Dara Kerr is a technology reporter at Guardian US.

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:

• Dara wrote about fiery, deadly crashes involving Cybertrucks.

• Bloomberg has tracked the wider problem of Tesla door handles trapping occupants in their vehicles.

• Here is a report that supports the suggestion that Musk doesn’t like the colour yellow.

• Here is an analysis comparing the Cybertruck to the Ford Pinto.

• Cybertrucks are not approved for sale in the EU or UK.

• China is the first nation to legislate that handles must be mechanically functional from both sides of a vehicle door.

Amanda Mull is a senior reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek and writes the Buying Power column.

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:

• Amanda wrote about what it means to be monitoring the situation.

• Feeling overwhelmed by technology? There’s a club for that.

• Looking for a source of tech news? Checkout Aftermath, or Disconnect.

• Friend of the pod Casey Johnston has written about her DIY dumbphone method and reducing social media use.

Sam Biddle is a technology journalist 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. Support the show on Patreon.

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The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Send your questions to mailbag [at] techwontsave [dot] us!

• Sam wrote about Iran’s attacks on data centers and its legality.

• Here is Sam’s most recent piece about Palantir and NYC public hospitals.

• The Intercept is also covering the role of social media in the US-Iranian war.

Spencer Ackerman is the author of Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump and the forthcoming book The Torture and Deliverance of Majid Khan. He also write the Forever Wars 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. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• You can now watch episodes of Tech Won’t Save Us on YouTube!

• Spencer has written about the regime change in Iran, and the targeting of data centers in the conflict.

• Further reading on Iran’s ‘infrastructure war’.

• Here is the latest on discussions between the USA and Iran as of Monday March 23rd.

Ed Niedermeyer is the author of 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. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Go to surfshark.com/SAVEUS to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee or just punch in code SAVEUS at checkout!

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ed has written two recent pieces about Elon Musk’s relationship with Epstein.

• Here’s more information on Juleanna Glover’s relationship with Epstein.

Gita Jackson is a co-founder of Aftermath.

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:

• Gita wrote about why the left doesn’t hate technology.

• Gita also wrote about downloading digital music onto a Snowksy Fiio Echo Mini.

• Chris Person wrote about the Boox Palma eReader as an alternative to Kindle.

• Learn more about Mike Pondsmith and his Cyberpunk TTRPG.

• Gita will one day get Paris to watch Frieren.

Tim Schwab is the author of The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire.

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:

• Tim wrote about why Bill Gates should be removed from the foundation over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

• Here is the interview Melinda French Gates did with NPR

• Here is the Wall Street Journal article covering Bill Gates apology to Gates Foundation staff for his relationship with Epstein

Amanda Hanna-McLeer is a writer, educator, and director of The Luddite Club documentary. Lucy Jackson is an early member of the Luddite Club.

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.

Go to surfshark.com/SAVEUS to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee or just punch in code SAVEUS at checkout!

Also mentioned in this episode:

• The original New York Times article featuring the club

• Amanda shouts out Brian Merchant’s book The One Device and Jenny Odell’s How to Do Nothing

• The film discussed was John Carpenter’s 1988 sci-fi horror film They Live

James Vincent is a UK-based journalist and author of Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants.

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.

Exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan at https://incogni.com/saveus. Promo Code SAVEUS

Also mentioned in this episode:

• James wrote about what kicking robots can tell us about the state of modern robotics

• Rodney Brooks makes a case for the difficulty in teaching robots human dexterity

• Here is an in-depth look at what Agility Robotics has been working on

• Shout-out to the 2008 movie Sleep Dealer

• Japanese convenience stores are using robots run by offshore operators

• This is what a toilet cleaning robot looks like

Thea Riofrancos is the author of Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism. She is also Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College and Strategic Co-Director of the Climate and Community 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. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Thea has written about Trump’s resource nationalism and the resources needed for a green transition.

• The Climate and Community Institute has done a lot of research on mining and transportation.

• Indonesia has been building out a ton of coal plants to power its nickel industry.

AS Hamrah is a film critic at n+1 and the author of Algorithm of the Night and Last Week in End Times Cinema.

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:

• AS Hamrah wrote the piece Time to Face Reality on reality television, and this piece on the state of modern cinema

• New York Magazine published a feature on the Ellisons and their vision for Hollywood after taking over Paramount

• Here’s the latest on the Netflix-Warner deal

• Here’s more information on the ruling on Paramount Consent Decrees

Kat Tenbarge is an independent journalist who writes Spitfire News.

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:

• Kat has been thoroughly covering the Grok and XAI deepfake and sexual abuse story

• Paris wrote about why the Grok scandal shows we need more comprehensive tech regulation

• The deepfake documentary mentioned was called Another Body

• You can see the result of Megan Thee Stallion’s defamation lawsuit here

• Grok was blocked in Indonesia and Malaysia in response to its generation of explicit images

Chris Person is a co-founder of Aftermath and makes Highlight Reel.

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:

• CES showcased some weird gadgets this month.

• Chris recently wrote about how AI is affecting tying your shoes.

• Chris also wrote about the new Steam Machine.

• Paris wrote about how to get off US tech.

• A peak inside Chinese dark factories.

• For those interested in learning more about Bazzite.

• Canva buys Affinity.

• Chris shouts out Gamers Nexus.

• For those who want to dive deeper on RAM pricing.

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:

• Paris wrote about the lessons of the US invasion of Venezuela and why we need to reassess our relationship to digital technology.

• Paris co-authored a white paper on reclaiming digital sovereignty.

• A digital detox is a great way to review your current relationship with tech.

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. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. This episode originally aired in June 2025.

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.

Liz Pelly is a music journalist and the author of Mood Machine.

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. Production for this episode was originally by Eric Wickham.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Shout-out to the book The People’s Platform by Astra Taylor

• You can read an excerpt of Liz’s book in Harper’s.

• The CEO of Suno AI said people “don’t enjoy” making music.

• The Edmonton Public Library was mentioned for spearheading some cool projects featuring local musicians - combat capitalism by supporting the cool projects operating out of your own local library!

• Hoopla works with local libraries to share music (and Libby partners with libraries to share audiobooks)

Jathan Sadowski is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite, co-host of This Machine Kills, and a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. Brian Merchant is the author of Blood in the Machine and writes a newsletter of the same name.

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:

• Visit Francesca Bria’s useful Authoritarian Stack

• Trump signs an executive order to keep states from implementing their own AI legislation

• The Trump administration is gutting the Department of Education, climate science programs, and public health

• Disney and OpenAI have reached a billion dollar deal

• Bernie Sanders calls for a moratorium on AI data centre construction

Cam Wilson is an associate editor at Crikey and writes The Sizzle newsletter. He’s a co-author of Conspiracy Nation: Exposing the Dangerous World of Australian Conspiracy Theories.

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:

• Cam wrote about his experience reporting on the social media age limit debate and the removal of the exemption framework.

• Paris wrote about his thoughts on social media age limits and the need for much more comprehensive regulations on social media.

• 64% of US teens are using chatbots daily.

• Submit questions to Paris for an upcoming mailbag episode at mailbag@techwontsave.us

• Patreon supporters can join the year-end livestream this Friday, Dec 19 at 6PM ET

Ben Wray is a researcher specializing in the platform economy. He writes the Gig Economy Project newsletter and his most recent report for the ETUC is called Uberisation.

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.

Today’s sponsors are ExpressVPN and ⁠Aura Frames. Get four months free by visiting ExpressVPN.com/TWSU. Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at ⁠https://on.auraframes.com/PARIS⁠. Promo Code PARIS

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ben wrote about the brief attempt by the Dutch to nationalize Nexperia.

• In leaked documents from 2012-2017 Uber executives recognize their own illegal activity and refer to themselves as ‘pirates’.

• Spain recently ordered Meta to pay €479m fine for breaching EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Aline Blankertz is a cofounder of Structural Integrity.

