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.
How Smart is the Smart City? w/ Shannon Mattern
Paris Marx is joined by Shannon Mattern to discuss what we miss when we see the city solely through the lens of the computer, and how other institutions and ways of knowing can help inform richer ways of understanding the city.Shannon Mattern is a professor of anthropology at The New School for Social Research and President of the Board at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. She is the author of “Code and Clay, Data and Dirt” and “A City Is Not a Computer.” Follow Shannon on Twitter at @shannonmattern.📚 Get 30% off “A City Is Not a Computer” when you buy it from Princeton University Press and use the code “TWSU” at checkout before the end of September 2021!🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Ursula K. Le Guin ranted about the meaning of the word “technology.”Google wanted to build a smart city in Toronto, but activists killed it.Gökçe Günel wrote “Spaceship in the Desert: Energy, Climate Change, and Urban Design in Abu Dhabi” about the Masdar smart city project.Songdo was supposed to be South Korea’s city of the future. It didn’t work out.Kevin Rogan wrote about the human labor Sidewalk Labs was hiding.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
How Australia Used Tech Against Welfare Recipients w/ Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran
Paris Marx is joined by Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran to discuss Australia’s robodebt scandal where automated decision-making was used against welfare recipients, and how exploitative AI implementations are being deployed by governments in social welfare and at the borders.Dhakshayini Sooriyakumaran is a proud Tamil person and a PhD candidate at Australian National University whose work focuses on digital identification systems and border policing regimes. Follow Dhakshayini on Twitter as @Dhakshayini_S.🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Dhakshayini wrote about robo-governance and why we need to oppose it.Robodebt eventually resulted in a A$1.8 billion settlement in favor of welfare recipients.Robo-planning was another proposed system for Australia’s disability insurance scheme that has been canceled. A blockchain trial was also considered.Australia is trialing a controversial cashless welfare card, and plans to increase the use of biometrics.Scarlet Wilcock researched the history of “welfare cheat” narratives in Australia.Canada has been using automated decision making to process visa applications.Just Futures Law and Mijente released a report called “ICE: Digital Prisons.”Israeli company NSO’s Pegasus technology was weaponized against activists, politicians, and journalists.The Australian Human Rights Commission released a report on human rights and technology, while the European Data Protection Supervisor has called for a ban on biometrics.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
How Streaming is Reshaping the Film Industry w/ Peter Labuza
Paris Marx is joined by Peter Labuza to discuss how streaming is reconfiguring Hollywood, what that means for the film and television we consume, and whether it’s time to consider antitrust action against the streaming giants.Peter Labuza is a lecturer at San Jose State University whose work focuses on the legal, financial, and political history of creative industries. He’s currently writing a book about the history of entertainment law in Hollywood. Follow Peter on Twitter as @labuzamovies.🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Peter wrote an op-ed for the LA Times about what streaming is doing to culture and the need for antitrust action.Paris has written about the consolidation in entertainment companies, the need to consider state action, and Amazon’s acquisition of MGM.David Graeber wrote that British culture from the sixties was a product of the welfare state.Joshua Glick wrote about how Netflix is changing documentary production.Jennifer Holt provides an overview of media deregulation in “Empires of Entertainment: Media Industries and the Politics of Deregulation, 1980-1996.”FilmCritHulk wrote about the impacts of streaming and industry consolidation on labor, unions, and more.In 2020, a judge ended the Paramount Decrees.The Writer’s Guild recently went on strike over streaming residuals.Salt of the Earth was a film made by blacklisted filmmakers.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Demystifying the Billionaire Space Race
Paris Marx takes a solo episode to discuss the billionaire space race. Specifically, how billionaires are selling grand futures of space travel as a PR scheme to get huge public contracts that will allow them to control the infrastructure of space.🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Paris wrote about the billionaire space race, and it was translated into German, Italian, and Turkish.New Mexico’s $220-million Spaceport America that’s used by Virgin Galactic is a joke.SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has been way overhyped.If we went to Mars, we would get cancer.Adam Mann had a great essay on how we should think about Mars, and whether it’s “ours.”Elon Musk says we can be indentured servants on Mars, and people will die.Paris has written about Jeff Bezos’ space colonies, and compared them to Blade Runner and The Expanse.Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO to take on the role of Executive Chairman.Ursula K. Le Guin argues science fiction isn’t about the future, nor is it predictive.Amazon’s emissions rose 19% in 2020 and it’s helping Big Oil.Paris wrote about the real climate future billionaires are creating.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
“Sleep Dealer” and the Border Politics of Tech w/ Alex Rivera
Paris Marx is joined by Alex Rivera to discuss his 2008 film Sleep Dealer and how it imagined exploitative technologies being implemented in a future Mexico of hardened borders and limited migration.Alex Rivera is a filmmaker and digital media artist whose work explores themes of globalization, migration, and technology. His feature films include Sleep Dealer and The Infiltrators. Follow Alex on Twitter as @Alex_Rivera.🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:You can rent or buy Sleep Dealer from the official website.Paris wrote about Sleep Dealer and what it illustrates about technology for Jacobin.Border walls are still going up around the world.Smart tech is often designed to hide the human labor that makes it work.Kiwibot delivery robots are driven by Colombian workers making $2/hour.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Tech Criticism Before the Techlash w/ Zachary Loeb
