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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How Israel Uses Occupation to Develop Military Tech w/ Antony Loewenstein
Paris Marx is joined by Antony Loewenstein to discuss how the Israeli weapons industry tests new military technologies on occupied Palestinians before selling them internationally. Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist who’s written for the New York Times and the Guardian. He’s the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology Of Occupation Around The World. Follow Antony on Twitter at @antloewenstein.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Excerpts from Antony’s book have been published by In These Times, Declassified Australia, and Jamal Khashoggi-founded Democracy for the Arab World Now. Antony also wrote a good overview of the book for Middle East Eye.Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and Yesh Din have called Israel’s actions apartheid.Google and Amazon workers protested Project Nimbus. They also faced shareholder revolts over the project.Airbnb lists properties in illegal Israeli settlements.Red Wolf is deployed at checkpoints to scan Palestinians’ faces and add them to surveillance databases without their consent.Facebook has been criticized for removing Palestinians’ posts.The New York Times reported on Israel’s use of NSO Group surveillance tools for diplomatic leverage.The Committee to Protect Journalists found Israel killed 20 journalists.Support the show
Google and Meta Are Fighting with Canada w/ David Moscrop
Paris Marx is joined by David Moscrop to discuss Canada’s plan to make Google and Meta pay news publishers, and what might happened now that they’re threatening to pull Canadian news from their platforms. David Moscrop is a freelance writer and the author of Too Dumb for Democracy?: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. Follow David on Twitter at @David_Moscrop.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:David Moscrop wrote about the larger context of the Online News Bill in his Substack newsletter.Paris also wrote about Google and Meta threatening to pull news in Canada and why Canada should take a hard line with them.Sandy Garossino wrote about how much money Google and Meta extract from Canada.Media conglomerates Postmedia and Nordstar are in talks to merge.California is also looking at a similar process to force Google and Meta to pay media in that state.On Wednesday, the Canadian government pulled advertising from Facebook and Instagram, but said Google was still talking to find a way forward. The government said it won’t back down, and two opposition parties — the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois — voiced their support.Support the show
Why AI is a Threat to Artists w/ Molly Crabapple
Paris Marx is joined by Molly Crabapple to discuss why AI image generation tools are a threat to illustrators and why we need to refuse the idea that Silicon Valley’s visions of technology are inevitable. Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun with Marwan Hisham. Follow Molly on Twitter at @mollycrabapple.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Molly wrote an op-ed for the LA Times about the threat of AI-generated tools for artists, and co-wrote an open letter about restricting AI illustration for the Center for Artistic Inquiry and Reporting.Karla Ortiz wrote about how teaching an AI to copy an artist’s style isn’t democratization; it’s theft.Corridor Digital claimed they were “democratizing” animation by using AI trained on Vampire Hunter D to generate their own animated video.Rest of World reported on how AI was being used to take video game illustrators’ jobs in China.AI is already being used to justify laying off journalists.In February, Creative Commons published an article arguing that using copyrighted works to train generative AI should be considered fair use.Stable Diffusion and Midjourney were hit with a copyright lawsuit, and Getty Images launched its own suit against Stable Diffusion.The US Copyright Office says AI generated images are not eligible for copyright protection.Support the show
We Don’t Need the Apple Vision Pro w/ Brian Merchant
Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the vision of the future of computing offered by Apple’s Vision Pro headset and why it should be resisted. Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times. He’s also the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Paris will be in Edmonton, Alberta on June 24. More info here.Brian wrote a column about the Apple Vision Pro for the LA Times, and another about Uber drivers in California getting payouts.Paris also wrote about why Apple Vision Pro should be ridiculed for Disconnect.David Karpf called virtual reality the “rich white kid of technology.”Meta employees are not working in the metaverse.Mark Gurman reported on the internal division at Apple over whether to release the Vision Pro in its current form.Support the show
Crypto’s Final Boss Fight w/ Molly White
Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase and what they might mean for the future of the crypto industry. Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at Harvard Library Innovation Lab. Follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Molly wrote about the Binance and Coinbase cases for Rolling Stone. She also wrote about both cases in her newsletter.Amy Castor and David Gerard broke down the Coinbase lawsuit.Matt Levine has also written about the lawsuits and what it means for crypto being seen as a security.In 2020, Forbes reported on the Tai Chi documents about Binance’s efforts to evade regulators.Binance is also being sued by the CFTC and there are reports that criminal charges could also be coming from the Department of Justice.Binance recently withdrew from Canada.Robinhood ended support for tokens the SEC listed as securities.Crypto.com is winding down US institutional trading.Nigeria’s SEC said Binance’s operations are illegal.Elon Musk is being sued over manipulation of the price of Dogecoin.Support the show