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.

Today’s sponsor is ⁠Aura Frames. Exclusive $35 off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PARIS. Promo Code PARIS

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Aline wrote about how the sovereignty discussion was progressing at a recent summit in Europe.

• Aline mentioned an upcoming conference tying together different activist movements that listeners may find interesting: Cables of Resistance.

• Learn more about the EU’s Digital Omnibus regulation proposal.

• The Draghi Report examines EU competitiveness.

• France and Germany are partnering up to utilize AI in public administration

• Shoutout to the book Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakeley.

• Here’s the latest in OpenAI’s ongoing litigation.

• Macron and Merz spoke out against authoritarianism, in particular calling out a lack of national control over social networks.

• Some governments are pushing back and disconnecting from US tech giants.

Ketan Joshi is a climate writer and data analyst based in Oslo working with climate and environmental groups.

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.

Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PARIS. Promo Code  PARIS

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ketan has a page on his website sharing fascinating data sets.

• The International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook report was just released for this year.

• xAI was caught using enough illegal methane generators to power a city at a facility that powers Grok.

• Here is an in-depth look behind the scenes at the construction of the new data center from xAI, including the purchasing of a power plant just across the state line.

• Google's Chief of Investment loves Doug Burgum’s (Trump’s Secretary of the Interior) commitments to power AI growth with fossil fuels.

• Microsoft has been investing in nuclear energy.

• Learn more about the Enabled Emissions Campaign.

• Shout-out to the book Empire of AI by Karen Hao.

Gil Duran writes The Nerd Reich and is working on his first book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Global Democracy.

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.

Exclusive $45-off Carver Mat at https://on.auraframes.com/PARIS. Promo Code: PARIS

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Gil wrote about Peter Thiel’s Antichrist obsession and the apocalypse capitalism of Silicon Valley.

• This link is for Peter Thiel (or any Silicon Valley millionaires who may be listening); Gil recommends a brush-up on the French Revolution.

• Steve Bannon expects to go to prison.

• Donald Trump’s relationship to crypto continues to be awful.

Nathan Grayson is a cofounder of Aftermath and the author of Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen.

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:

• Aftermath launched a refreshed website. Check it out!

• Nathan wrote about the problems with the Saudi-EA deal.

• GeoGuessr users made their maps unplayable in protest against the game’s announced participation in the Esports World Cup.

• Here’s a more comprehensive list of Saudi Arabia’s game investments.

• And here’s a history of Saudi Arabia’s investments in sports.

Doug Gordon is a TV producer and writer. Sarah Goodyear is a journalist and author. They are the co-hosts of The War on Cars and co-authors of Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile.

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:

• Fighting Traffic by Peter D. Norton

• Livable Streets by Donald Appleyard

• Your Six-Year-Old by Louise Bates Ames

• Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam

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:

• Here is the Disconnect post offering a comprehensive list of options for getting off US tech.

• Producer Kyla seconds the recommendation of the library as an alternative to streaming, audiobooks, big box bookstores, and for plenty of other benefits (including inviting us to be more active community members).

• Trump’s sanctions against chief ICC prosecutor Karim Kahn has delayed proceedings, and resulted in Microsoft cancelling his email service.

• Here’s more information about when JD Vance annoyed most of Europe by comparing their governments to authoritarian regimes.

• Learn more about Alexandre de Moraes and his efforts to regulate US tech in Brazil.

Joanne McNeil is a freelance writer and the author of Wrong Way and Lurking: How a Person Became a User.

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:

• Joanne wrote about delivery bots and robotaxis for the New York Review of Architecture.

• She’s doing an event in Los Angeles discussing social media on November 1.

• Uber’s driverless car killed a pedestrian, and the company scapegoated the backup driver.

• Sleep Dealer is a sci-fi movie by Alex Rivera.

• A GM Cruise self-driving car hit a pedestrian and dragged them 20 feet before stopping.

• Even Chuck E. Cheese is getting into the ghost kitchen business.

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:

• Harvard students used Meta glasses to dox strangers.

• Apple tinkered with its AI shortly after Trump was inaugurated.

• AI may start answering 911 calls.

• Studies are suggesting that AI may be making doctors worse at diagnosing cancer.

• Rob Horning has written about overreliance on AI.

• Chris mentioned Emily Bender and her analogy comparing LLMs to plastic.

Jacob Silverman is an independent journalist and the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.

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:

• Jacob recently wrote about Musk’s latest dodgy business dealings.

• The world continues to wonder at Trump’s ability to get away with corruption and scandal.

• Saudi Arabia has been involved in Silicon Valley more than folks may have realized (prior to the EA buyout, anyway).

Tina Nguyen is a senior reporter at The Verge and author of The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out).

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:

• Tina wrote about visiting NatCon and Charlie Kirk’s memorial event.

• Tina also wrote about Peter Thiel’s ongoing obsession with the antichrist.

• Jared Isaacman was revoked as a candidate to lead NASA, highlighting the rifts Tina is discussing.

• Elon Musk is talking about starting a new political party.

Ed Niedermeyer is the author of Ludicrous and 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. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Tesla is paying out a series of lawsuits, and the California DMV has called for a one-month ban on Teslas being driven in the state.

• Curious to see what Tesla’s current Optimus robot is like?

• Is Tesla the world’s biggest meme stock?

• Tesla lied about data relating to a fatal accident until a hacker found it.

• ICE raided a Hyundai plant earlier this month.

Caroline Haskins is a staff writer at Wired.

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:

• Peter Thiel is giving a series of lectures on the Antichrist.

• Caroline wrote about Palantir and getting confronted by the company at a conference.

• Paris mentioned a connection between Paypal and the founding of Palantir; a founding story for Palantir is that the concept for the company grew from the desire to use the fraud-detection software designed for PayPal to build counterterrorism software.

• Palantir is having a much better financial year than the rest of Silicon Valley.

Aaron Benanav is an Assistant Professor at Cornell University and the author of Automation and the Future of Work.

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:

• The two parts of Aaron’s essay on a Multi-Criterial Economy were published in the New Left Review.

• Learn more about the briefly discussed Bangladesh youth led revolution.

Brian Merchant is the author of Blood in the Machine and writes a newsletter of the same name.

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:

• Brian has a series called AI Killed My Job with existing entries on tech workers and translators.
• Brian encourages listeners to check out the work being done by the National Writer’s Union, Translators Against the Machine, and Lucile Danilov at Loc’d and Loaded.
• You can contact Brian directly by emailing aikilledmyjob@pm.me
• A Stanford paper published this week explores the effects of AGI on employment.

Kate Mackenzie is an adjunct fellow at Macquarie University. Tim Sahay is co-director of the Net Zero Industrial Policy Lab at Johns Hopkins University. They are the co-writers of the Polycrisis newsletter from Phenomenal World.

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:

• Tim and Kate wrote about the potential role of the BRICS in future geopolitics.

• The Financial Times explored the implications of China as an electrostate.

• China leads the growing electric vehicle market, ⁠by a lot⁠.

• Pakistan imported 17 gigawatts of solar panels in 2024 alone, as Africa is in the midst of its own surge in Chinese solar panel imports.

• Trump’s policies are pushing China and India to ⁠strengthen ties⁠.

• Cecilia (and Paris!) worked on a report offering a roadmap to reclaiming digital sovereignty.
• The UK Labour Party forced the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority to step down earlier this year to promote its pro-growth agenda.
• A Microsoft executive told a French Senate committee that it could not guarantee data sovereignty if the US government requested information stored on its servers in Europe.
• Alexandre de Moraes is the Brazilian judge pushing back against big tech.
• The US is sanctioning judges from the ICC (as well as Alexandre de Moraes)

Support the show

• Paris wrote about what Pope Leo XIV and the Church have been saying about AI.
• In June, Pope Leo sent a message to the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
• Under Pope Francis, the Church published a note on AI called Antiqua et nova. Here is a short breakdown of its content.