Paris Marx is joined by Zachary Loeb to discuss the history of tech criticism with a focus on Joseph Weizenbaum and Lewis Mumford, as well as why the techlash is a narrative that suits Silicon Valley.Zachary Loeb is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania whose dissertation research looks at Y2K. Follow Zachary on Twitter as @libshipwreck, and check out his Librarian Shipwreck blog.🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Zachary wrote about Y2K, Lewis Mumford’s criticisms on technology, the life and thought of Joseph Weizenbaum, and theses on techno-optimism.Books mentioned: “Dismantlings: Words against Machines in the American Long Seventies” by Matt Tierney.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Bitcoin is a Right-Wing Technology w/ David Golumbia
Paris Marx is joined by David Golumbia to discuss the ideology of cyberlibertarianism, the right-wing politics of cryptocurrencies and blockchains, and why the left shouldn’t embrace them.David Golumbia is an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and the author of “The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism.” He’s also writing a new book called “Cyberlibertarianism” from Minnesota University Press. Follow David on Twitter as @dgolumbia.🚨 T-shirts are now available!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, support the show on Patreon, and sign up for the weekly newsletter, ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:David wrote about cyberlibertarianism for Jacobin Magazine.Keith Spencer interviewed David about his book for Salon in 2018.Elon Musk’s tweets affect cryptocurrency prices, while China is cracking down on crypto mining.Marc Andreessen says “crypto is a right wing idea” in an interview with Noah Smith.El Salvador’s right-wing authoritarian president made Bitcoin a form of legal tender.Tether misled people about how much USD was backing its stablecoin.About 20% of Bitcoin — worth billions of dollars — is lost and recoverable.Other resources: Langdon Winner’s “Do Artifacts Have Politics?” and “Cyberlibertarian Myths and the Prospects for Community”; Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron’s “The Californian Ideology”; Fred Turner’s “From Counterculture to Cyberculture”; Paulina Borsook’s “Cyberselfish” (article); and John Perry Barlow’s “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace.”Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
VCs Want to Disrupt the Media w/ Eoin Higgins
Paris Marx is joined by Eoin Higgins to discuss why tech companies and venture capital firms are launching their own media verticals, what Marc Andreessen hopes to get out of Clubhouse and Substack, and why Jeff Bezos may have a better approach to media.Eoin Higgins is a freelance journalist and writes on Substack under The Flashpoint. Follow Eoin on Twitter as @EoinHiggins_.🚨✉️ Tech Won’t Save Us has a weekly critical tech newsletter called ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️. Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hzC9fjTech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Eoin wrote about what venture capital firms are doing in media and Marc Andreessen’s favoriting of alt-right tweets.In 2016, Marc Andreessen wrote a tweet about colonialism in India that received a lot of backlash.Coinbase started a “media arm” to “become a source of truth” in the face of critical reporting.Anna Wiener recently wrote about how tech may be shifting from a narrative of disruption to one of building institutions (to serve themselves).Sam Harnett critically examined tech journalism and its history, especially with regard to reporting on the gig economy.Zoe Schiffer and Megan Farokhmanesh detailed how venture capitalists used Clubhouse to organize against critical coverage of the industry and go after journalists like Taylor Lorenz.Ed Zitron wrote about how tech journalism’s shift from an enthusiast press to an industrial press was something venture capitalists and powerful people in the industry were not happy about.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Facebook Is A Battleground w/ Avi Asher-Schapiro and Maya Gebeily
Paris Marx is joined by Avi Asher-Schapiro and Maya Gebeily to discuss how Facebook isn’t fully enforcing its ban on conversion therapy in Arabic, what that means for LGBTQ people in Arabic-speaking countries, and how social media has become a battleground.Avi Asher-Schapiro is a journalist covering technology for the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Maya Gebeily is the Middle East Correspondent at the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Follow Avi on Twitter as @AASchapiro and follow Maya as @GebeilyM.🚨✉️ Tech Won’t Save Us has a weekly critical tech newsletter called ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️. Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hzC9fjTech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Avi and Maya wrote about how Facebook is letting conversion therapy posts continue being shared on the platform in Arabic.Maya wrote about social media companies blaming glitches for disappearing posts about Sheikh Jarrah in Jerusalem.In September, Buzzfeed published an internal letter by Sophie Zhang on how Facebook was ignoring its impacts on the politics of countries around the world. Zhang has gone on to to do work with The Guardian and Rest of World.The United Nations says conversion therapy “may amount to torture” and should be banned.Lebanon provides more freedom for LGBTQ people, but there are still barriers.Saudi Arabia infiltrated Twitter to identify dissidents, and in 2020 convicted a Yemeni blogger for supporting gay rights.In September 2020, Algerian police arrested 44 people for attending a “gay wedding,” using the decoration as evidence against them.Israeli security agencies work to ensure Facebook censors Palestinian content at their request.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Embracing Glitch Feminism w/ Legacy Russell
