Explore every episode of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss whether the AI bubble is about to burst and how bosses are deploying AI tools to kill jobs and degrade work. 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.

Paris Marx is joined by Kate Mackenzie and Tim Sahay to discuss the geopolitics behind China’s investments in green tech and electrification, and how it presents the prospect of a new development model based on renewables instead of fossil fuels. 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.

Paris Marx is joined by Nitasha Tiku to discuss how AI companies are preying on users to drive engagement and how that’s repeating many of the problems we’re belatedly trying to address with social media companies at an accelerated pace.Nitasha Tiku is a technology reporter at the Washington Post.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: 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

Paris Marx is joined by Eric Silver to discuss Spotify’s big plan to dominate podcasting, why it’s now pulling back from those efforts, and the difference between highly produced and more independent podcasts.Eric Silver is a podcast producer and head of development at Multitude.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 and produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Timnit Gebru to discuss the past year in AI hype, how AI companies have shaped regulation, and tech’s relationship to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.  The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.  Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Vincent Bevins to discuss the mass protests of the 2010s, the role that social and traditional media played in them, and why the horizontalism of those movements ultimately didn’t work.Vincent Bevins is a longtime foreign correspondent who has worked for the Washington Post, Financial Times, and LA Times. He’s the author of The Jakarta Method and If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.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 and produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Naomi Klein to discuss the problems with personal branding pushed social media, how the left’s insufficient response to the pandemic created an opening for the right, and the fight over the roots of Western society that will shape our future. Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and a columnist with The Guardian. She is the founding co-director of the UBC Centre for Climate Justice and Professor of Climate Justice at the University of British Columbia. Her newest book is Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror 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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.  Also mentioned in this episode: Read excerpts of Doppelganger in The Guardian and Vanity Fair. Naomi mentions Aimé Césaire’s Discourse on Colonialism. Support the show

2023 is over, so it’s time to go through everything! In a special year-end episode, we review the biggest stories of 2023, what we’re thinking of the AI hype, how science fiction makes us think about the future, the worst villains in the tech industry, and what we’re watching in 2024. Gita Jackson is a journalist and cofounder of Aftermath. Molly White is the creator of Web3 is Going Just Great. Aaron Thorpe is co-host of Everybody Loves Communism. 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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.  Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Astra Taylor to discuss how capitalism creates insecurity to sustain itself, the way tech is used to make us more insecure, and what it will take to change that.Astra Taylor is a writer, filmmaker, and political organizer. She’s the author of The Age of Insecurity and co-founder of the Debt Collective. Her next book Solidarity: The Past, Present, and Future of a World-Changing Idea, written with Leah Hunt-Hendrix, comes out in March. 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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.  Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Émile Torres to discuss Silicon Valley’s recent obsession with effective accelerationism, how it builds on the TESCREAL ideologies, and why it shows the divide at the top of the AI industry. Émile Torres is a postdoctoral fellow at Case Western Reserve University. They’re also the author of Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of Annihilation. 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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.  Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Tim Schwab to discuss why the story we hear about Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation doesn’t reflect their real impact on education and health around the world.Tim Schwab is an investigative journalist and 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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Joanne McNeil to discuss her new novel dealing with the human labor behind self-driving cars and the challenges of being a good tech critic.Joanne McNeil is the author of Wrong Way and has written for Dissent Magazine, New York Magazine, and The Nation.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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Mike Isaac to discuss the drama around Sam Altman being temporarily removed from OpenAI, what it means for the future of the company, and how Microsoft benefits from its partnership with the company.Mike Isaac is a technology reporter at the New York Times. He’s also the author of Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Laís Martins to discuss the recent enforcement measures against tech companies like X and Rumble in Brazil, how the country is grappling with the overreach of US tech companies, and the wider discussion about tech policy in Brazil.Laís Martins is a technology reporter at The Intercept Brasil.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: 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

Paris Marx is joined by Marwa Fatafta to discuss the ongoing Israeli campaign in Gaza, the importance of social media for sharing what’s happening on the ground, and what listeners can do to support peace and Palestinian rights. Marwa Fatafta is a Palestinian digital rights advocate and researcher. She is Access Now’s Policy and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, why he was found guilty, and how his negative traits are common across Silicon Valley. Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor. Find more of Jacob’s work on jacobsilverman.com.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 produced by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

After building an empire, now Elon Musk wants us to believe he deserves it. He built a myth of his genius, and now he’s using the same to seed harmful ideologies into the public that justify how he hoards wealth to pursue the projects he should be central to humanity’s future, leaving behind a ton of suffering in their wake. But is Musk’s future really the one we want? This is episode 4 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save 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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon. The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.  Also mentioned in this episode: Astrotopia author Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Human Extinction author Émile P. Torres, science fiction author Annalee Newitz, The Information reporter Julia Black, New York Times Johannesburg bureau chief John Eligon, Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, and environmental compliance expert Eric Roesch were interviewed for this episode. Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, and Liftoff by Eric Berger were the books cited. Support the show

