Politechs – Details, episodes & analysis

Since the invention of the wheel, automation has both substituted and complemented labour; machines replaced humans at some lower-paying jobs, but this was compensated by the creation of new, higher-paying jobs; in other words: tech workers. In recent years, there has been a desire from certain high-profile tech companies for an "apolitical workplace". This in itself is a political act; an act designed to suppress the power of tech workers and reinforce the status quo. They know that politics is inextricable from tech. And now so do you. Welcome to Politechs.

In Season 1 of Politechs, it's time to talk about AI: what it is, what it can and can't do, what makes it dangerous, and why we as tech workers must not buy into the inevitability narrative; why we must resist, and how we can resist.

We'd love to hear from you if you disagree with something we've said. Please read our rules of engagement for good faith discussions, and then send an email to podcast@politechs.dev or hit us up on socials.

To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page. Be sure to follow us on BlueSky and Mastodon!

Cover art by Anya K. Jordan @anyakjordan.bsky.social

Theme music by Ptzery

Politechs is provided under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoAI licence

AI is everywhere these days, and the problem with it is not what people think. It's not Skynet we should fear; it's the actually existing harms that are being done to the environment, workers around the world, and the human mind itself. Join Josh and Ray for the inaugural episode of the inaugural season of Politechs as they lay down a Luddite argument against AI from the perspective of software engineers and talk about how to have good faith discussions with people who might not see or be willing to acknowledge the dangers of the technologies under the AI umbrella.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Politechs Rules of Engagement for good-faith discussions
• Tech Won't Save Us - critical tech podcast
• This Machine Kills - critical tech podcast
• The Tech Bubble - critical tech newsletter from Ed Ongweso Jr.
• Blood in the Machine - critical tech newsletter from Brian Merchant

We'd love to hear from you if you disagree with something we've said. Please read our rules of engagement for good faith discussions, and then send an email to podcast@politechs.dev or hit us up on socials.

To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page. Be sure to follow us on BlueSky and Mastodon!

Cover art by Anya K. Jordan @anyakjordan.bsky.social

Theme music by Ptzery

Politechs is provided under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoAI licence

Our societies are necessarily based on trust, but how do we decide what institutions, people, and technologies to place our trust in? And why have we collectively decided that since "computers don't make mistakes", they are always worthy of our trust?

Mentioned in this episode:

• British Post Office scandal
• Dutch welfare algorithm [permalink]
• Enshittification - Cory Doctorow's theory of how platforms move inexorably towards abusing users and partners alike
• Flint water crisis
• Data labelling in Kenya [permalink]

We'd love to hear from you if you disagree with something we've said. Please read our rules of engagement for good faith discussions, and then send an email to podcast@politechs.dev or hit us up on socials.

To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page. Be sure to follow us on BlueSky and Mastodon!

Cover art by Anya K. Jordan @anyakjordan.bsky.social

Theme music by Ptzery

Politechs is provided under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoAI licence

Whilst everyone has an opinion about AI, there are certain top-level narratives driving the hype bubble. We look at the doomer / booster divide (which turns out to be not so divided) and peek behind the curtain to see which corporations and people are pushing these narratives and what they have to gain.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Dystopia Now - TESCREAL Overview with Kath Barbadoro and Alex Ptak
• Why does this billionaire have 100 kids in 12 countries?, by Arwa Mahdawi [PERMALINK]
• Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartless - AI AGENTS EMERGENCY DEBATE

We'd love to hear from you if you disagree with something we've said. Please read our rules of engagement for good faith discussions, and then send an email to podcast@politechs.dev or hit us up on socials.

To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page. Be sure to follow us on BlueSky and Mastodon!

Cover art by Anya K. Jordan @anyakjordan.bsky.social

Theme music by Ptzery

Politechs is provided under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoAI licence

We're joined this week by Dr. Chris Gilliard, Co-Director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute to talk about what generative AI means for surveillance, and how this technology disproportionately harms marginalised groups. Dr. Gilliard is a writer, professor, and speaker whose scholarship examines digital privacy, surveillance, and the intersections of race, class, and technology. His book "Luxury Surveillance" is forthcoming from MIT Press in 2026.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Critical Internet Studies Institute develops cutting-edge research and educational programs to advance public knowledge of emerging technologies and the paradoxes of innovation.
• Don't Give Surveillance for Christmas: Chris appears on the Tech Won't Save Us podcast
• How Companies Learn Your Secrets, by Charles Duhigg [PERMALINK]
• The TESCREAL bundle: Eugenics and the promise of utopia through artificial general intelligence, by Timnit Gebru and Emile P. Torres [PERMALINK]
• ChatGPT Should Not Exist, by David Golumbia [PERMALINK]
• Defining AI, by Ali Alkhatib [PERMALINK]
• Practico-inertia, by Rob Horning [PERMALINK]

We'd love to hear from you if you disagree with something we've said. Please read our rules of engagement for good faith discussions, and then send an email to podcast@politechs.dev or hit us up on socials.

To view full show notes, including transcripts, please visit the episode page. Be sure to follow us on BlueSky and Mastodon!

Cover art by Anya K. Jordan @anyakjordan.bsky.social

Theme music by Ptzery

Politechs is provided under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial-NoAI licence