Jumping off an FT op-ed on venture capital and tech hype – which aligns great with TMK thought – we discuss the value and risk models of venture capitalism, then get into the emerging market structures and dynamics for generative AI. It’s not just a web3 redux. We end with Ted Chiang’s fantastic article on lossy compression as an analogy for large-language models. Lees meer
Some stuff we reference:
••• The new Current Thing for VCs mourning the implosion of Web3 https://www.ft.com/content/83807cad-5f2c-4c35-a4ff-e9df5cbd3505
••• Generative AI: A Creative New World | report by Sequoia Capital https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/generative-ai-a-creative-new-world/
••• ChatGPT Is a Blurry JPEG of the Web https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/chatgpt-is-a-blurry-jpeg-of-the-webSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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231. Paris Syndrome
10 februari 2023 · 1 uur 21 min
We get some Parisian updates and stories from Ed. Then we enter the mind palace of a libertarian who, with all the annoying pretension of a philosophy major, tried to make ChatGPT say the word. We wrap up with a discussion of the “year of efficiency” in Silicon Valley as the biggest four tech companies are rewarded with over $800 billion in market cap for making massive job cuts, massive stock buybacks, and massive investments in AI. Lees meer
Some stuff we reference
••• Big Tech groups disclose $10bn in charges from job culls and cost cutting https://www.ft.com/content/9daf27f6-dde7-40d8-b01d-33b70844aa69
••• Tech’s Biggest Companies Discover Austerity, to the Relief of Investors https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/02/technology/big-tech-earnings-austerity.html
••• Tech's Elite Hates Labor https://ez.substack.com/p/techs-elite-hates-labor
••• Big Tech companies use cloud computing arms to pursue alliances with AI groups https://www.ft.com/content/5b17d011-8e0b-4ba1-bdca-4fbfdba10363
••• Google reveals plans for Bard chatbot as AI tech race heats up https://www.ft.com/content/66fad3e0-f530-48c1-984c-82578274ce7a
••• Microsoft Throws a Coming-Out Party for A.I. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/07/technology/microsoft-ai-chatgpt-bing.htmlSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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229. Capitalist Manufacturing // Manufacturing Communism – Part 1 (ft. Nick Chavez)
6 februari 2023 · 1 uur 22 min
Part 1 –– We welcome returning champ Nick Chavez – mechanical engineer, marxist political economist – for a long conversation about his new essay examining the real nitty-gritty aspects of production and labor, knowledge and management. Time to step down from the ivory tower and onto the shop floor. We talk extensively about different modes of manufacturing and the stratification of technical expertise within capitalist production – and what needs to be kept, changed, and abolished in a transition to communist production. Lees meer
••• Nick’s essay: https://brooklynrail.org/2023/12/field-notes/Technical-Expertise-and-Communist-Production
••• Nick’s new blog: https://designformanufracture.wordpress.com/
••• Nick’s new twitter: https://twitter.com/DFManufractureSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 228. “Big” “Ideas” in “Tech” for 2023
1 februari 2023 · 7 min
We dip into the a16z omnibus of predictions for the tech industry in 2023. Time to learn what the thought masters of the universe are trying to wishcast into existence because they have a material interest in making them happen. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Big Ideas in Tech for 2023: An a16z Omnibus https://a16z.com/2022/12/15/big-ideas-in-tech-2023/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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227. Don’t Bootstrap the Eschaton
28 januari 2023 · 1 uur 19 min
Ed takes us on a guided tour of Odin Intelligence, SweepWizard, CloudFactory and other tech bullshit that sounds like embarrassing nonsense while also contributing in their own way to monetizing, mobilizing, and heightening the eschaton. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Police Contractor That Promised to Track Homeless People Hacked https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyjnq/odin-intelligence-hacked
••• Crime App ‘Citizen’ Fires Overseas $2 an Hour Workers https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkg5nk/citizen-fires-overseas-kenya-nepal-workers-cloudfactory
••• CNET pauses publishing AI-written stories after disclosure controversy https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/20/23564311/cnet-pausing-ai-articles-bot-red-venturesSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 226. Changing the World, One Rogue Geoengineer at a Time
24 januari 2023 · 4 min
It’s been a while since we’ve done a real reading series. So we spend time with a group of rogue entrepreneurs who are taking it upon themselves to save the planet by geoengineering the atmosphere. Lees meer
Stuff we reference
••• A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/12/24/1066041/a-startup-says-its-begun-releasing-particles-into-the-atmosphere-in-an-effort-to-tweak-the-climate/
••• Saudi Aramco bets on being the last oil major standing https://www.ft.com/content/513b770b-836b-472b-a058-3e4a95437c69Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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225. How AI Makes Living Labor Undead
19 januari 2023 · 1 uur 19 min
