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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Gig Work is Not a Novelty in Brazil w/ Rafael Grohmann
Paris Marx is joined by Rafael Grohmann to discuss the state of app-based work in Brazil, organizing by food delivery workers to demand better conditions, and even a recent strike by click farm workers. Rafael Grohmann is a professor at UNISINOS, coordinator at DigiLabour Research Lab, and principal investigator in Brazil of Fairwork Project. Follow Rafael on Twitter at @grohmann_rafael. 🚨 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. Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com. Also mentioned in this episode:DigiLabour is organizing a PhD symposium on October 27-28. Find out more here.Some of the people and work mentioned in this episode: Callum Cant, Fabian Ferrari and Mark Graham, Noopur Raval, Rosana Pinheiro Machado, Cheryll Soriano and Jason Cabañes, and Wendy Brown.DigiLabour is looking into worker-owned platforms in Brazil.Vice wrote about gig work organizing in Latin America and talked a lot about the Anti-fascist deliverers.Rafael and his colleagues also looked at political struggle around gig work and the importance of communication.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
The Fight for Gig Workers’ Rights in Europe w/ Ben Wray
Paris Marx is joined by Ben Wray to discuss the state of the gig economy in Europe, including the Spanish riders law, recent court ruling on employment status in the Netherlands, strikes in Germany and Greece, and the forthcoming platform workers directive from the European Commission.Ben Wray is a coordinator at the Gig Economy Project and a freelance journalist. Follow Ben on Twitter at @Ben_Wray1989.🚨 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.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:Sign up for the Gig Economy Project’s newsletter for updates on what’s going on in Europe.A Dutch court ruled that Uber drivers are employees.Spain’s Riders Law came into effect, but the companies didn’t comply.Glovo dark supermarkets workers in Barcelona went on strike in August.E-food workers in Greece went on strike and won a huge victory.Gorillas fired workers for wildcat strikes.The European Commission will deliver platform work regulations in December. It’s been meeting a lot with gig companies.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Migrant Workers in Australia’s Gig Economy w/ Tyler Riordan
Paris Marx is joined by Tyler Riordan to discuss the state of the gig economy in Australia, the ongoing efforts to improve their conditions, and Tyler’s research on migrant food couriers in Brisbane.Tyler Riordan is a PhD candidate in hospitality and anthropology at the University of Queensland. Follow Tyler on Twitter at @tyler_riordan. 🚨 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. Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com. Also mentioned in this episode:The deaths of gig economy workers have become a major focus on governments and the media over the past yearAustralia’s federal government has an ongoing Senate committee on gig workUber settled a case in December 2020 to avoid a ruling on employment status, but another test case has been filed in Federal CourtFoodora pulled out of Australia in 2018Menulog announced it was making some workers employees earlier this yearSupport the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
How Race Was Central to Prop 22 w/ Veena Dubal
Paris Marx is joined by Veena Dubal to discuss how Proposition 22 and the contract status of gig workers is reminiscent of the United States’ history of racial wage codes, which codified lower wages for Black workers. Veena Dubal is a Professor of Law at UC Hastings. Follow Veena on Twitter at @veenadubal. Go back to episode 10 (May 21, 2020) for Veena’s first appearance on the podcast. 🚨 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. Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com. Also mentioned in this episode:If you’ve ever assigned an episode of the podcast in a college or university course, let me know by Twitter DM, email, or through this form.Read Veena’s essay on The New Racial Wage Code.Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois had opposing philosophies for Black social and economic progress.Robert C. Weaver and David Roediger wrote about differential wages.Uber put up a billboard saying, “If you tolerate racism, delete Uber.” Drivers were not happy.Uber and Lyft held up workers’ unemployment claims, and Lyft charged for PPE.After Prop 22, gig companies raised fees despite promising not to, and workers reported earning even less money.In August, Prop 22 was found to be unconstitutional.New York City recently passed new protections for delivery couriers after organizing by Los Deliveristas Unidos.Find out more about Rideshare Drivers United.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
The Amazon Union Drive Comes to Canada w/ Sara Mojtehedzadeh
Paris Marx is joined by Sara Mojtehedzadeh to discuss the Teamsters’ organizing at Amazon warehouses in Canada and the working conditions that workers face at those facilities.Sara Mojtehedzadeh is a labour reporter at the Toronto Star and the host of Hustled, a podcast about Foodora workers’ fight for a union. Follow Sara on Twitter at @SaraMojtehedz.🚨 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.Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.Also mentioned in this episode:If you’ve ever assigned an episode of the podcast in a college or university course, let me know by Twitter DM, email, or through this form.In June, the Teamsters voted to put resources behind unionizing Amazon.The Teamsters Canada applied for a union vote in Edmonton, Alberta, and said it’s organizing at nine warehouses. Amazon is hiring 15,000 workers and raising wages.During the pandemic, the Canadian government signed a deal with Amazon to deliver PPE. The contract fell apart.After an Amazon worker died in Indiana, the governor intervened to overturn the citations.California is regulating productivity quotas at warehouses.Discussions are picking up about sectoral bargaining in Canada.Sara wrote about the high injury rates at Amazon’s Canadian warehouses and the temporary closure of its Brampton, Ontario warehouse after a Covid outbreak.Find out more about Teamsters Canada’s Amazon campaign and the Warehouse Workers Centre.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