Support the show

• Matt makes the case that unchecked AI may cause newsprint to outlive the hyperlink
• AI scrapers are driving traffic away from traditional sites while increasing their operational costs.
• Learn more about coping with news fatigue.

Support the show

• Jacob has reported on the Aqua 1 Foundation’s mysterious crypto deal that puts $75 million dollars in Donald Trumps pocket.
• Trump signed the GENIUS Act last week, which aims to make crypto more mainstream and is widely viewed as openly corrupt. Trump has already made millions of dollars from crypto.
• Crypto is coming for the US 401k.

Support the show

• Dan recently gave a talk about decomputing as resistance and published the text on his website.
• The UK Labour Government is going all in on data centre development, while planning for future water shortages.
• Academic institutions are rapidly adopting AI technologies, with a little help from industry leaders.
• The GKN Factory Collective offers an inspiring example of collective action.

Support the show

• An Xbox producer told laid off staff to use AI to help cope with unemployment.
• Microsoft is moving towards pressuring staff to use AI through employee evaluations.
• Nathan mentions that it’s unclear whether Game Pass is even profitable given how they balance the books.

Support the show

• Laleh mentions Iran’s accusations towards Meta regarding WhatsApp. 
• Tech executives are joining the US army.
• Laleh mentioned The Global Interior by Megan Black.
• Several years ago, Israel used an AI-assisted gun to kill an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Support the show

• Yangyang wrote about how Huawei is emblematic of China’s capitalist model for ChinaFile.
• We also discuss Eva Dou’s The House of Huawei.
• Donald Trump discussed how the USA uses the same tactics the government accuses China of employing in bad faith.

Support the show

• Nitasha wrote about how chatbots are messing with people’s minds.
• Paris wrote about Mark Zuckerberg’s comments about people needing AI friends.
• AI companies are facing ongoing lawsuits over harmful content.

Support the show

• Laís has reported on Rumble's fight against the Brazilian Supreme Court as well as the decisions the Brazilian government is making to welcome AI data centers.
• Former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was spied on by US intelligence services.
• The Brazilian government has long used and supported open source software.

Support the show

• 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. 

Support the show

• 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.

Support the show

• 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.

Support the show

• New York Magazine reported on the consequences of increasingly widespread use of ChatGPT in education.

Support the show

• 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.

Support the show

• 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.

Support the show

• 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.

Support the show

• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Read JS Tan’s “Oil Is the New Data” piece in Logic Magazine.

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• 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 Administration has also cut the 18F technology team, and has been doing mass layoffs at the Technology Transformation Service. 

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• Jen wrote about the Canadian tech leaders who want their own DOGE and a BC-based Twitter/X account pushing white supremacism.
• Paris wrote about the effort to expand DOGE beyond US borders and the conservative-tech alliance in Canada.
• A recent poll found 51% of Canadians now see the United States as an enemy or potential threat.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Find a Tesla Takedown protest in your area.

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• Makena wrote about how DOGE is replacing government IT roles and also the COBOL Cowboys back in 2020.

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• 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.

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• You can read an excerpt of Liz’s book in Harper’s.
• The CEO of Suno AI said people “don’t enjoy” making music.

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• David Golumbia wrote an essay called “ChatGPT Should Not Exist” in December 2022.
• Matt Bors drew a comic called “You made become a Nazi!”
• Cyberlibertarianism is out now from the University of Minnesota Press.

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• Gaby wrote about Elon Musk’s plans for DOGE and the eugenic ideas in Silicon Valley.
• The Guardian published an opinion piece titled, “I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers.”
• Tesla applied for more H-1B visas as it was laying off thousands of workers.

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• Jathan wrote about AI and the Tinkerbell Effect in Futurism.

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• Will wrote about Netflix and the Typical Netflix Movie for n+1.

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Cecilia Rikap is an Associate Professor in Economics at University College London.

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 Eric Wickham.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris and Cecilia were co-authors on the “Reclaiming digital sovereignty” white paper.
• Cecilia wrote a report called “Dynamics of Corporate Governance Beyond Ownership in AI.”

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• Ali wrote a blog post called “Destroy AI.”

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• Molly joined Brian and Paris on System Crash.
• Peter Thiel made some dumb remarks about Luigi Mangione on the Piers Morgan show while looking very shiny.
• Apple sold fewer than half a million Vision Pro headsets this year.

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• Amanda wrote about the changing flying experience for Bloomberg and the big investments being made in airport lounges for The Atlantic.
• Legacy airlines are taking budget customers with the ultracheap fares.
• In the US, budget airlines are beginning to offer premium seats and other amenities to attract more premium customers.

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• Cam wrote about the under-16 social media ban for Crikey.

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• Langdon Winner wrote The Whale and the Reactor and Do Artifacts Have Politics?. Timothy Mitchell wrote Carbon Democracy.
• Microsoft made an agreement to try to restart Three Mile Island, but it’s not a done deal yet.
• Data centers are fueling fossil fuel use, despite claims about nuclear and renewables. 
• Leaked documents in October confirmed Israel has nuclear weapons.

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• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen mentioning the Italian Futurists in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• Ruth Eveleth wrote about the Italian Futurists in the context of Silicon Valley.
• In 1995, Wired published a story on how “America’s futurist politicians” Al Gore and Newt Gingrich were in an epic struggle to shape the internet.
• Becca mentioned the work of Nicole Hemmer and Patricia Aufderheide.

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• Brian wrote about the results of the election on his newsletter.
• Paris wrote about why we need to remember who enabled Elon Musk to obtain his power.
• There are already reports of advertisers returning to Twitter/X to gain favor with Musk and Trump.
• OpenAI is moving away from its original non-profit status.
• Uber chief legal officer Tony West told Kamala Harris to stop attacking big business.

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• tante wrote about the problem with the Open Source Initiative’s definition of open source AI.
• Check out this link for the full breakdown on the Wordpress drama.
• Wordpress changed its trademark guidelines on September 19 regarding the use of the WP abbreviation.
• Tumblr and Wordpress started selling user data for AI training earlier this year.
• A lot of the controversy around Richard Stallman started blowing up in 2019.

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• The New York Times reported on Elon Musk’s efforts to get Trump elected in the final two weeks of the campaign.
• The Pennsylvania district attorney sued Elon Musk’s PAC to stop his $1 million giveaways.
• Marc Andreessen wrote the Techno-Optimist Manifesto and the Little Tech Agenda.
• FTX was up to way more shady things that didn’t make it into the first trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. The second didn’t go ahead after he was found guilty in the first.
• The canvassing operation for Trump by Elon Musk's PAC has been flagged as potentially fraudulent.
• The US Supreme Court’s Chevron decision will have significant consequences for federal regulators.

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• Read an excerpt of Ulises and Nick’s book.
• Ulises has helped advance the Non-Aligned Technologies Movement.
• The World Economic Forum and Accenture published a report on governance of AI.
• Geoffrey Hinton was one of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Physics. Paris wrote about why we shouldn’t trust his assessment of AI.
• Google told the UK Labour government it will be left behind in the AI race if it doesn’t do what the company demands.
• Data centers use 21% of electricity in Ireland, and number that could jump to 31% within the next three years.
• Home building in West London could be restricted until 2035 because data centers have used up the available energy.
• Kenya is being drafted into the US’s anti-China tech alliance, which includes building data centers while ignoring the poor working conditions of data labelers and content moderators.

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• Julia wrote about Curtis Yarvin and his ideas for The Information. She also wrote about the Musk-aligned tech CEOs trying to shape how we think about the future.
• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• The Dark Enlightenment is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian political project.
• Gil Duran wrote about the Reboot Conference and how it put the connections between the tech industry and the Heritage Foundation on display.
• The Heritage Foundation is flooding federal agencies with thousands of information requests to identify government employees to be purged under a second Trump administration.
• Peter Thiel wanted Balaji Srinivasan to become head of the Federal Drug Administration under the Trump presidency.
• According to Nick Land, hyperstition refers to ideas that bring themselves into being.