The Influencer Industry Is Built on Precarity w/ Emily Hund
Paris Marx is joined by Emily Hund to discuss the creation of the influencer industry, how it’s been formalized by companies who profit from it, and what can be done to make it fairer for the people who work in it. Emily Hund is the author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media. She’s also a research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilyadh.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:An excerpt of Emily’s book was published in Wired.After Elon Musk took over Twitter, a menswear account was suddenly in everyone’s feeds.Instagram is offering a paid subscription service that includes customer service.Countries have begun regulating the influencer industry. For example, Norway requires retouched photos to be labeled, while France has an even stricter law that regulates the types of products that can be promoted along with other requirements.Support the show
The Online Shopping Boom Is Over w/ Amanda Mull
Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the history of consumerism and where ecommerce goes in the next few years as interest rates rise and its market share stalls. Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes the Material World column. She’s also a shop steward at The Atlantic Union. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amandamull.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Amanda has written about consumerism, buying less junk, the pivot to TikTok, and why free returns are coming to an end.Paris wrote about the problem with Apple’s town square store concept.Amazon curtailed massive warehouse expansion plans it made early in the pandemic.Lauren Smily wrote about the shut-in economy in 2015.William Leach wrote Land of Desire: Merchants: Power and the Rise of a New American Culture.Support the show
The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race w/ Mary-Jane Rubenstein
Paris Marx is joined by Mary-Jane Rubenstein to discuss how ideas that underpinned colonization and Manifest Destiny are now setting the foundation for the billionaire space race and the plan to colonize the cosmos. Mary-Jane Rubenstein is the author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race. She’s also a Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:An excerpt of Mary-Jane’s book was published in Metapolis.Paris wrote about the business behind the billionaire space race and the problem with Starlink.Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin recently got a contract to build a moon lander for NASA.One of Barack Obama’s legacies is pushing for the privatization of space flight.The US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 and Artemis Accords are attempts to unilaterally rewrite space law for US commercial interest.Catherine L. Newell wrote Destined for the Stars: Faith, the Future, and America's Final Frontier.Support the show
Pronatalism and Silicon Valley’s Right-Wing Turn w/ Julia Black
Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss tech billionaires’ embrace of pronatalism and how it’s part of a broader rationalist project to remake society and protect their privileged positions. Julia Black is a senior correspondent at Insider and previously worked at Esquire and Vox. Follow Julia on Twitter at @mjnblack.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Julia wrote about pronatalism, Lex Fridman, and Sam Altman.Paris wrote about eugenics in Silicon Valley.Marc Andreessen wrote “It’s Time to Build” in April 2020.Timnit Gebru gave a presentation on the TESCREAL bundle of ideologies. Émile Torres made a thread on Twitter about it.Support the show
How Cities Sell Themselves to the Tech Industry w/ David A. Banks
Paris Marx is joined by David A. Banks to discuss how cities have been reshaped to attract tech companies and what the consequences have been for the people who live in them. David A. Banks is the author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. He’s a lecturer in the Geography and Planning department at University at Albany, SUNY. David also writers Other Day and co-hosts Iron Weeds. Follow David on Twitter at @DA_Banks.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode:David wrote about Richard Florida, the creative class, and his book The New Urban Crisis.An excerpt of his book was published in Dwell.Support the show
Elon Musk Is Destroying Twitter w/ Matt Binder
Paris Marx is joined by Matt Binder to discuss Elon Musk’s first six months at Twitter and how his obsession with blue checks has decimated the company’s finances. Matt Binder is a reporter at Mashable and the host of Scam Economy and Doomed. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattBinder.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode:Matt wrote about how few people are signing up for Twitter Blue, the people subscribing to Musk’s tweets, the Block the Blue campaign, and whether Bluesky will challenge Twitter.Paris wrote about what a recent BBC interview tells us about Musk’s knowledge of what’s happening on Twitter and what his history tells us about his plans for Twitter.Twitter revenue from its top 10 advertisers dropped 89% from September-October to March-April.William Shatner said his trip to space left him with “among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered.”After Musk gave many high-profile users blue checks again, many wonder if he could be sued for false endorsement since they haven’t actually paid for the service.Support the show
