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.
Smart Glasses Are Ushering In An Anti-Social World w/ Chris Gilliard
Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss how tech CEOs are pushing a new generation of AI-powered smart glasses by promising they’ll be stylish and indispensable to workers in a desperate attempt to convince us we should want their luxury surveillance gadgets.
Chris Gilliard is the co-director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute and is working on a book called Luxury Surveillance.
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:
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Harvard students used Meta glasses to dox strangers.
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Apple tinkered with its AI shortly after Trump was inaugurated.
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Studies are suggesting that AI may be making doctors worse at diagnosing cancer.
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Rob Horning has written about overreliance on AI.
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Chris mentioned Emily Bender and her analogy comparing LLMs to plastic.