Silicon Valley has a solution for everything, but who do its ideas really serve? Every Thursday, Paris Marx is joined by a new guest to critically examine the tech industry, its thought leaders, and the worldview it spreads. They challenge the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. But if tech won't save us, what will? This podcast isn't simply about tearing tech down; it also presents radical ideas for tech designed for human flourishing instead of surveillance, acquisitions, or to boost stock prices. A better world is possible, and so is better technology.
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Why Countries Must Fight For Digital Sovereignty w/ Cecilia Rikap
Paris Marx is joined by Cecilia Rikap to discuss how countries’ dependence on US tech companies is harming them and why they need to get serious about digital sovereignty.Cecilia Rikap is Associate Professor in Economics at University College London and Head of Research at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Cecilia (and Paris!) worked on a report offering a roadmap to reclaiming digital sovereignty.The UK Labour Party forced the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority to step down earlier this year to promote its pro-growth agenda.A Microsoft executive told a French Senate committee that it could not guarantee data sovereignty if the US government requested information stored on its servers in Europe.Alexandre de Moraes is the Brazilian judge pushing back against big tech.The US is sanctioning judges from the ICC (as well as Alexandre de Moraes)Support the show
Will the Pope Be An Ally Against AI? w/ Paolo Benanti
Paris Marx is joined by Paolo Benanti to discuss what Pope Leo XIV’s statements on AI, the publications under Pope Francis, and the ethics of AI from a theological perspective.Paolo Benanti is an author, academic, and priest. He teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University and was an advisor to Pope Francis on artificial intelligence and technology ethics.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Paris wrote about what Pope Leo XIV and the Church have been saying about AI.In June, Pope Leo sent a message to the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence.Under Pope Francis, the Church published a note on AI called Antiqua et nova. Here is a short breakdown of its content.Support the show
What Google Zero Means for Journalism w/ Matt Pearce
Paris Marx is joined by Matt Pearce to discuss how Google’s use of generative AI is sending far less traffic to all manner of websites, but especially news publications, and what that might mean for the future of journalism.Matt Pearce is Director of Policy at Rebuild Local News and a former reporter at the Los Angeles Times.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Matt makes the case that unchecked AI may cause newsprint to outlive the hyperlinkAI scrapers are driving traffic away from traditional sites while increasing their operational costs.Learn more about coping with news fatigue.Support the show
Trump’s Crypto Profiteering Is Worse Than You Think w/ Jacob Silverman
Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s Islamophobic attack on Zohran Mamdani, what it tells us about the state of tech’s politics, and how Donald Trump is enriching himself through crypto scams.Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the author of the forthcoming book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Jacob has reported on the Aqua 1 Foundation’s mysterious crypto deal that puts $75 million dollars in Donald Trumps pocket.Trump signed the GENIUS Act last week, which aims to make crypto more mainstream and is widely viewed as openly corrupt. Trump has already made millions of dollars from crypto.Crypto is coming for the US 401k.Support the show
Decomputing For a Better Future w/ Dan McQuillan
Paris Marx is joined by Dan McQuillan to discuss the global push by governments to rapidly adopt AI at all costs and how citizens can critically rethink our dependence on these technologies while imagining a collective future that benefits everyone.Dan McQuillan is a lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London and the author of Resisting AI.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Dan recently gave a talk about decomputing as resistance and published the text on his website.The UK Labour Government is going all in on data centre development, while planning for future water shortages.Academic institutions are rapidly adopting AI technologies, with a little help from industry leaders.The GKN Factory Collective offers an inspiring example of collective action.Support the show
Microsoft is Gutting the Video Game Industry w/ Nathan Grayson
Paris Marx is joined by Nathan Grayson to discuss the latest round of Microsoft layoffs and how the company’s ambition to remake the video game industry around its streaming service has had significant consequences.Nathan Grayson is a co-founder of Aftermath and author of Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:An Xbox producer told laid off staff to use AI to help cope with unemployment.Microsoft is moving towards pressuring staff to use AI through employee evaluations.Nathan mentions that it’s unclear whether Game Pass is even profitable given how they balance the books.Support the show
How the US Weaponizes Tech in the Middle East w/ Laleh Khalili
Paris Marx is joined by Laleh Khalili to discuss how the United States uses its control of key technologies to shift global power dynamics, and how that specifically plays out in the Middle East.Laleh Khalili is Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and author of the forthcoming book Extractive Capitalism.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Laleh mentions Iran’s accusations towards Meta regarding WhatsApp. Tech executives are joining the US army.Laleh mentioned The Global Interior by Megan Black.Several years ago, Israel used an AI-assisted gun to kill an Iranian nuclear scientist.Support the show