We spend more time talking about the political economy of AI – the production and application of AI within a capitalist system and how it might (and should) differ within a socialist or communist system. We pay particular attention to discussing the growing and specialized industries for producing, supporting, propping up, and stepping in for AI in a variety of applications. Living labor creates the machinery of dead labor, which then acts as an agent of capital to discipline and dominate living labor, making it more machine-like, thus turning the living into the undead. Lees meer
Stuff we reference
••• Seven questions to ask about AI https://maxread.substack.com/p/seven-questions-to-ask-about-ai
••• Human_Fallback https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-44/essays/human_fallback/
••• The Worldwide Data Annotation Tools Industry is Expected to Reach $13.2 Billion by 2030 https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220824005423/en/The-Worldwide-Data-Annotation-Tools-Industry-is-Expected-to-Reach-13.2-Billion-by-2030---ResearchAndMarkets.comSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 224. The Bleakness of Low Expectations
18 januari 2023 · 6 min
They don’t make things like they used to… No really. They don’t. We discuss how a perfect storm of things like stagnant wages, rising inflation, declining profits, expedited production, among other factors have led to a real drop in the quality of consumer goods along with generally lowered expectations of living conditions and technological innovations. Lees meer
Stuff we reference
••• Your stuff is actually worse now https://www.vox.com/the-goods/23529587/consumer-goods-quality-fast-fashion-technology
••• Why Tech Billionaires Want to Shape Our Future w/ Rose Eveleth https://techwontsave.us/episode/149_why_tech_billionaires_want_to_shape_our_future_w_rose_evelethSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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223. Money for Nothing? In this Economy?
13 januari 2023 · 1 uur 21 min
We offer some thoughts on where the tech sector is heading right now, how the markets are performing amidst a down turn, and what big trends for tech and capital are looking strong in the new year. Lees meer
Stuff we reference
••• A new era: the end of cheap money https://www.ft.com/content/6d312b6c-9f74-4816-ad7e-7e797c5e0f6b
••• Silicon Valley start-ups race for debt deals in funding crunch https://www.ft.com/content/d12a4baa-53c6-4256-b125-d25622f9555f
••• Silicon Valley staff rush to offload start-up shares as valuations plummet https://www.ft.com/content/7178364f-1f0d-46e4-9692-b648ea258d06
••• Private Markets Don’t Like to Go Down https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-01-04/private-markets-don-t-like-to-go-down#footnote-1
••• Forecast: Startup M&A Could Pick Up In 2023 As Fundraising Tightens Further https://news.crunchbase.com/ma/startup-forecast-2023-fundraising-venture-valuations/
••• A New Area of A.I. Booms, Even Amid the Tech Gloom https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/technology/generative-ai-chatgpt-investments.htmlSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 222. Weird That All These Canaries of Tech Capitalism Keep Dying
8 januari 2023 · 8 min
We do a postmortem on 2022, the year of Web3, talking about the goofs and grifts, speed and scale, crashes and canaries, with our major takeaway and theme being that just as FTX is not anomalous for Web3, nor is Web3 anomalous for Silicon Valley. It is, instead, a product and paragon of the structural conditions and systemic imperatives that define how the political economy of technology operates within capitalism. Lees meer
Stuff we reference
••• In 2022, web3 went just great https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/in-2022-web3-went-just-great
••• Web3 grift leaderboard https://web3isgoinggreat.com/charts/top
••• Imprinting the economy: The structural power of venture capital https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0308518X221136559
••• MicroStrategy Hit Lowest Since 2020 After Bitcoin Sale https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-29/microstrategy-mstr-hits-lowest-since-2020-after-bitcoin-sale-announcement?srnd=technology-vpSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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*Unlocked* – The Insurtech Will Continue Until Morale Improves
5 januari 2023 · 1 uur 10 min
We give some personal updates, then get distracted talking about a new survey on consumer sentiments and insurance technology. It turns out that actually the vast majority of people *do not* want to use surveillance technology and exchange data for any insurance discounts. Remember this when insurance policies that require using devices and sharing data still proliferate. It's not because consumers want them, but because insurers demand them. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Most Americans still refuse to install data-sharing devices for insurance discounts https://www.policygenius.com/auto-insurance/home-auto-technology-survey-2022/
••• Grim Findings for Insurers’ Digital Strategies https://www.ethicsandinsurance.info/grim-reading-for-insurers-digital-strategies/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 221. ChatGPT: From Fetish Object to AI Oracle
3 januari 2023 · 8 min