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• Spencer wrote a piece marking a year since October 7 for Zeteo. He’s also written about the Lebanon pager attack and Israel’s innovation with quadcopters.
• Yuval Abraham has written about the use of AI in Gaza and how Israel is relying on US cloud companies for military purposes.
• Roberto González wrote a paper about the links between Silicon Valley and the military-industrial complex.

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• Paris wrote about the problem with the “Zuckessance” for Disconnect.
• The New York Times published an article about the political evolution of Mark Zuckerberg.
• Facebook’s Free Basics was widely called out for being a form of digital colonialism.
• Joel Kaplan was a key figure within Facebook defending right-wing content from effective moderation.
• Neil Postman wrote the book Amusing Ourselves to Death in 1985.

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• Tamara wrote some pieces on AI and death for Wired and The Baffler.

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• Rob has written about the Google antitrust case and its likely outcomes.
• Paris also wrote about why it won’t solve the problems with the internet.
• Watch a highlight reel of Bill Gates' deposition on YouTube.
• Google has been deemed to have an illegal monopoly in online search.
• A second trial over Google’s monopolistic position in the online ads market is ongoing.
• The Obama administration let Google off the hook a decade ago.
• Some tech billionaire donors are pushing Kamala Harris to remove Lina Khan as head of the Federal Trade Commission if she becomes president.

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• Matt wrote about the disingenuous arguments against the California Journalism Preservation Act and the changing nature of hyperlinks online.
• Google sidestepped the two California bills to carve out a separate deal that includes funding for an AI initiative.
• When you compare per capita public broadcast funding across wealthy nations, Canada is near the bottom, but the United States is barely on the chart.
• Google will distribute $100 million to news publishers in Canada after a bargaining process there.
• Digital media companies have been doing layoffs and shutting down in droves.
• The New York Times used AI to assist in identifying the deadly weapons Israel is using against the people of Gaza.
• The Media Ecosystem Observatory looked at the effects of Meta's news ban on its platforms in Canada.

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• OneBGS and the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild each won their union votes in July 2024.
• More video game workers have already been laid off in 2024 than did in all of 2023.
• Microsoft and the Communication Workers of America signed a labor neutrality agreement in 2022, to take effect 60 days after its acquisition of Activision Blizzard closed. In May, that agreement was extended to ZeniMax Studios.
• Microsoft laid off 1,900 gaming workers in January and closed four internal studios in May.
• Blizzard provides swords, shields, and helmets to employees celebrating 5, 10, and 20 years at the company.
• The ZeniMax Workers Union struck an agreement with their employer on the use of AI.
• Nicole Carpenter at Polygon put together a list of video game unions and an explainer on the rise of video game unions.
• Communication Workers of America has more information on unionizing as part of their CODE-CWA campaign.

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• Find out more about No Tech for Apartheid from their website. Microsoft workers have also launched No Azure for Apartheid.
• Yuval Abraham reported on the Israeli military’s use of Amazon, Google, and Microsoft’s cloud services and AI in Gaza.
• Mohammad wrote about being fired by Google in The New Arab.
• Gabi refers to JWCC, with is a reference to the Department of Defense Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract with Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle.
• Google fired 50 workers earlier this year for organizing over its ties to Israel.
• The Information reported on how many Arab Americans in tech are scared to speak out in support of Palestinians for fear of retaliation.
• In 1970, Polaroid workers under the banner of the Polaroid Revolutionary Workers Movement began the first anti-apartheid boycott of a US company by organizing against their employer’s complicity in South African apartheid.
• The IBM Black Workers Alliance was central to the anti-apartheid campaign at that company.

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• Molly wrote about the Coinbase campaign finance violation and Donald Trump’s Bitcoin conference speech in her newsletter.
• Paris wrote about some of the concerns about Kamala Harris’ stance on tech.
• Fairshake spent $10 million on attacks ads against Katie Porter in California. It spent millions more targeting Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush.
• The crypto industry hates SEC head Gary Gensler, who is leading the regulatory effort against cryptocurrency.

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• The stabbing in Southport resulted in the deaths of three children and injuries to eight children and two adults.
• After days of far-right attacks, there were large anti-fascist and anti-racist demonstrations across the UK.
• Some fascists attacked hotels housing asylum seekers, but in places like Bristol, locals started defending the hotels.
• In 1968, Conservative MP Enoch Powell delivered the “rivers of blood” speech.
• Elon Musk has been sharing a series of incendiary posts and false information that have helped fuel these attacks.
• The billionaire’s changes to Twitter have helped fuel right-wing misinformation.

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• Luke reported on Shopify COO Kaz Nejatian’s involvement in and funding of a right-wing Canadian “news” website called True North.
• Rachel reported on Shopify’s decisions not to disable support for stores that sell fraudulent goods and promote hate that’s in violation of their Acceptable Use Policy. She recently pointed out a series of stores Shopify still supports that sell Nazi memorabilia.
• Last year, an anonymous former Shopify worker spoke out about the right-wing culture at the company. Rachel confirmed the person had worked for Shopify.
• In 2022, Tobi Lutke was granted a “founder’s share,” guaranteeing him 40% voting power. 46% of shareholders voted against the proposal.
• Shopify found itself in the spotlight in 2021 when employees found a noose emoji had been added to the company’s Slack system.
• Shopify President Harley Finkelstein has been publicly opposing plans to raise taxes on capital gains. Only 0.13% of Canadians will be paying more tax under the plan.
• Some right-wing figures in Canada deny the truth of the residential schools.

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• You can find the full archive of Processed World on the Internet Archive.
• Chris wrote about his experience making Processed World in Notes from Below.
• Jacob Silverman wrote a great piece on the legacy of Processed World for The Baffler.

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• Jacob wrote about Silicon Valley’s embrace of Trump for The Nation.
• Paris wrote about what Silicon Valley wants from Trump in Disconnect.
• Molly White’s new project is called Follow the Crypto.
• Elon Musk is reportedly committing $45 million a month to a pro-Trump Super PAC.
• Mark Zuckerberg called Trump a badass, while saying he won’t endorse any candidate.
• Eric Schmidt is pushing the Pentagon’s embrace of AI for war.
• Peter Thiel says he’d vote for Trump this cycle if there was a gun to his head.
• Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz wrote a Little Tech Agenda containing a basic policy program.
• Reid Hoffman funded a disinformation campaign in Alabama.
• Reed Hastings has already put $7 million into a pro-Kamala Super PAC.

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• Sasha published a paper looking at the climate impacts of generative AI.
• Paris wrote about the increased emissions at Google and Microsoft, and the consequences of the growing data center buildout.
• Google’s emissions are up 48% in five years, while Microsoft’s are up 30% between 2020 and 2023.
• Bill Gates is telling governments not to “go overboard” with concerns about AI energy use. He’s been much more active in Microsoft’s AI strategizing than he’s admitted publicly.
• Microsoft President Brad Smith says its carbon “moonshot” is much farther away because of generative AI. The company is accelerating its data center construction plans.
• Sam Altman says we can geoengineer the planet if we can’t develop an energy breakthrough to power AI.

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• David wrote about Jack Dorsey abandoning Bluesky on his blog.
• Business Insider reported on how Dorsey gave money to the far-right founder of Nostr.
• Dorsey was interviewed by Mike Solana on Pirate Wires.
• Dorsey has posted in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the response to it is why he deleted his Bluesky account.

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• Jason wrote about his theory of the zombie internet and what he’s been seeing on Facebook.
• Back in 2018, Motherboard reported on the rules Facebook gave its content moderators.
• Users of Facebook Free Basics and Wikipedia Zero in Angola found out how to make their own video streaming service for free.

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• Jason wrote about technology and degrowth and the objectives of democratic ecosocialism for Monthly Review.

