Tech Won't Save Us 635729

Paris Marx is ed 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. 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.  the show

Paris Marx is ed 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. 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. the show

Paris Marx is ed 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. 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. the show

Paris Marx is ed 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. 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. the show

Paris Marx is ed 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. 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. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Julia Carrie Wong to discuss Elon Musk’s recent opposition to empathy, how it comes out of the Christian right, and the relationship it has to previous discussions of longtermism.  Julia Carrie Wong is a features writer at The Guardian. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Julia wrote about how the Christian right is reframing empathy as a threat to civilization. In 2017, she also interviewed Elon Musk about worker injuries at Tesla. In February, none other than Pope Francis pushed back on JD Vance’s use of a Christian theological concept to justify Trump’s inhumane immigration policies. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Jason Koebler to discuss the economy behind AI slop generation, how people are building businesses on AI-generated images, and the wider consequences of their proliferation on social media. Jason Koebler is a cofounder of 404 Media and cohost of the 404 Media Podcast. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Jason wrote about how Brainrot AI is monetized on Instagram and the wider effects of AI slop on how we perceive reality. He also wrote about how whether the tech industry’s bet on Donald Trump is working out with Emanuel Maiberg. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Laleh Khalili to discuss Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, the structural factors that allowed him to build an empire, and the many ways he’s shaped the modern tech industry. Laleh Khalili is Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and the author of Sinews of War and Trade and her 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Laleh wrote a review of a new book about Masa. She also mentioned The Box by Marc Levinson and The Next Shift by Gabriel Winant. the show

Paris Marx is doing a solo episode this week to bring together some important issues that have been on his mind lately. This is a recording of a talk Paris gave in Auckland, New Zealand on how Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump forces us to reassess the politics of the internet and challenge our collective dependence on US tech as it embraces the project of American empire. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Paris co-wrote a white paper on digital sovereignty and has written about the need to challenge US tech in response to Silicon Valley’s alliance with Trump. Paris also mentioned the EuroStack and British Digital Cooperative report. Dark Times Academy offers courses on a wide range of topics. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Aline Blankertz to discuss whether Europe is going to finally make a serious push to end its dependence on US tech and how different European interests are trying to take advantage of those debates. Aline Blankertz is an economist working on digital policy. She currently works with Rebalance Now and was previously at Wikimedia . 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Aline published some thoughts on the push for tech sovereignty in Europe. Paris co-wrote a white paper on digital sovereignty last year and more recently argued the US needs to feel the consequences for its actions. If you want to apply to be the show’s producer, find more information here. the show

Paris Marx is ed by JS Tan to discuss his experience seeing first hand how Microsoft deployed its cloud and machine learning services to help Chevron extract more oil and gas, and the state of tech worker organizing around climate change. JS Tan is a PhD student at MIT, researching cloud computing in the US and China. He’s a a member of Collective Action in Tech and writes the Value Added newsletter. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Read JS Tan’s “Oil Is the New Data” piece in Logic Magazine. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Kate Green and Milo to discuss how Elon Musk’s DOGE is dismantling the US Digital Service and the consequences that has on really improving service delivery in government. Kate Green and Milo are former US Digital Service engineers. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Find out more about We The Builders and read perspectives of federal workers. USDS workers have resigned en masse from DOGE, and Musk’s agency has fired many of those who haven’t left. The General Services istration has also cut the 18F technology team, and has been doing mass layoffs at the Technology Transformation Service.  the show

Don’t worry; your regularly scheduled Tech Won’t Save Us is coming soon! But if you’re looking to try something a little different and get a critical take on the ongoing Canadian election, check out Campaign Cops, a special five-week series hosted by Paris Marx and Rachel Gilmore. The first episode is here for you to try out, but if you want to keep listening, find future episodes on Rachel’s YouTube channel or her podcast feed on places like Apple or Spotify. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Jen St. Denis to discuss how Silicon Valley thinking is creeping into Canadian politics as Donald Trump continues to threaten the country with tariffs and annexation. Jen St. Denis is a reporter with The Tyee. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Jen wrote about the Canadian tech leaders who want their own DOGE and a BC-based Twitter/X pushing white supremacism. A recent poll found 51% of Canadians now see the United States as an enemy or potential threat. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Timnit Gebru to discuss where the AI industry stands in 2025 as AI increasingly becomes a geopolitical football even as the big promises made by AI companies fail to materialize. Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Timnit wrote about the TESCREAL bundle of ideologies with Émile Torres. The Data Workers’ Inquiry allowed data workers to share their experiences in their workplaces. the show

Paris Marx is ed by James Meadway to discuss how the UK Labour Party is embracing AI regardless of the cost and the consequences of allowing US companies to dominate the digital economy in so many other countries. James Meadway is an economist and the host of Macrodose. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: James wrote about the UK Labour Party’s obsession with growth. Last year, Google warned the UK government it would get left behind on AI if it didn’t weaken copyright rules and build more data centers. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Ed Niedermeyer to discuss the trouble with Tesla’s business model and how that makes Elon Musk’s power vulnerable to protest and boycott. Ed Niedermeyer is the author Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors and a co-host of the Autonocast. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Find a Tesla Takedown protest in your area. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Makena Kelly to discuss how Elon Musk’s DOGE is reshaping the US government and the consequences that has for government employees and the wider public. Makena Kelly is a senior writer at WIRED and writes the weekly Politics Lab newsletter. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Makena wrote about how DOGE is replacing government IT roles and also the COBOL Cowboys back in 2020. the show

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon ers. Here’s a preview of this week’s episode with Alex Hanna, the Director of Research at the Distributed AI Institute. For the full interview, the show on Patreon. the show

Paris Marx is ed by Eoin Higgins to discuss how tech billionaires set out to change the media ecosystem and made it profitable for influential voices to shift to the political right.  Eoin Higgins is a journalist and the author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. 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. the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Also mentioned in this episode: Read an excerpt of Eoin’s book on LitHub. Last year, Peter Thiel bragged to Ann Coulter about killing Gawker. Rick Perlstein wrote about the time he met Marc Andreessen. the show