We breakdown ChatGPT, the conversational large language model created by OpenAI. How this system works. How it has been fetishized by consumers and reporters, critics and advocates. Why most of the hand wringing and claim making about the impacts of this technology has been wrongheaded. And why our analysis of the implications for such a system being integrated into everyday life—regardless of how well it does or does not work—must push past the bounds of bias and misinformation. We are talking here about the AI of Delphi. The perception of meaning via the production of reality. Yet another in a long line of interpretive systems for simultaneously constructing and understanding the world. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• How come GPT can seem so brilliant one minute and so breathtakingly dumb the next? https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/how-come-gpt-can-seem-so-brilliant
••• What to Expect When You’re Expecting… GPT-4 https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting
••• Every answer https://robhorning.substack.com/p/every-answer
••• The great Transformer: Examining the role of large language models in the political economy of AI https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20539517211047734
••• ChatGPT, Galactica, and the Progress Trap https://www.wired.com/story/large-language-models-critique/
••• Exclusive: ChatGPT owner OpenAI projects $1 billion in revenue by 2024 https://www.reuters.com/business/chatgpt-owner-openai-projects-1-billion-revenue-by-2024-sources-2022-12-15/
••• Did a Fourth Grader Write This? Or the New Chatbot? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/26/upshot/chatgpt-child-essays.html?referringSource=articleShareSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Prod…
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220. The Landlords Who Own the Internet (ft. Dan Greene)
30 december 2022 · 1 uur 34 min
If we want to understand the cloud, then we need to study real estate. We are joined by Dan Greene—from the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies—who has written the premier analysis of who owns the internet. We all know the cloud is a place, but many of us think that place is largely owned by familiar tech giants. Wrong. The actual owners of the bones and pipes of the internet are Real Estate Investment Trusts and, by extension, private equity firms. The stack of landlords goes deeper than we realize. Lees meer
••• Dan’s twitter: https://twitter.com/Greene_DM
••• Dan’s website: http://dmgreene.net/
••• Dan’s article – Landlords of the internet: Big data and big real estate http://dmgreene.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/03063127221124943.pdfSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 219. The Insurtech Will Continue Until Morale Improves
27 december 2022 · 6 min
We give some personal updates, then get distracted talking about a new survey on consumer sentiments and insurance technology. It turns out that actually the vast majority of people *do not* want to use surveillance technology and exchange data for any insurance discounts. Remember this when insurance policies that require using devices and sharing data still proliferate. It's not because consumers want them, but because insurers demand them. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Most Americans still refuse to install data-sharing devices for insurance discounts https://www.policygenius.com/auto-insurance/home-auto-technology-survey-2022/
••• Grim Findings for Insurers’ Digital Strategies https://www.ethicsandinsurance.info/grim-reading-for-insurers-digital-strategies/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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218. Ecosystems-as-a-Service (ft. Mél Hogan)
20 december 2022 · 1 uur 18 min
We take a look at the critical ecologies of the cloud with Mél Hogan – Director of the Environmental Media Lab at the University of Calgary – who researches the environmental politics of server farms and data centers. We unpack the ongoing domination of nature by machine and market logics — until there isn’t anything left to dominate. Lees meer
••• Mel’s twitter: https://twitter.com/mel_hogan
••• Mél’s work: https://www.melhogan.com/
••• Project on art and the cloud https://www.criticalstudiesofthe.cloud/
••• Critical Data Center Studies bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bnbDNTXlpddbfuShMgRKWvWLFIKUKBchUkluMMOVRkw/edit#heading=h.2bmuylggugurStuff we reference:
••• Big data ecologies: Landscapes of political action http://www.ephemerajournal.org/contribution/big-data-ecologies
••• The Nature of Data Centers | special issue of Culture Machine https://culturemachine.net/vol-18-the-nature-of-data-centers/
••• Power, Pollution and the Internet https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/technology/data-centers-waste-vast-amounts-of-energy-belying-industry-image.html?pagewanted=allSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 217. How ESG Investing is Making Capitalism Sustainable
19 december 2022 · 8 min
We continue our analysis of all things green by looking deeper at the operations of a core mechanism directing cash flows into sustainable investments: ESG. What is ESG? How does it work? You think you know? You assume you understand it? Does the acronym stand for environmental and social governance? Or does it actually stand for environment, social, and governance? Would you believe that the placement of “and” makes all the difference? If there is confusion about the very acronym, then what other things are not what they seem with these ESG metrics, ratings, and indexes? You’ve confronted cynicism? Not like this you haven’t. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• The ESG Mirage https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-what-is-esg-investing-msci-ratings-focus-on-corporate-bottom-line/