Paris Marx is joined by Legacy Russell to discuss how glitch feminism challenges existing ideas of what constitutes the body and the effects of having those conceptions embedded within our technological systems.Legacy Russell is the associate curator of exhibitions at The Studio Museum in Harlem, and will become executive director and chief curator of The Kitchen in September. She’s the author of “Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto” and is currently writing “Black Meme.” Follow Legacy on Twitter as @LegacyRussell.🚨✉️ Tech Won’t Save Us has a weekly critical tech newsletter called ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️. Sign up here: http://eepurl.com/hzC9fjTech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Donna Haraway, Sadie Plan, and Katherine Hayles on cyberfeminism.Alondra Nelson on afrofuturism.Nathan Jurgenson’s work on digital dualism and IRL.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
The Sunset of the Californian Ideology? w/ Richard Barbrook
Paris Marx is joined by Richard Barbrook to discuss how the Californian Ideology illustrated the neoliberalism of Silicon Valley, whether it’s still relevant in the present, and how games can be used for political purposes.Richard Barbrook is the author of “Imaginary Futures: From Thinking Machines to the Global Village” and “Class Wargames: Ludic subversion against spectacular capitalism.” He’s a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Westminster. Follow Richard on Twitter as @richardbarbrook.🚨✉️ Tech Won’t Save Us has a weekly critical tech newsletter called ⚒️ THE HAMMER ⚒️. Sign up here!Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Read the original Californian Ideology essay in Mute Magazine and Richard’s thoughts on the 20th anniversary in “The Internet Revolution: From Dot-com Capitalism to Cybernetic Communism.”France Insoumise presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon released a game called Fiscal Combat that helped inspire Corbyn Run.Richard mentions Guy Debord’s “A Game of War” and Bertell Ollman’s “Class Struggle” board games.Other resources: Marshall McLuhan, Fred Turner’s “From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism,” and Guy Debord’s “The Society of the Spectacle.”Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Why the Soviet Union Didn’t Build the Internet w/ Benjamin Peters
Paris Marx is joined by Benjamin Peters to discuss the proposals for national computer networks in the Soviet Union, the challenges they faced in getting approval, and what lessons they hold for how we think about networks.Benjamin Peters is the author of “How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet” and the co-editor of “Your Computer Is On Fire.” He’s also the Hazel Rogers Associate Professor at the University of Tulsa and affiliated faculty at Yale Law School. Follow Ben on Twitter as @bjpeters.🚨✉️ We’re starting a weekly newsletter. Sign up here!Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Ben summarized his research on the Soviet network proposals for Aeon.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Project Cybersyn Shows All Tech is Political w/ Eden Medina
Paris Marx is joined by Eden Medina to discuss Project Cybersyn, a technological system created by Chile’s socialist government in the 1970s to manage production, and what it can teach us about political technology and innovation outside the Global North.Eden Medina is the author of “Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile.” She’s also an associate professor at MIT and the Rita E. Hauser Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Follow Eden on Twitter as @edenmedina.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:In 2020, Marian Schlotterbeck spoke to Jacobin about the fifty year anniversary of Salvador Allende’s election.Independent and left-wing delegates won major victories in the election for Chile’s constitutional assembly, making it hard for right-wing delegates to stall the process.In October 2020, Chileans voted overwhelmingly to draft a new constitution, following protests that began in 2019.Dictator Augusto Pinochet oversaw a brutal regime from 1973 to 1990, and the crimes of that period are still being prosecuted.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
How Many Times Has the Internet Already Died? w/ Kevin Driscoll
Paris Marx is joined by Kevin Driscoll to discuss the history of France’s Minitel system, the insights it provides about the modern platform economy, and whether the internet will one day be shut down too.Kevin Driscoll is the co-author of “Minitel: Welcome to the Internet” with Julian Mailland. He’s also a professor at the University of Washington and the author of the forthcoming book “The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media.” Follow Kevin on Twitter as @kevindriscoll, or find out more about his Minitel research at minitel.us or @MinitelResearch.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:In November 2020, Paris wrote about the potential future of the internet if the value of digital ads collapsed.Vice published an article about the artists on Canada’s pre-internet network, Telidon.In “The Internet Revolution,” Richard Barbrook wrote that he thought Britain would eventually import Minitel after experiencing it.Other resources mentioned: “The Computerization of Society” by Simon Nora and Alain Minc, and “The Platformization of the Web” by Anne Helmond.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
How State Funding Built Silicon Valley w/ Margaret O’Mara
Paris Marx is joined by Margaret O’Mara to discuss how the state and military have been at the center of the US tech industry since the very beginning, but how it was written out of the popular narrative during the neoliberal turn in the 1980s.Margaret O’Mara is the author of “The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America” and a professor at the University of Washington. Follow Margaret on Twitter as @margaretomara.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:“Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128, with a New Preface by the Author” by AnnaLee SaxenianAnother relevant book: “From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism” by Fred TurnerSupport the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)