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• tante spoke about innovation at re:publica 2024.
• Paris also gave a presentation on data centers.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron wrote an op-ed about shared priorities in the Financial Times.
• Sam Altman successfully lobbied to water down the EU’s AI Act.

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• Read the pieces Nitasha contributed to on Silicon Valley getting funding from Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and its embrace of the US military.
• Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018. There’s still be no accountability.
• Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman met with many Silicon Valley CEOs months before Khashoggi’s murder.
• The United Arab Emirates launched its own AI strategy in 2018.
• The UAE also put Pegasus spyware on the phone of Khashoggi’s wife months before his murder.
• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was photographed signing a woman’s chest on June 4.
• Many Arab Americans in Silicon Valley have reported being scared to speak out in support of Palestinians for fear of retaliation.

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• Read an excerpt of Dark Wire at Wired.
• Joseph wrote about the revelation that Lithuania hosted the Anom interception server and provided the intercepted messages to the FBI.

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• Nora is doing an online event with the Debt Collective on June 13.
• GoFundMe bought many of its competitors through the 2010s.
• In 2020, GoFundMe posted in a campaign it set up in response to Covid: “We’re in a growth industry: pain.”

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• Gil has written about Balaji’s Network State, Garry Tan of Y Combinator, and the plan to build a tech city in Northern California.
• Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
• Peter Thiel no longer feels “freedom and democracy are compatible.”
• Elon Musk claimed he sent ventilators to hospitals. They received biPAP and CPAP machines.
• Gil mentioned Quinn Slobodian’s “Crack Up Capitalism.”

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• Paolo analyzed the business model of BYD in Phenomenal World.
• The New York Times wrote an in-depth piece on BYD back in February.
• Foreign Affairs published an article on the success of the Chinese tech industry in the face of US dominance.
• After recording, the United States announced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles.
• In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan put quotas on Japanese car imports, making them more expensive to US consumers to help domestic automakers like GM and Ford.
• BYD is increasingly challenging on Tesla’s position as top seller of electric vehicles.

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• Paris wrote about the problems facing Tesla, written before Musk began the mass layoffs.
• Ed wrote at the end of last year about the lies that underpinned Tesla’s story being exposed.
• The Cybertruck is facing significant manufacturing issues in Austin, and recently they all had to be recalled for issues with the accelerator pedal, which caused the company to reveal that only 3,878 vehicles had been delivered to customers.
• Tesla is laying off a large number of staff, including the Supercharger and new vehicle teams.
• Elon Musk is doing mass layoffs to reestablish his power over the company, but it’s destabilizing the actual business.
• Reuters reported that Musk cancelled plans for a low-cost car in favor of robotaxis.
• Automakers were warning they couldn’t phase out Chinese minerals from the battery supply chain by 2025. After recording, the Biden administration announced some rules would be delayed until 2027.
• BYD has been looking to build a factory in Mexico.

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• Nicole did a deep dive into SHEIN and how it operates for n+1.
• Paris wrote about the Shut Down Shein campaign.
• Amazon benefits immensely from the US de minimis rule.
• Ten years after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh, many problems remain. 

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• Meghan wrote about transhumanism and religion for n+1.
• Paris wrote about the religion of techno-optimism in Disconnect.
• Amy Kurzweil wrote about her father’s chatbot of his own father.
• In China, AI “deathbots” are being used to help people grieve.
• Richard Dawkins now identifies as a “cultural Christian” (not Catholic, as Paris mistakenly said in the episode).

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• Alex wrote about sports gambling for The New Republic.
• The Wall Street Journal recent explored the wider backlash to sports betting in light of the Shohei Ohtani scandal.
• Last year, the New York Times gutted its unionized sports section to replace it with non-union writers at The Athletic.
• Psychologist Meredith K. Ginley explained how sports betting apps hook people on regular gambling.

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• Ed wrote a critical review of Burn Book in The Baffler.
• In Disconnect, Paris also wrote a critical review of Swisher’s book and explained his journey to becoming a tech critic.
• In 2021, Kara told CNBC that just because NFTs are digital “doesn’t mean it’s not of value.” The following year she also defended promoting investments in crypto for retirement.

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• Kat has reported extensively on this issue, including stories about fake nude images of underage celebrities toping search engine results, nonconsensual deepfake porn showing up on Google and Bing too, Visa and Mastercard being used to fund the deepfake economy, and why plans for watermarking aren’t enough.
• Another Body is a documentary that looks at the scale of the problem of non-consensual deepfake explicit images.
• Microsoft’s Designer AI tool was used to create AI porn of Taylor Swift.
• Middle and high schools in Seattle, Miami, and Beverley Hills are among those already facing the consequences of AI-generated and deepfake nude images.
• In 2014, Jennifer Lawrence called the iCloud photo hack a “sex crime.”

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• An excerpt of A City on Mars was published by Space.com.

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• Paris will be speaking in Montreal on March 23 and March 26.
• Jacob wrote about the GOP megadonor who could benefit from whatever happens to TikTok.
• Paris wrote about the geopolitics of the TikTok ban and what it says about US power.
• Taylor Lorenz broke down some of the disputed claims being made about TikTok.
• Sam Biddle wrote about how Facebook knows they violated Palestinian human rights.
• Byron Tau explained how US government agencies are getting people’s personal data from data brokers.

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• You can watch the entire livestream over on YouTube.
• For Disconnect, Paris wrote about how the digital revolution has failed.

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• Ed wrote about how tech lost its way and the problems with the generative AI hype.
• Paris wrote the failure of the digital revolution, the material costs of data centers, and Kara Swisher’s new book.
• A lot of Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI is cloud compute credits.
• Molly White reviewed Chris Dixon’s new book.

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• On Friday, March 8, Paris will be speaking with Ed Ongweso Jr. and Brian Merchant about Dune: Part Two and its connection to the growing Luddite movement. Watch it on our YouTube channel at 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm GMT.
• Our conversation was based in part on the Center for Climate Integrity’s new report called “The Fraud of Plastic Recycling.”
• Dharna reported on that report and has previously written about plastic materials ending up in landfills, fashion’s use of plastic, and the problem with replacing plastics with other disposables.
• In 2018, Barack Obama said, “That whole ‘suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas,’ that was me, people.
• New research has found microplastics in the placentas of unborn babies. The science isn’t settled on the effects on microplastics on human health, but there’s reason to be concerned.

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• On March 8, Paris will be doing a livestream about Dune 2 and Luddites with Ed Ongweso Jr and Brian Merchant. Get notified on YouTube.
• Ben wrote about the failure of the Platform Work Directive, the recent conferences on platform workers’ rights in Brussels, and the Uber CEO’s admission of using driver’s “behavioral patterns” to influence pay rates.
• Paris wrote about the wider context of Uber’s first annual profit.
• Delivery Hero’s business isn’t going well and its share price has been dropping.
• Glovo is facing serious legal trouble in Spain, and even as some fines have been suspended, others have been added.
• Food delivery workers in the UK have been on a major strike. Notes from Below have been publishing some dispatches from it.

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Grafton Tanner is the author of Foreverism. He also teaches at the University of Georgia.

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 Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode: 

• Paris wrote about the material footprint of data centers in Disconnect.
• Ian McKellen broke down on the set of The Hobbit after acting with no other actors on a green screen.
• In an interview with Charlie Rose, George Lucas described differences between Soviet and US film industries.
• Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy told Vanity Fair it wasn’t as fun making Star Wars films today as it was making the original trilogy.
• Jake Gyllenhaal described the difficulty of acting in a Marvel film after Spider-Man: Far From Home.

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• Paris is speaking in Auckland on February 18 at an event hosted by Tohatoha.
• Zachary wrote about dream reading technologies for Real Life.
• Zachary mentions specific works by David Golumbia, Ivan Illich, Aaron Benanav, John Cheney-Lippold, Thomas F. Tierney, Marisa Brandt, Arturo Escobar, and James Ferguson.