••• The Wall Street Consensus at COP27 | Daniela Gabor https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-wall-street-consensus-at-cop27/
••• Neoliberalizing Space | Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell http://overgaardtonnesen.dk/TEKSTERNE/03-Peck-Tickell-Neoliberalizing-Space.pdf
••• Fossilised Capital: Price and Profit in the Energy Transition | Brett Christophers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926957Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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216. How Green Finance is Making an Investable Future
16 december 2022 · 1 uur 12 min
With the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) recently happening, we dig into the political economy of green policy, green investing, green finance, green technology, green capitalism. What is driving the transition necessary to sustain the billions of lives – and trillions in profits – on Earth? Who are the vanguards of sustainability lighting our way into the future? Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• The Wall Street Consensus at COP27 | Daniela Gabor https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-wall-street-consensus-at-cop27/
••• Money and the Climate Crisis https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/money-and-the-climate-crisis/
••• The ESG Mirage https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-what-is-esg-investing-msci-ratings-focus-on-corporate-bottom-line/
••• Neoliberalizing Space | Jamie Peck, Adam Tickell http://overgaardtonnesen.dk/TEKSTERNE/03-Peck-Tickell-Neoliberalizing-Space.pdf
••• Fossilised Capital: Price and Profit in the Energy Transition | Brett Christophers https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13563467.2021.1926957Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 215. Ed, Ed, and Aaron’s Shitposters Party (ft. Ed Zitron, Aaron Thorpe)
13 december 2022 · 8 min
While Jathan is busy with his day job, Ed and Jereme are joined by Ed Zitron and Aaron Thorpe for a shitposters party. Topics include: dystopias, cat ownership as praxis, conspiracy theories about Covid and JFK, and how Las Vegas isn’t doing the crypto bullshit. Also: talking shit about all the usual suspects. Lees meer
Ed’s twitter: https://twitter.com/edzitron
Ed’s substack: https://ez.substack.com/
Aaron’s twitter: https://twitter.com/borgposting
Aaron’s podcast 1: https://twitter.com/thetrillbillies
Aaron’s podcast 2: https://twitter.com/elcpodSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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*Unlocked* – 202. New Guy Who is Going to Hell Just Dropped
7 december 2022 · 1 uur 2 min
We are taking a break to catch up on stuff. Enjoy this classic (and infuriating) premium episode. Lees meer
Take beta blockers before this episode. In a companion piece for our episode on Health Communism, we dig into a concrete case that exemplifies everything we talked about with the production of surplus populations for the purpose of extractive abandonment. The ongoing story we discuss in this episode takes all those dynamics and pushes them to their most horrific logical conclusions.
Some references:
••• How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Huge Profits https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/health/bon-secours-mercy-health-profit-poor-neighborhood.html
••• They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/business/nonprofit-hospitals-poor-patients.html
••• Deaths Linked to Neglect, Error Raise Concerns About Quality of Care at This Safety Net Hospital https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-roseland-community-hospital-covid-deathsSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 214. The People’s Ledger (part 2)
6 december 2022 · 7 min
We continue our deep dive into a provocative, radical blueprint for democratizing finance and taking control of the economy. We detail Omarova’s detailed proposal for turning the Federal Reserve into the People’s Ledger. On the liabilities side, we discuss the universalization of deposit services (aka FedAccounts) and the elimination of private deposit-taking by commercial banks. On the assets side, we discuss the creation of a National Investment Authority which would allocate capital to socially beneficial, large-scale projects. Together this reformed Fed would drastically reduce the complexity and volatility of the financial system, while democratizing access to financial services, while also distributing the flows of capital to worthwhile investments. Lees meer
••• The People's Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy | Saule T. Omarova https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol74/iss5/1/
••• Socialist Investment, Dynamic Planning, and the Politics of Human Need | Aaron Benanav https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08935696.2022.2051375Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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213. The People’s Ledger (part 1)
2 december 2022 · 1 uur 23 min
We dive deep into a provocative, radical blueprint for democratizing finance and taking control of the economy. A recent paper by law professor – and a favorite thinker of TMK – Saule Omarova offers a detailed plan for how to reengineer the Federal Reserve, totally restructuring its balance sheet, and “redefining the role of a central bank as the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a democratic economy—the People’s Ledger.” Lees meer
••• The People's Ledger: How to Democratize Money and Finance the Economy | Saule T. Omarova https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol74/iss5/1/