What Apple Won’t Tell You About the iPhone w/ Brian Merchant
Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the development of the iPhone, how Apple manages the press, and how the parts of the company’s supply chain that get too little attention.Brian Merchant is the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine, coming in 2022. Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant.🚨 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:In 1968, Douglas Engelbart showed off the “Mother of All Demos.”David Nye wrote the American Technological Sublime.Paris thinks Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater has big church vibes.Disgraced former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes tried to emulate Steve Jobs.IBM built the Simon smartphone in the 1990s, but it was ahead of its time.In 2011, Apple made $473,000 per retail employee — far more than other retailers. Its revenue per square foot was almost double Tiffany’s. That year, Cory Moll also led a push for an Apple Retail Workers Union, but Apple fought back and he left the company in 2013.In 2010, after facing criticism, Steve Jobs said the suicide rate at Foxconn factories was “well below the China average.”In December 2020, workers at a Wistron iPhone factory in India ransacked the factory because they weren’t getting paid.Jenny Chan, Mark Selden, and Ngai Pun wrote Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and The Lives of China’s Workers (US/UK).Apple files annual conflict minerals reports. You can read their 2021 report here.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
The Creation of a Black Cyberculture w/ André Brock
Paris Marx is joined by André Brock to discuss the history of Black people’s online activity, the internet’s association with whiteness, and what Black Twitter can tell us about the centrality of Black people to digital culture.André Brock is an associate professor of media studies at Georgia Tech. He writes on Western technoculture, Black technoculture, and digital media. His award-winning book, Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures, theorizes Black everyday lives mediated by networked digital technologies. You can get if from NYU Press, and it’s available through open access. Follow André on Twitter at @DocDre.🚨 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:Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald did portraits of the Obamas, while Kara Walker made “A Subtlety” at the Domino Sugar Refinery.Achille Mbembe is a Cameroonian philosopher and social theorist.Janelle Monáe, Sun Ra, and John Jennings are notable people engaging with Afrofuturism.Books mentioned: Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter by Charlton D. McIlwain and Tools for Conviviality by Ivan Illich.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Big Tech Entrenches US Power w/ Michael Kwet
Paris Marx is joined by Michael Kwet to discuss how digital technologies are used to entrench the power of the United States and its dominant corporations at the expense of the Global South.Michael Kwet is a Visiting Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. He got his PhD in Sociology at Rhodes University in South Africa. Follow Michael on Twitter at @Michael_Kwet.🚨 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:Michael wrote about digital colonialism and the need for a Digital Tech Deal.Bill Gates wrote a notorious letter in 1976 opposing the sharing of software as it conflicted with Microsoft's business model.Tech companies export content moderation, training AI, call center, and even more labor to the Global South.Gabriel Winant criticized the dominant liberal perspective on antitrust action.Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
Blockchain Won’t Save the Global South w/ Olivier Jutel
Paris Marx is joined by Olivier Jutel to discuss blockchain’s pivot to humanitarianism, the questionable people behind the technology, and how their projects in the Pacific have benefited capitalist and imperial power.Olivier Jutel is a lecturer at the University of Otago. Follow Olivier on Twitter at @OJutel.🚨 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’ first book “Road to Nowhere” comes out in July 2022.Olivier wrote a paper about blockchain imperialism in the Pacific and it was covered by Motherboard.BCCI was an international bank established in 1972 that was shut down in 1991 for hiding money laundering and other financial crimes.Hernando De Soto is a Latin American economist who advised Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori and advocates neoliberal policies like land title programs. He now pushes for it to be done through blockchains, and wrote an op-ed with Phil Gramm.Brock Pierce is a co-founder of Tether and tried to turn Puerto Rico into a crypto paradise.Hillary Clinton described the freedom to connect doctrine. Geoffrey Bond sold Vanuatu citizenship and was connected to Sebastian Greenwood, who was part of the OneCoin Ponzi scheme.Binance is under investigation, if not pushed out of, multiple countries.Fiji is facing major opposition to land reform plans.Books mentioned: David Gerard’s “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain” and “Libra Shrugged,” Fred Turner’s “From Counterculture to Cyberculture,” Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s “Empire,” Herbert Schiller’s “Communication and Cultural Domination,” Armand Mattelart’s “The Invention of Communication,” Lilli Irani’s “Chasing Innovation,” and Teresia Teaiwa in “Anglo-American Imperialism and the Pacific.”Support the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
How Neoliberalism Seized the Internet w/ Dan Greene
Paris Marx is joined by Dan Greene to discuss how the Clinton administration reframed poverty through the lens of the internet and how that transformed the missions of key institutions like libraries and schools.Dan Greene is an assistant professor at University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies. He is the author of “The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope.” Follow Dan on Twitter at @Green_DM.🚨 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:Anna Pacquin starred in a series of commercials for MCI about the internetBen Tarnoff wrote about the privatization of the internetDan wrote an article about the landlords of the internetSupport the show (https://patreon.com/techwontsaveus)
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)