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• Paris will be speaking in Auckland on February 18 in an event hosted by Tohatoha.
• Emmanuel Macron aided Uber’s lobbying efforts as Economy Minister under the former Socialist government.
• France worked hard to attract the crypto industry. Macron even took a selfie with Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, who’s now pled guilty to felony charges.
• The group Technopolice documents police surveillance in France.
• La Quadrature du Net campaigns against algorithmic video surveillance.
• Louis Pouzin is considered to have almost created the internet.

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• Paris will be speaking in Christchurch on February 4 and Wellington on February 8.
• Victor wrote for Niemen Lab about the need to divorce news and capitalism, and argued for public newspapers in the Washington Post.
• In the US, two-thirds of newspaper jobs, or 43,000 journalists, have been lost since 2005.
• Robert McChesney and John Nichols propose a Local Journalism Initiative.
• Police raided a newspaper in Kansas on August 11, 2023, setting off a major scandal that’s now seen the police chief suspended.

Support the show

• Paris will be in Christchurch on February 4 (details here) and Wellington on February 8 (details here). He’s hoping to get an Auckland date organized and is open to going to Australia.
• Spotify pulled back on its podcasting ambitions last year, canceling big shows and laying off staff.
• After buying Gimlet and Parcast, it merged them into Spotify Originals last year.
• Ashley Carman posted a slide from a Spotify presentation presenting the RSS feed as “outdated tech” because it’s harder for them to harvest data from.

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• Paris is speaking in Montreal on January 20. Details here.
• Billy Perrigo reported on OpenAI lobbying to water down the EU’s AI Act.
• Nitasha Tiku wrote about the push to train students in a particular idea of AI.
• Politico has been doing a lot of reporting on the influences on AI policy in the US and UK.
• OpenAI made a submission in the UK to try to get permission to train on copyrighted material.
• Arab workers in the tech industry fear the consequences of speaking out for Palestinian rights.
• 972 Magazine reported on Israel’s use of AI to increase its targets in Gaza.
• Jack Poulson chronicles the growing ties between military and tech.
• Timnit mentioned No Tech for Apartheid, Antony Loewenstein’s The Palestine Laboratory, and Malcolm Harris’ Palo Alto.

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• Read excerpts from If We Burn in The Guardian and In These Times.
• Vincent mentioned the work of Charles Tilley, Cihan Tuğal, Evgeny Morozov, and Andrey Mir.

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• Read excerpts of Doppelganger in The Guardian and Vanity Fair.
• Naomi mentions Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism.

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• If you become a Patreon supporter before the end of the year, you’ll be entered into a giveaway for five signed copies of Joanne McNeil’s Wrong Way and Paris Marx’s Road to Nowhere. Sign up now!
• Gita recently launched Aftermath, and you can go subscribe!
• Molly is getting started on TikTok. Go follow her!
• Aaron posts a lot of cool science fiction art over on Twitter. Give him a follow!
• You can see the Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos photos we discuss in the Worst Person in Tech segment on Twitter, Bluesky, and Mastodon.
• Paris was mistaken: Enya sang “May It Be” for Fellowship of the Ring, not “Gollum’s Song” for the Two Towers. That was Emilíana Torrini. But Paris listened to both of them too much.

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• Astra wrote about the Insecurity Machine for Logic Magazine and the Dads of Tech for The Baffler.
• Find excerpts from The Age of Insecurity in The New York Times and The Walrus.
• Become a supporter on Patreon to join our giveaway.

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• Emile wrote about the TESCREAL ideologies and AI extinction scaremongering.
• Timnit Gebru also did a great presentation on TESCREAL.
• Paris wrote about the religious nature of Marc Andreessen’s techno-solutionist manifesto and about Sam Altman’s (temporary) ouster from OpenAI.
• The Year In Tech livestream for Patreon supporters is on December 17 at 1pm PT / 4pm ET / 9pm GMT. More details on Patreon or Twitter.
• The Information did a great profile on effective accelerationism.
• Forbes revealed the man behind the e/acc moniker Beff Jezos.
• 972 Magazine reported on Israeli’s use of AI to expand targets in Gaza.
• UK plans a “hit squad” to replace public servants with AI. Paris wrote about the threat it poses.

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• Bill Gates was pied in Belgium in 1999 and made fun of on The Simpsons.
• You can watch highlights from Gates’ deposition in the antitrust trial on YouTube.
• Gates had a reputation about questionable and inappropriate conduct toward women below him in the workplace.
• Aaron Gordon wrote there’s an adage that “everyone thinks Musk is a genius until you hear him talk about a subject you know something about.”
• In 2008, the head of the World Heath Organization’s malaria program criticized the growing dominance of the Gates Foundation in the research area.

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• Joanne has written about the need for tech critics that aren’t insiders and tech media warming back up to Facebook.
• Paris wrote about the recent scandal around GM’s Cruise division.
• In 2014, Ursula Le Guin was awarded the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and gave a speech that skewered capitalism.
• Joanne’s fictional tech founder was in part inspired by Holacracy and Dan Price.
• The fantasy of self-driving cars is highly reliant on remote drivers.

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• Mike summarized the OpenAI-Sam Altman affair with his colleagues in the New York Times. He's been reporting on it since it began.
• Paris wrote about the Sam Altman-Microsoft relationship in Disconnect.
• Semafor reported that in 2018, Elon Musk tried to take over OpenAI but was pushed out instead.
• Forbes reporter Sarah Emerson went through Emmett Shear’s old tweets — and yikes.

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• 1 in 200 people in Gaza have been killed. >4,600 of the 11,100 dead are children.
• An Israeli government minster called their actions the “Gaza Nakba.”
• Instagram inserted “terrorist” into translations of Palestinian bios and removed hospital bombing photos for nudity. Whatsapp generated stickers of gun-wielding children for Palestinian terms.
• Facebook’s terrorism algorithms removed non-violent Arabic content 77% of the time.
• 7amleh tracked hate speech in Hebrew on social media. WSJ reported Meta’s Hebrew hate speech classifier doesn’t actually work.
• FAIR detailed Western media bias in reporting on Israel-Palestine.
• Access Now published a report on the internet shutdowns happening in Gaza.
• CNN and other Western outlets allow the Israeli army to review their Gaza footage.
• Al Jazeera, Channel 4, NYT, and WaPo found holes in Israel’s hospital explosion story about.
• Israel has been actively creating and spreading disinformation.
• The Israeli parliament passed a bill criminalizing the “consumption of terrorist materials” as dozens are arrested for social media posts.

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• Jacob recently wrote about the Sam Bankman-Fried trial for Air Mail, The Nation, and his newsletter.
• Elizabeth Holmes reported to prison in May for an 11-year sentence for swindling investors in Theranos.
• Sam Bankman-Fried is facing further charges in a second trial scheduled for March 11. He’s also due to be sentenced for the guilty charges in the first trial on March 28.
• Caroline Ellison revealed the leaked balance sheet that ultimately tanked FTX and Alameda was one of seven fakes made at the behest of Bankman-Fried.
• Max Chafkin and Hannah Miller wrote about the role of Bankman-Fried’s parents in Bloomberg Businessweek.
• Binance is in crisis in the face of a serious Department of Justice investigation.

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• Jacob wrote about the trial on his newsletter.
• Molly White has also written a preview of what’s to come in the Bankman-Fried trial.
• Sam Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison’s diaries to the New York Times. Soon after, his bail was revoked and he was sent to prison for over witness tampering.
• Sam Bankman-Fried was interviewed by Matt Levine on Odd Lots and basically admitted yield farming was a Ponzi scheme.
• Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh have all pleaded guilty and are expected to be collaborating with the government against Bankman-Fried.
• Bankman-Fried’s parents are also being sued over the millions they got from FTX.