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 212. TMK BC4: Can’t All Be Winners
29 november 2022 · 5 min
We’re pulling the ripcord on this book. After slogging through five chapters, we discuss why this book just isn’t working for our needs with the TMK Book Club and why we are abandoning it. Despite it being an influential book, which is squarely in our interests, its approach to describing the topic makes it difficult and, frankly, not very fun to talk about. So instead we talk about some other contenders for the next iteration of the TMK Book Club that show more promise and take us in some different directions. We also ask for your recommendations! Comment on this episode on Patreon or post them on Discord. Lees meer
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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211. Living in the Aftermath // Death of Dark Stores, Ghost Kitchens (ft. Aaron Shapiro)
24 november 2022 · 1 uur 20 min
As the tech economy faces a massive turn down, we dig deeper into a market segment that experienced meteoric overcapitalized growth, a huge pandemic boost, and an immediate collapse: instant delivery // dark stores // ghost kitchens. To help us analyze the consequences of this sector’s rise, demise, and aftermath we are joined by Aaron Shapiro – author of Design, Control, Predict: Logistical Governance in the Smart City. Lees meer
••• Aaron’s twitter: https://twitter.com/BricolageYumYum
••• Aaron’s book: https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/design-control-predict
••• Aaron’s article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/14695405211069983••• The Fantasy of Instant Delivery Is Imploding https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-10-24/gopuff-layoffs-signal-instant-delivery-s-demise?leadSource=uverify+wall
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 210. worldoptimization.tumblr
19 november 2022 · 8 min
We riff on the artisanal race science of Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda Research, the crypto hedge fund linked to FTX. Then we introduce you to the Harman Ready Care system, yet another of the wonderful innovations on the market contributing, in its own incremental way, to improving the world today. Lees meer
••• Introducing HARMAN Ready Care: Detects Driver Behaviors and Assists via Context-Aware Interventions for Safer and Smarter Drives https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220914005609/en/Introducing-HARMAN-Ready-Care-Detects-Driver-Behaviors-and-Assists-via-Context-Aware-Interventions-for-Safer-and-Smarter-Drives
••• Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691175300/data-drivenSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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209. NOFTX
16 november 2022 · 1 uur 19 min
We dig into the details of FTX’s collapse. FTX is not an isolated event. FTX is not a bad apple. FTX is not uniquely mismanaged. FTX is not a cautionary tale. FTX is not a stunning surprise. FTX is a systemic problem, a vehicle for structural levels of fraud, another in a long line of liquidity crunches for crypto, a litmus test for credible due diligence, a fork in the road for the crypto economy, institutional investors, and government regulators. Lees meer
••• It Was All a Game for Sam Bankman-Fried https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/11/it-was-all-a-game-for-sam-bankman-fried.html
••• FTX’s Balance Sheet Was Bad https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-11-14/ftx-s-balance-sheet-was-bad
••• FTX held less than $1bn in liquid assets against $9bn in liabilities https://www.ft.com/content/f05fe9f8-ca0a-48d5-8ef2-7a4d813af558
••• Sam Bankman-Fried Was Supposed to Be Different. He Wasn't. https://www.vice.com/en/article/dy7epm/sam-bankman-fried-was-supposed-to-be-different-he-wasnt
••• Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX Crypto Empire Is Officially Bankrupt https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjkmvw/sam-bankman-frieds-ftx-crypto-empire-is-officially-bankruptSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 208. TMK BC4: An Engine, Not a Camera (Chapter 3)
15 november 2022 · 7 min
We dig into Chapter 3 – Theory and Practice – and look at how, in the 1960s and 1970s, theories of finance like random-walk hypothesis and efficient market hypothesis, started leaking out of the university and having real world effects in professional financial practice. Combined with market restructuring caused by the rapid growth of institutional investors in the American economy, these financial theories directly influence the creation of things like index funds, which go on to set financial markets on a totally new pathway. Lees meer
Here’s a free pdf of the book: https://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/MacKenzie-An-Engine-Not-a-Camera.pdf
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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207. Rent High? Blame Bob
11 november 2022 · 1 uur 8 min
We discuss a recent investigation by ProPublica into the convergence of real estate, private equity, and algorithmic pricing as they profile a particularly odious company (RealPage) that is selling a technology (YieldStar) to property management companies, which directly leading to severe upward pressures on rental pricing and vacancy rates. Troubled by real estate companies extracting higher margins out of renters in a tight market in ways that raise red flags of collusion? Well, just blame a guy named Bob. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Rent Going Up? One Company’s Algorithm Could Be Why. https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-realpage-rent