Does Banning TikTok Make Sense? w/ Shoshana Wodinsky & Daniel Greene
Paris Marx is joined by Shoshana Wodinsky to discuss the unconvincing arguments being made for a TikTok ban in the United States, then by Daniel Greene to explore how the turn against Chinese technology signals a shift in US policy on the internet and technology. Shoshana Wodinsky is a freelance reporter, previously at Marketwatch and Gizmodo. She writes the Tubes newsletter. Daniel Greene is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and the author of The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope. Follow Shoshana on Twitter at @swodinsky and Daniel at @Greene_DM.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode:Paris wrote about the effort to ban TikTok and why it shows the US desire to protect its technological dominance.Shoshana broke down the Congressional hearing with TikTok’s CEO in her newsletter and explained how data brokers get data from many social media apps.A priest was outed through his Grindr data, which was part of a campaign by Catholic conservatives to identify priests using gay dating apps.The Strava fitness app gave away the location of secret US military bases when soldiers used the app on their runs.The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have been buying US phone data.Meta paid a firm linked to the Republican Party to smear TikTok.In Foreign Affairs, Dan Wang explained how China has developed its tech industry with insights gained through the manufacturing process.After TikTok, there’s a campaign to get Shein in the crosshairs of lawmakers.Adam Tooze wrote for Foreign Policy about why the US shouldn’t feel it can dictate the path of China’s development.Support the show
Chatbots Won’t Take Many Jobs w/ Aaron Benanav
Paris Marx is joined by Aaron Benanav to discuss OpenAI’s claims that generative AI will take our jobs, how previous periods of automation hype haven’t resulted in mass job loss, and why we need to ensure it doesn’t further empower employers. Aaron Benanav is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and the author of Automation and the Future of Work. Follow Aaron on Twitter at @abenanav.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode:Aaron wrote about why chatbots won’t take your job for the New Statesman.Microsoft is rolling out generative AI in its enterprise software services and its Azure platform.The Writers Guild is proposing contract language on AI in scriptwriting to ensure writers still get the credit.Support the show
The Dangers of Stochastic Parrots Like ChatGPT w/ Emily M. Bender
Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender to discuss what it means to say that ChatGPT is a “stochastic parrot,” why Elon Musk is calling to pause AI development, and how the tech industry uses language to trick us into buying its narratives about technology. Emily M. Bender is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington and the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master’s Program. She’s also the director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilymbender or on Mastodon at @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 Benjamin, Ghost Work by Mary L Gray & Siddharth Suri, Artificial Unintelligence by Meredith Broussard, Design Justice by Sasha Costanza-Chock, Data Conscience: Algorithmic S1ege on our Hum4n1ty by Brandeis Marshall.Support the show
How Amazon Reshapes Small Business to Serve Itself w/ Moira Weigel
Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss the third-party sellers who supply many of the goods sold through Amazon, how the company’s policy decisions reshape small businesses to act like mini-Amazons, and what that means for regulatory responses.Moira Weigel is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, and a founding editor of Logic Magazine. Her most recent book is Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk about What They Do--And How They Do It, co-edited with Ben Tarnoff. Follow Moira on Twitter at @moiragweigel.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Moira recently wrote a report for Data & Society looking into Amazon’s “trickle-down monopoly,” and previously worked with Ava Kofman and Francis Tseng on research into white nationalist publishing on Amazon.Aiha Nguyen and Eve Zelickson wrote a report on how Ring doorbells are used to surveil delivery workers.Logic Magazine published an interview with an anonymous AWS engineer.In March 2020, an Amazon seller bought 17,700 bottles of hand sanitizer and tried to price gouge.Marketplace Pulse found that Amazon fees for sellers now account for 51.8% of an average sale, rising from 35.2% in 2016.Amazon is now the third-largest digital advertising company after Google and Facebook.In January, John Herman wrote about the state of Amazon that touched on some of the Chinese brands.Amazon has been scaling back its private label business, in part due to regulatory fears.Books mentioned: Work and Alienation in the Platform Economy: Amazon and the Power of Organization by Sarrah Kassem, Blockchain Chicken Farm: And Other Stories of Tech in China's Countryside by Xiaowei Wang, and The Labor of Reinvention: Entrepreneurship in the New Chinese Digital Economy by Lin Zhang.Support the show