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• An excerpt from Brian’s book was published in Fast Company. He also explained why he’s a Luddite in the Washington Post.
• In 2014, Brian wrote “You’ve Got the Luddites All Wrong.”
• On October 12, we’ll be holding a Luddite Tribunal in New York City.
• We also mentioned the work of David Noble, Eric Hobsbawm, and E. P. Thompson.

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• Eric wrote about the damage the Starship launch was going to have, SpaceX’s violation of the Clean Water Act, and Elon Musk’s general regulatory evasion. He also shared a lot of photos of the aftermath of the Starship launch.
• Paris wrote about the late David Golumbia and his work on Disconnect.
• The Federal Aviation Administration says SpaceX needs to take 63 corrective measures before another Starship launch.
• The FAA was sued by environmental groups over the impacts of the Starship launch. SpaceX joined that lawsuit.
• SpaceX still needs approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service before it can launch again. They’ve previously not been happy with SpaceX.
• Ronan Farrow put shed light on the power Elon Musk has amassed in the New Yorker.

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• Yangyang wrote about the myth of the TikTok spy and the US fixation on Chinese espionage for Wired.
• She mentioned the coming expiry of a science and technology agreement between the US and China. It’s been temporarily extended.
• Paris recently wrote about the benefits the US receives from the global footprint of its tech companies, and why that makes China look like a threat.

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• Paris interviewed one of the activists placing cones driverless cars to disable them and draw attention to the California Public Utilities Commission’s pro-corporate regulatory decisions.
• In 2011, Twitter got a massive tax break to stay in San Francisco instead of moving its offices elsewhere in the Valley.
• Salesforce CEO Marx Benioff was a rare tech mogul to support San Francisco’s ballot measure to create a new tax to fund help for homeless residents.
• A ballot measure to increase the transfer tax on properties over $10 million won in 2020, despite industry opposition.
• The campaign against progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin was bankrolled by tech and real estate money. Jacob Silverman put this into wider context in a piece about the rise in the political influence of David Sacks.

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• Last week the 404 team introduced themselves. Among the stories they published were pieces looking into Apple AirPods Max and AI-generated porn.
• Vice declared bankruptcy in May 2023.
• Paris argued in Disconnect that the media failed the public in how they reported on Elon Musk.

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• Ben wrote a long article about Weizenbaum and what we can learn from his work for The Guardian.
• Paris wrote a skeptical perspective on AI hype and the promises of ChatGPT in Disconnect.
• Zachary Loeb has also written about Weizenbaum’s work and perspective on AI and computing.

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• Molly wrote about Sam Bankman-Fried going to prison and what’s going on with Worldcoin in her newsletter.
• Paris also dug into Worldcoin in the Disconnect newsletter.
• The New York Times published a story about Caroline Ellison based on details provided by Sam Bankman-Fried.
• MIT Tech Review and Buzzfeed News did in-depth investigations of Worldcoin and its exploitation of people in the Global South.
• Worldcoin has been shut down in Kenya and is under regulatory scrutiny in the European Union.

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• Edward wrote about the problems with venture capital and what the AI hype shows us about the industry for The Nation. Earlier this year, he wrote about the tantrum VCs threw after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
• Paris wrote about where Elon Musk’s vision for the X superapp comes from, why his Twitter rebrand isn’t going so well, and why ChatGPT isn’t a revolution.
• In 2020, Sam Harnett wrote about the problem with tech media’s coverage of the gig economy.
• Uber used to want to be the “Amazon for transportation” and the “operating system for everyday life.”
• TIME reported on how OpenAI lobbying watered down EU AI rules.
• Marc Andreessen wrote his pitch for “Why AI Will Save the World.”

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• Jacob wrote about Rumble as a MAGA platform, why tech is boosting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., revolutionary war reenactors getting caught up in Facebook’s purge of militia groups, and David Sacks.
• Mark Zuckerberg chose to go easy on Alex Jones and other right-wing figures on Facebook.
• Trump Media may be going public via a SPAC merger.
• Darren Blanton was involved in a scheme to keep Black voters from the polls.
• Wendy Siegelman put together a chart of the connections between Rumble, Trump Media, and other groups.
• Rumble went public via SPAC in 2022.
• Brandy Zadrozny wrote about RFK Jr. and his views for NBC News.

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• Kelsey has written about how the military’s culture of secrecy breeds UFO conspiracy theories, why sensors are an important aspect to consider, and the truth of Area 51.
• A U-2 pilot took a selfie with the Chinese balloon shot down earlier this year.
• The military later confirmed the Chinese balloon was not actually spying on the United States.
• One of the balloons that were shot down likely belonged to a hobbyist group called the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade.
• In 2019, a bunch of people online planned to hold a “Naruto run” at Area 51.

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• Keoni and some of his colleagues wrote about why OpenAI’s Whisper is another example of colonialism.
• Wired and MIT Tech Review have written about the work Te Hiku is doing with Māori language in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Mark Zuckerberg owns a lot of land in Hawaiʻi, and it’s quite controversial.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Tech Won’t Save Us was in the New York Times!
• 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.
• Prometheum Capital registered to deal in crypto securities.
• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• David wrote about Richard Florida, the creative class, and his book The New Urban Crisis.
• An excerpt of his book was published in Dwell.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• Kate wrote about Saudi Arabia’s big architecture projects, the problem with PR-chitecture, the ethical failings of modern architecture, and why utopian architectural projects suck.
• In 2020, Bjarke Ingels met with Jair Bolsonaro about a tourism plan for Brazil.
• Workers in the architecture industry have begun to unionize.

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• Jacob wrote about the lessons from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in the Globe and Mail.
• Paris wrote about how the SVB collapse should be a radicalizing moment against venture capitalists.
• A video circulated about Jason Calacanis bragging about SVB offering him favorable banking services.
• A screenshot shows a founder complaining about Chase closing his bank account because his company doesn’t have a physical office, saying SVB never required one.
• Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund told its portfolio companies to pull their money out of SVB before its collapse.
• SVB’s President pushed for Congress to reduce regulations and oversight on banks like SVB as it grew.

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• Paris is visiting New Zealand and doing a number of events through the latter half of March. Find all the dates and details here.
• James wrote about Japan’s efforts to automate elder care for MIT Tech Review.
• Jennifer Robertson spoke about the gendering of robots to cement conservative gender norms.

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• Dan wrote specifically about ChatGPT and how we should approach it on his website.
• Dan mentions TWIML as a podcast that has conversations with industry players that’s informative for how these technologies work (though you’re not likely to get a critical perspective on them), and Achille Mbembe’s book Necropolitics.
• OpenAI used Kenyan workers earning $2/hour to make ChatGPT less toxic.
• The UK had to scrap a racist algorithm it was using for visa applications and many councils dropped the use of algorithms in their welfare and benefits systems.
• Dan mentions a Human Rights Watch report on the EU’s flawed AI regulations and its impacts on the social safety net.
• The Lucas Plan was developed by workers at Lucas Aerospace in the 1970s, but rejected by their bosses.

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• The Gig Economy Project has a weekly newsletter on the gig economy in Europe.
• Ben wrote about the Platform Work Directive for Context.
• In 2022, the Uber Files gave us greater insight into Uber's lobbying activities, with a specific focus on what had gone on in Europe. The leaks implicated French President Emmanuel Macron, but he said he’d do it all again.
• The Gig Economy Project broke down what dynamic pricing would mean for workers and spoke to Leïla Chaibi about the Platform Work Directive.
• The UCLA Labor Center, transport analyst Hubert Horan, and Rideshare Drivers United with the Asian Law Caucus have all found Uber raising prices while cutting driver pay.
• Spain passed the Riders Law to regulate gig work, and Barcelona has pushed back against ride-hailing with the backing of a taxi union called Élite Taxi.