••• Senator Seeks Antitrust Review of Apartment Price-Setting Software https://www.propublica.org/article/yieldstar-rent-increase-senate-antitrust-apartment
••• Company That Makes Rent-Setting Software for Apartments Accused of Collusion, Lawsuit Says https://www.propublica.org/article/realpage-accused-of-collusion-in-new-lawsuit
••• RealPage Accused Of Price-Fixing In Student Housing Market https://www.law360.com/real-estate-authority/articles/1546168/realpage-accused-of-price-fixing-in-student-housing-market
••• JP Morgan Wants to Make Tenant Data Available to Every Landlord https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7bkyn/jp-morgan-wants-to-make-tenant-data-available-to-every-landlordSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: https://www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 206. Chief Twit and the Hostile Takeover
8 november 2022 · 6 min
We talk about the chaos at Twitter as Elon drives the company into the ground, merging classic techniques of a private equity takeover with his patented impulsive incompetence. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Musk’s Trump-style management rattles Twitter workers awaiting layoffs https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/11/03/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs-silence-blind/
••• Twitter job cuts begin as Musk warns of ‘massive’ revenue drop https://www.ft.com/content/b9a2a0ec-d3fe-422d-bc62-fa9ddfd3f06c
••• A Layoff Guide for Twitter Workers https://news.techworkerscoalition.org/2022/11/03/issue-16/
••• Exclusive: Tesla faces U.S. criminal probe over self-driving claims https://www.reuters.com/legal/exclusive-tesla-faces-us-criminal-probe-over-self-driving-claims-sources-2022-10-26/
••• American Gentry https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/trump-american-gentry-wyman-elites/620151/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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205. Profits of Doom (ft. Jacob Silverman)
4 november 2022 · 1 uur 18 min
We are joined by Jacob Silverman – contributing editor at The New Republic – to discuss his profile of David Sacks, a venture capitalist and right-wing media personality who has been on the vanguard of reactionary culture wars and political influence in Silicon Valley. Lees meer
Follow Jacob: https://twitter.com/SilvermanJacob
Stuff we reference
••• The Quiet Political Rise of David Sacks, Silicon Valley’s Prophet of Urban Doom https://newrepublic.com/article/168125/david-sacks-elon-musk-peter-thiel
••• The Neocons and the Woke Left Are Joining Hands and Leading Us to Woke War III | Opinion https://www.newsweek.com/neocons-woke-left-are-joining-hands-leading-us-woke-war-iii-opinion-1748947
••• The Shadow Crew Who Encouraged Elon Musk’s Twitter Takeover https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-shadow-crew-who-encouraged-elon-musks-twitter-takeover-tesla-jack-dorsey-11651260119Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 204. TMK BC4: An Engine, Not a Camera (Chapter 2)
2 november 2022 · 6 min
We dig into Chapter 2 – Transforming Finance – and look at how, in the 1950s and 1960s, the economic study of finance started shifting from merely descriptive approaches to engaging in more analytical theories and mathematical models of how finance does (and should) operate. Lees meer
Here’s a free pdf of the book: https://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/MacKenzie-An-Engine-Not-a-Camera.pdf
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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203. Saving the Planet with Green Crypto Arbitrage (ft. Avi Asher-Schapiro)
28 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 27 min
We are joined by reporter Avi Asher-Schapiro who, along with his colleague Fabio Teixeira, has published an investigation into the crypto carbon credits markets. This collision between green finance and crypto economics reveals many of the worst tendencies of both sectors as financiers take advantage of highly profitable opportunities for price arbitrage. Such as bundling low quality “zombie credits” with high quality carbon credits, labeling these subprime assets as premium, and selling the tokens at the highest price. All in the name of making the markets more efficient at saving the planet, of course. Lees meer
••• Follow Avi: https://twitter.com/AASchapiro
••• Fears of 'subprime' carbon assets stall crypto rainforest mission https://www.context.news/net-zero/long-read/fears-of-subprime-carbon-assets-stall-crypto-rainforest-missionGrab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 202. New Guy Who is Going to Hell Just Dropped
24 oktober 2022 · 5 min
Take beta blockers before this episode. In a companion piece for our episode on Health Communism, we dig into a concrete case that exemplifies everything we talked about with the production of surplus populations for the purpose of extractive abandonment. The ongoing story we discuss in this episode takes all those dynamics and pushes them to their most horrific logical conclusions. Lees meer
Some references:
••• How a Hospital Chain Used a Poor Neighborhood to Turn Huge Profits https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/health/bon-secours-mercy-health-profit-poor-neighborhood.html
••• They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/business/nonprofit-hospitals-poor-patients.html