The Geopolitical Fight Over Huawei w/ Yangyang Cheng
Paris Marx is joined by Yangyang Cheng to discuss how Huawei became one of the most powerful companies in China and how current geopolitical narratives distract from the issues at the heart of surveillance capitalism in the US and China.Yangyang Cheng is a Research Scholar in Law and Fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Yangyang wrote about how Huawei is emblematic of China’s capitalist model for China File.We also discuss Eva Dou’s The House of Huawei.Donald Trump discussed how the USA uses the same tactics the government accuses China of employing in bad faith.Support the show
Chatbots Are Repeating Social Media’s Harms w/ Nitasha Tiku
Paris Marx is joined by Nitasha Tiku to discuss how AI companies are preying on users to drive engagement and how that’s repeating many of the problems we’re belatedly trying to address with social media companies at an accelerated pace.Nitasha Tiku is a technology reporter at the Washington Post.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Nitasha wrote about how chatbots are messing with people’s minds.Paris wrote about Mark Zuckerberg’s comments about people needing AI friends.AI companies are facing ongoing lawsuits over harmful content.Support the show
Brazil's Battle to Rein In Big Tech w/ Laís Martins
Paris Marx is joined by Laís Martins to discuss the recent enforcement measures against tech companies like X and Rumble in Brazil, how the country is grappling with the overreach of US tech companies, and the wider discussion about tech policy in Brazil.Laís Martins is a technology reporter at The Intercept Brasil.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Laís has reported on Rumble's fight against the Brazilian Supreme Court as well as the decisions the Brazilian government is making to welcome AI data centers.Former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was spied on by US intelligence services.The Brazilian government has long used and supported open source software.Support the show
We All Suffer from OpenAI’s Pursuit of Scale w/ Karen Hao
Paris Marx is joined by Karen Hao to discuss how Sam Altman’s goal of scale at all costs has spawned a new empire founded on exploitation of people and the environment, resulting in not only the loss of valuable research into more inventive AI systems, but also exacerbated data privacy issues, intellectual property erosion, and the perpetuation of surveillance capitalism.Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist and the author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Karen was the first journalist to profile OpenAI.Karen has reported on the environmental impacts and human costs of AI.The New York Times reported on Why We're Unlikely to Get Artificial General Intelligence Anytime Soon. Support the show
The New Military Industry Complex w/ Sam Biddle
Paris Marx is joined by Sam Biddle to discuss how Silicon Valley is shamelessly courting government military contracts, using tactics to silence employee dissent and normalize the situation to the public, and what it all means for the future of military geopolitics.Sam Biddle is a senior technology reporter at The Intercept.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Sam wrote about how defense tech companies sought to capitalize on Trump’s return to office and OpenAI’s embrace of nationalism.Trae Stephens was interviewed by Wired last year, where he made his comments about the military industrial complex.Meta and Anduril teamed up to provide VR and AR devices to the US military.Trump’s US Army appointee won’t give up his Anduril stock.Palantir’s CEO wrote the Defense Reformation report and Andreessen Horowitz launched an American Dynamism division.Support the show
The Case for a Digital Detox w/ Casey Johnson
Paris Marx is joined by Casey Johnston to discuss why she pared back on social media, made her smartphone much dumber, and what she learned about how bodies are treated online through her fitness journey.Casey Johnston is the creator of the She’s A Beast newsletter and author of A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Casey wrote about her DIY Dumbphone Method and reducing social media use.Facebook reportedly detected when teenage girls deleted photos so it could serve them beauty ads.Support the show
Generative AI is Not Inevitable w/ Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna
Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna to discuss the harms of generative AI, how the industry keeps the public invested while companies flounder under the weight of unmet promises, and what people can do to push back.Emily M. Bender is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics at University of Washington. Alex Hanna is Director of Research at the Distributed AI Institute. They are the authors of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:New York Magazine reported on the consequences of increasingly widespread use of ChatGPT in education.Support the show
Elon Musk is Remaking the US Space Program w/ Tim Fernholz
Paris Marx is joined by Tim Fernholz to discuss how Elon Musk’s influence in the White House is shaping the US Space Program, why he’s pushing NASA toward Mars instead of the Moon, and whether the Starship rocket is in trouble.Tim Fernholz is a senior reporter at Payload Space and the author of Rocket Billionaires: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the New Space Race.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode:Tim wrote about Donald Trump’s NASA budget and Jared Isaacman’s confirmation hearing.The Wall Street Journal wrote about Elon Musk’s plans to get NASA to refocus on Mars.Trump’s proposed budget aims to cut NASA’s science budget by 47% as part of a larger 24% cut to the agency’s top-line funding.SpaceX’s Starship rocket is running into serious problems.Support the show