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• Rosie wrote a paper called “Disrupting the Welfare State? Digitalisation and the Retrenchment of Public Sector Capacity” for New Political Economy, and a report calling “Digital Public Assets” for Common Wealth.
• Palantir has a massive and controversial contract with the NHS. That hasn’t stopped Peter Thiel from criticizing the UK’s public healthcare system.
• Mar Hicks wrote about the masculinization of the computer workforce in Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing.

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• You can read an excerpt of Malcolm’s book in The Atlantic.

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• Argo AI shut down in October and Apple pushed back its car project again in December.
• California found “Full Self-Driving” was a misleading term and couldn’t be used in Tesla marketing.
• A Tesla engineer testified that a 2016 video to promote Autopilot was staged.
• Tesla is facing a number of Autopilot cases in the coming months, including an important one in Florida.
• Liza Dixon wrote about “autonowashing”.
• In January, Tesla admitted it was under investigation by the Department of Justice.
• Tesla’s Head of Autopilot Software testifying he doesn’t know what an operational design domain is presents serious red flags.
• Chinese car companies are planning to significantly expand vehicle exports, as BYD is already selling more vehicles in China than Tesla sells globally.
• Since recording, Elon Musk was found not liable in the “funding secured” trial.

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• Anousha wrote about how the Writers Guild and Directors Guild are approaching upcoming negotiations with studios.
• David Robb wrote about the history of Writers Guild strikes, and why another one seems overdue.
• WGA West recently blasted Warner Discovery for reducing opportunities for content creators after its merger.
• In 2021, IATSE was poised to go on strike before reaching a last-minute deal with the studios that was accepted by members.
• A new deal will loosen some Covid protocols on film sets.
• In 2021, Apple was paying lower rates to production crews because it said its TV+ service has less than 20 million subscribers. In July 2022, it started paying the higher rate.
• In 2018, the Hollywood Reporter reflected on the 2007 writers strike after ten years.
• The 2007 writers strike helped revive Donald Trump’s flagging The Apprentice show with a spinoff, The Celebrity Apprentice.

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• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Apple is planning to release a mixed-reality headset, but its AR glasses have reported been delayed due to ongoing technical issues.
• Mark Zuckerberg said you’ll be able to text people during a meeting on your glasses.
• Google released a video called “One Day” that vastly overpromised what Glass would deliver.
• Sergey Brin’s affair with an employee working on Glass was revealed in 2013.
• After 8 years, the “Twitter tax cut” finally ended in 2019.
• Residents protested against Google’s use of public bus stops in San Francisco.
• The PRISM revelations showed the NSA had access to tech company servers.
• The Daily Show skewered Google Glass in a 2014 segment.

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• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Timnit wrote about the exploited labor behind AI tools and how effective altruism is pushing a harmful idea of AI ethics.
• Karen Hao broke down the details of the paper that got Timnit fired from Google.
• Emily Tucker wrote an article called “Artifice and Intelligence.”
• In 2016, ProPublica published an article about technology being used to “predict” future criminals that was biased against black people.
• In 2015, Google Photos classified black women as “gorillas.” In 2018, it still hadn’t really been fixed.
• Artists have been protesting AI-generated images that train themselves on their work and threaten their livelihoods.
• OpenAI used Kenyan workers paid less than $2 an hour to try to make ChatGPT less toxic.
• Zachary Loeb described ELIZA in his article about Joseph Weizenbaum’s work and legacy.

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• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Louise wrote about YouTube videos predicting China’s collapse, the rise of Shein, and the prospect of TikTok bans.
• Many US states are banning TikTok from government-issued devices.
• In 2000, Bill Clinton said that trying to place restrictions on the internet was like trying to nail Jello to a wall. China proved him wrong.
• India has already banned TikTok and a number of other Chinese apps.
• Speakers of the Khmer language in Cambodia used voice chat on Messenger because keyboards weren’t designed to work with their language.
• Shein is taking off in Mexico.

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• Please participate in our listener survey this month to give us a better idea of what you think of the show: https://forms.gle/xayiT7DQJn56p62x7
• Elon Musk says Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a big inspiration, but he seems to have missed its message.
• Karen Hao and Gideon Lichfield explained how Facebook’s PR team nitpicked one of their stories
• Books mentioned: Ruha Benjamin’s Viral Justice: How We Grow the World We Want and Jimmy Soni’s The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.
• The New York Times recently wrote about a group of Luddite teens.
• Tommy Douglas won CBC’s Greatest Canadian contest for winning public healthcare. You can see the episode here.

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• Paris wrote about Netflix and streaming services for Business Insider.
• Brian wrote about how 2022 was a disastrous year for the tech industry for The Atlantic.
• Chris and Kishonna Gray wrote about digital migration and what it means for Black users for Wired.
• Gita wrote a review of Dwarf Fortress’s Stream release.
• Part of the show discusses a Twitter policy that was briefly launched to restrict sharing of links from several other social media platforms. It was rescinded after the initial discussion.

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• Since recording, Sam Bankman-Fried has been extradited from the Bahamas to the United States, and it’s been revealed that Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder have plead guilty and are cooperating with authorities against Bankman-Fried.
• Molly has been analyzing the collapse of FTX on her newsletter.
• Paris wrote about effective altruism and longtermism for the New Statesman.
• Journalists at Forbes wrote about Caroline Ellison and her history.
• After Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested, effective altruist Kelsey Piper published a series of direct messages she exchanged with her supposed friend.
• The Southern District of New York’s attorney’s office, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have all filed charges against Sam Bankman-Fried.
• There are rumors that Caroline Ellison is working with authorities against Sam Bankman-Fried.
• US Justice Department is split on when to charge Binance executives. There are also growing questions about Binance’s books.

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• Casey Newton and Zoe Schiffer wrote about how tech CEOs are inspired by what Musk is doing at Twitter
• Mel Krantzler and Patricia Krantzler wrote Down and Out in Silicon Valley: The High Cost of the High-tech Dream
• Jacob Silverman wrote about David Sacks and the reactionary turn of tech billionaires
• Paris wrote about how longtermism is designed to justify the position of billionaires in society
• Julia Black wrote about the embrace of pronatalism within the tech industry

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• An excerpt from Survival of the Richest was published in The Guardian.
• Paris was recently on the Team Human podcast to discuss Road to Nowhere with Douglas.

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• David wrote about why traffic safety is getting worse in the US, and compared it to Canada, Finland, France, and Japan. He also wrote about the history of self-driving cars, the danger posed to pedestrians on the roads, the problem with infotainment systems, and what’s wrong with positioning car tech as the solution to our problems.
• Paris wrote about how Elon Musk designed the Hyperloop to try to get California’s high-speed line canceled.
• AAA puts the annual cost of car ownership in the US at over $10,000 a year in 2022. In Canada, CAA put it at $8600 to $13,000 a year in 2017 — a number that is surely even higher now.
• Peter Norton wrote about how the auto industry took over US roads in the early 1900s in Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City.

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• Daniel wrote about how advertising and the need to create audiences is much more central to the tech economy than is often discussed.
• Shoshana Wodinsky explained why so many companies are getting into advertising, including hotel chains, retailers, and more.
• Unity faced criticism for merging with IronSource, a known advertising malware distributor.
• After reporting a subscriber decline earlier this year, Netflix launched an ad-supported tier in October.
• Companies like Apple and Uber are expanding their efforts to increase advertising revenue.
• Ramon Lobato wrote Netflix Nations: The Geography of Digital Distribution.

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• Paris will be speaking at Marxism Festival in Dublin on November 19, the Lighthouse Bookshop on November 24, and details on an event in London on November 25 are coming soon.
• In a series of recent articles, visual effects workers have been speaking out about conditions in the industry.
• The Mandalorian introduced ILM and Disney’s new visual effect technology dubbed “Stagecraft” that uses LED video walls instead of green screens.
• The declining quality of effects in major films is forcing people to look at labor and production practices.
• Disney accounted for nearly 40% of box office returns in 2019, and made 80% of the top earning films of the year.

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