••• Deaths Linked to Neglect, Error Raise Concerns About Quality of Care at This Safety Net Hospital https://www.propublica.org/article/chicago-roseland-community-hospital-covid-deathsSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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201. We Are All Surplus (ft. Beatrice Adler-Bolton, Artie Vierkant)
19 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 24 min
We are joined by Beatrice Adler-Bolton and Artie Vierkant — co-hosts of Death Panel — to discuss their truly excellent new book, Health Communism, which offers a searing analysis of how our conceptions and systems of health are critical to the maintenance of capitalism. Under capitalism we are all human waste: the sick and surplus that are drains on productive society. If you don’t think you are, then just wait long enough and hopefully you’ll live long enough to meet that fate. Health communism is both the reason for tearing down this system and an alternative that reclaims health for all people—not just the bosses and workers, but for those great many subjected to the extractive abandonment of being marked as surplus. Lees meer
••• Health Communism: https://www.versobooks.com/books/4081-health-communism
••• Death Panel: https://www.deathpanel.net/
••• Beatrice: https://twitter.com/realLandsEnd
••• Artie: https://twitter.com/avierkantSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 200. TMK BC4: An Engine, Not a Camera (Chapter 1)
18 oktober 2022 · 9 min
After an extended riff, we kick off the new TMK Book Club on An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets by Donald MacKenzie. In the first chapter we get an intro to some of the big themes, methods, and theories that we’ll get deeper into throughout the book’s sociological analysis of financial economics and market dynamics. This is a foundational book in the social studies of finance. Being an academic text, it is also dense and heady. Read along with us if you have the time and ability. But don’t stress if you can’t. We will, as always, do our best to break things down and add our own discussion of each chapter. Episodes come out biweekly. Here’s a free pdf of the book: https://uberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/MacKenzie-An-Engine-Not-a-Camera.pdf Lees meer
Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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199. The CIA is a Land of Contrasts
15 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 17 min
We check in on our old friends/enemies at the New York Time, then get to some listener mail about effective altruism, all before offering a smart, nuanced, and critical defense of the CIA. You see, it’s not that we are angry, we are just disappointed at the CIA’s continual failure to live up to its own potential for greatness. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Has the C.I.A. Done More Harm Than Good? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/10/10/has-the-cia-done-more-harm-than-good
••• The Responsibility of Intellectuals https://chomsky.info/19670223/
••• It's Lonely in the Metaverse: Decentraland’s 38 Daily Active Users in a $1.3B Ecosystem https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2022/10/07/its-lonely-in-the-metaverse-decentralands-38-daily-active-users-in-a-13b-ecosystem/
••• ‘The Cash Monster Was Insatiable’: How Insurers Exploited Medicare for Billions https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/upshot/medicare-advantage-fraud-allegations.htmlSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 198. The Eye of Sauron is Ethical
11 oktober 2022 · 8 min
We take a hard look at the White House’s new AI Bill of Rights and discover that the Eye of Sauron is actually ethical according to its principles. We then go in on academia and journalism for, in their own ways, laundering the interests and influence of the tech sector. Lees meer
Also, the new TMK book club starts next week in the patreon feed! Starting with Chapter 1, we will be going through An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets | Donald MacKenzie https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262633673/an-engine-not-a-camera/
Some references:
••• Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/
••• Biden’s AI Bill of Rights Is Toothless Against Big Tech https://www.wired.com/story/bidens-ai-bill-of-rights-is-toothless-against-big-tech/
••• AI Data Laundering: How Academic and Nonprofit Researchers Shield Tech Companies from Accountability https://waxy.org/2022/09/ai-data-laundering-how-academic-and-nonprofit-researchers-shield-tech-companies-from-accountability/
••• Eighteen pitfalls to beware of in AI journalism https://aisnakeoil.substack.com/p/eighteen-pitfalls-to-beware-of-in
••• On NYT Magazine on AI: Resist the Urge to be Impressed https://medium.com/@emilymenonbender/on-nyt-magazine-on-ai-resist-the-urge-to-be-impressed-3d92fd9a0eddSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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197. The Limits of Tech Inquiry
7 oktober 2022 · 1 uur 2 min
We discuss recent events of a report by Tech Inquiry about big tech’s military contracts was pulled by its funders — a major union and a major social democratic party — over Tech Inquiry’s refusal to censor its criticism of Microsoft. We offer our own critical analysis of organizations focused on building short-term, self-interested alliances with capital instead of ones focused on building long-term, worker power that is antagonistic to capital. Lees meer
Some references:
••• On the censorship of our report on government purchasing from Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet https://techinquiry.org/?about=UNI-censorship&guard=
••• Labor union censored report criticizing Microsoft’s military contracts https://theintercept.com/2022/09/07/microsoft-military-union-cwa/
••• German SPD politician justifies murder of Rosa Luxemburg https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/01/18/thie-j18.htmlSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 196. Rich, Powerful, Idiotic, Pathetic
3 oktober 2022 · 8 min
Jathan debriefs on the insurtech conference. Then we discuss Elon Musk’s texts and emails that were made public during discovery for his litigation with Twitter, which show just how idiotic, pathetic, and sycophantic these billionaires truly are. There’s no secret genius masterplan or devious conspiracy. It’s just powerful people sucking off the guy above them and ripping off everybody below them. Lees meer
Stuff we reference:
••• Elon Musk’s Texts Shatter the Myth of the Tech Genius https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-musk-texts-twitter-trial-jack-dorsey/671619/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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*Unlocked* – 185. In the Long Term We Are All Dead
28 september 2022 · 1 uur 28 min
We are unlocking a recent episode about a topic that remains very relevant. Lees meer
We dig deep into Effective Altruism and Longtermism, laying out the origins, beliefs, and actions of this ideological moral system and the networks of influence and wealth that it’s plugged into. Along the way we critique the extreme logical conclusions it leads to, the extremely simpleminded fairy tales it’s based on, and the extremist group of moral zealots, useful idiots, and cynical bullshiters that rule this rationalist religion.
Some stuff we reference:
••• The Case for Longtermism https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/05/opinion/the-case-for-longtermism.html
••• The Reluctant Prophet of Effective Altruism https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/the-reluctant-prophet-of-effective-altruism
••• Stop the Robot Apocalypse https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n18/amia-srinivasan/stop-the-robot-apocalypseSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 195. Vegas, Baby!
25 september 2022 · 8 min
It’s TMK Live in Vegas! Well, in real life recording live to tape in the same room for the first time ever. We talk about our adventures in Las Vegas. A city that is constituted by many forms of totally controlled, perfectly designed prisons. A city that is representative of the many forms of surplus in capitalism: of luxury and money, of misery and people. Lees meer
Some stuff we reference
••• Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691160887/addiction-by-design
••• A Nation of the Walking Dead https://www.truthdig.com/articles/a-nation-of-the-walking-dead/Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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194 – Cultural Capture by Chokepoint Capitalism (ft. Rebecca Giblin, Cory Doctorow)
22 september 2022 · 1 uur 14 min
We are joined by Cory Doctorow and Rebecca Giblin – authors of the excellent new book Chokepoint Capitalism – to discuss how creative labor markets are tightly squeezed on all sides by massive monopolies / monopsonies that create chokepoints to trap suppliers, trap consumers, and trap all the profits in markets for books, music, movies, and every other artistic endeavour. Cory and Rebecca then detail a long list of tactics and solutions for breaking the capitalist stranglehold over cultural production. Lees meer
••• Follow Cory: https://twitter.com/doctorow
••• Follow Rebecca: https://twitter.com/rgibli
••• Buy the book: http://www.beacon.org/Chokepoint-Capitalism-P1856.aspx
••• Support the kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/chokepoint-capitalism-an-audiobook-amazon-wont-sellSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)
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Patreon Preview – 193. We Live in a Surveillance Society
19 september 2022 · 8 min
We cruise through recent stories about how our surveillance society continues developing. We’ve got biometric fingerprint scanners to enter the bathrooms at a high school ••• police have decided the heat on facial recognition has finally died down and have begun lifting moratoriums and expanding its usage ••• an insurance company and tech company buy large stakes in a home security company, in the prologue to every anarcho-capitalist sci-fi story ••• and powerful, price, geolocation trackers have become cheap, plentiful, and small, much to the totally predictable detriment of stalking and abuse victims. Lees meer
Some stuff we reference:
••• Sydney high school uses fingerprint technology to stop vandalism in toilets https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-06/moorebank-high-school-fingerprints-students-going-to-toilet/101410544
••• First, they banned facial recognition. Now they're not so sure https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/05/tech/facial-recognition-bans-reversed/index.html
••• Ring the Alarm https://www.coverager.com/ring-the-alarm-2022
••• ‘I was just really scared’: Apple AirTags lead to stalking complaints https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/20/apple-airtags-stalking-complaints-technology
••• ‘I didn’t want it anywhere near me’: how the Apple AirTag became a gift to stalkers https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/05/i-didnt-want-it-anywhere-near-me-how-the-apple-airtag-became-a-gift-to-stalkersSubscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Grab TMK gear: www.bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)