Elon Musk has built himself a corporate empire, but how did he do it? He’s styled himself at as the cofounder of Tesla, but the real innovations came from its actual founders before he took the credit and spun a ton of deceptive tales he couldn’t follow through on to boost its share price. Ultimately, his interventions have had some serious consequences. This is episode 3 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save 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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, CNBC.com journalist Lora Kolodny, Ludicrous author Edward Niedermeyer, transportation journalist Alissa Walker, and climate journalist Amy Westervelt were interviewed for this episode. Ludicrous by Edward Niedermeyer, Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, and Road to Nowhere by Paris Marx were the books cited. A full transcript can be found on the show's official website. Support the show

Elon Musk is man, but he’s also a character that he crafted and which the media blew up to unimaginable scale. Without the media, Musk would not be the man he is today because that myth — and the way it exaggerated some of his traits and virtually hid others — was essential to his success. This is episode 2 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save 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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: Science fiction author Annalee Newitz, CNBC.com journalist Lora Kolodny, Ludicrous author Edward Niedermeyer, freelance journalist Karl Bode, and Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez were interviewed for this episode. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, The Founders by Jimmy Soni, and The PayPal Wars by Eric Jackson were the books cited. A full transcript can be found on the show's official website. Support the show

Elon Musk wasn't always the influential billionaire he is today. To begin our dive into the myth of Musk, we need to go back to his origins — to find out where he came from, what inspired him, and how he became the man he is today. Those details set the foundation for the three episodes to come. This is episode 1 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save 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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: Insider senior correspondent Linette Lopez, New York Times Johnannesburg bureau chief John Eligon, CBC documentary producer Ira Basen, and science fiction author Annalee Newitz were interviewed for this episode. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance, Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson, and The Founders by Jimmy Soni were the books cited. A full transcript can be found on the show's official website. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the start of the criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, what we know about the case, and whether he’s likely to be found guilty. Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor. Find more of Jacob’s work on jacobsilverman.com.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the history of the Luddites, why we have their story all wrong, and what we can learn from them today. Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times and the author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Eric Roesch to discuss the aftermath of the SpaceX Starship launch that caused so much environmental damage in April 2023 and the broader consequences of Elon Musk’s consistent regulatory evasion. Eric Roesch is an expert in environmental compliance and risk assessment who writes about intersection of capitalism, markets and greenwashing as ESG Hound. You can follow Eric’s newsletter on Substack.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Yangyang Cheng to discuss the growing divide between the United States and China, and how nationalistic narratives distract us from a better understanding of tech in both countries. Yangyang Cheng is a particle physicist and research scholar at Yale Law School. She’s written for the New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, WIRED, and many others. You can follow Yangyang on Twitter at @yangyang_cheng.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Karen Hao to discuss how Sam Altman’s goal of scale at all costs has spawned a new empire founded on exploitation of people and the environment, resulting in not only the loss of valuable research into more inventive AI systems, but also exacerbated data privacy issues, intellectual property erosion, and the perpetuation of surveillance capitalism.Karen Hao is an award-winning journalist and the author of Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode: Karen was the first journalist to profile OpenAI. Karen has reported on the environmental impacts and human costs of AI. The New York Times reported on Why We're Unlikely to Get Artificial General Intelligence Anytime Soon.  Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Dean Preston to discuss the havoc robotaxis are wreaking in San Francisco and the wider impacts the tech industry has had on the city. Dean Preston is the District 5 Supervisor in San Francisco and the first democratic socialist elected in the city in 40 years. He’s also a tenant attorney and founder of Tenants Together. You can follow Dean on Twitter at @DeanPreston.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole to discuss why they launched 404 Media, how it was inspired by their work at Motherboard, and their reflections on the state of tech media. Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole are co-founders of 404 Media. Jason was editor-in-chief of VICE’s Motherboard. Samantha was a senior editor at Motherboard and is the author of “How Sex Changed the Internet.” Find out more about 404 Media.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Ben Tarnoff to discuss the ELIZA chatbot created by Joseph Weizenbaum in the 1960s and how it led him to develop a critical perspective on AI and computing that deserves more attention during this wave of AI hype. Ben Tarnoff writes about technology and politics. He is a founding editor of Logic, and author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @bentarnoff.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss Sam Bankman-Fried having his bail revoked and Sam Altman’s plan to scan all of our irises to get us into crypto and supposedly protect us from AI. Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab. You can follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Edward Ongweso Jr. to discuss how the venture capital industry works, why the technologies it funds don’t deliver on their marketing promises, and how that’s once again being shown in the hype around AI. Edward Ongweso Jr. is a freelance journalist, co-host of This Machine Kills, and guest columnist at The Nation. You can follow Ed on Twitter at @bigblackjacobin.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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.” Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss how the right-wing of the tech industry are funding media platforms like Rumble to reshape the political discourse and why they’re helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenge Joe Biden. Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor on CBC Podcasts. You can check out Jacob’s Substack.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Kelsey Atherton to discuss the renewed interest in UFOs, where the conspiracy theories of aliens in the sky came from, and whether flying saucers might really be watching us. Kelsey Atherton is a military technology journalist. He contributes to Popular Science and has written for Slate. Follow Kelsey on Twitter at @AthertonKD.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Keoni Mahelona to discuss the colonial nature of data extraction by major tech companies, and how Te Hiku takes a very different approach to revitalize the Māori language. Keoni Mahelona is the Chief Technology Officer at Te Hiku Media. Follow Keoni on Twitter at @mahelona.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Antony Loewenstein to discuss how the Israeli weapons industry tests new military technologies on occupied Palestinians before selling them internationally. Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist who’s written for the New York Times and the Guardian. He’s the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology Of Occupation Around The World. Follow Antony on Twitter at @antloewenstein.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by David Moscrop to discuss Canada’s plan to make Google and Meta pay news publishers, and what might happened now that they’re threatening to pull Canadian news from their platforms. David Moscrop is a freelance writer and the author of Too Dumb for Democracy?: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones. Follow David on Twitter at @David_Moscrop.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Sam Biddle to discuss how Silicon Valley is shamelessly courting government military contracts, using tactics to silence employee dissent and normalize the situation to the public, and what it all means for the future of military geopolitics.Sam Biddle is a senior technology reporter at The Intercept.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode: Sam wrote about how defense tech companies sought to capitalize on Trump’s return to office and OpenAI’s embrace of nationalism. Trae Stephens was interviewed by Wired last year, where he made his comments about the military industrial complex. Meta and Anduril teamed up to provide VR and AR devices to the US military. Trump’s US Army appointee won’t give up his Anduril stock. Palantir’s CEO wrote the Defense Reformation report and Andreessen Horowitz launched an American Dynamism division. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly Crabapple to discuss why AI image generation tools are a threat to illustrators and why we need to refuse the idea that Silicon Valley’s visions of technology are inevitable. Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun with Marwan Hisham. Follow Molly on Twitter at @mollycrabapple.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the vision of the future of computing offered by Apple’s Vision Pro headset and why it should be resisted. Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times. He’s also the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase and what they might mean for the future of the crypto industry. Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at Harvard Library Innovation Lab. Follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Emily Hund to discuss the creation of the influencer industry, how it’s been formalized by companies who profit from it, and what can be done to make it fairer for the people who work in it. Emily Hund is the author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media. She’s also a research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilyadh.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the history of consumerism and where ecommerce goes in the next few years as interest rates rise and its market share stalls. Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes the Material World column. She’s also a shop steward at The Atlantic Union. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amandamull.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Mary-Jane Rubenstein to discuss how ideas that underpinned colonization and Manifest Destiny are now setting the foundation for the billionaire space race and the plan to colonize the cosmos. Mary-Jane Rubenstein is the author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race. She’s also a Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss tech billionaires’ embrace of pronatalism and how it’s part of a broader rationalist project to remake society and protect their privileged positions. Julia Black is  a senior correspondent at Insider and previously worked at Esquire and Vox. Follow Julia on Twitter at @mjnblack.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by David A. Banks to discuss how cities have been reshaped to attract tech companies and what the consequences have been for the people who live in them. David A. Banks is the author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America. He’s a lecturer in the Geography and Planning department at University at Albany, SUNY. David also writers Other Day and co-hosts Iron Weeds. Follow David on Twitter at @DA_Banks.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode: David wrote about Richard Florida, the creative class, and his book The New Urban Crisis. An excerpt of his book was published in Dwell. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Matt Binder to discuss Elon Musk’s first six months at Twitter and how his obsession with blue checks has decimated the company’s finances. Matt Binder is a reporter at Mashable and the host of Scam Economy and Doomed. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattBinder.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Shoshana Wodinsky to discuss the unconvincing arguments being made for a TikTok ban in the United States, then by Daniel Greene to explore how the turn against Chinese technology signals a shift in US policy on the internet and technology. Shoshana Wodinsky is a freelance reporter, previously at Marketwatch and Gizmodo. She writes the Tubes newsletter. Daniel Greene is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and the author of The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope. Follow Shoshana on Twitter at @swodinsky and Daniel at @Greene_DM.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Casey Johnston to discuss why she pared back on social media, made her smartphone much dumber, and what she learned about how bodies are treated online through her fitness journey.Casey Johnston is the creator of the She’s A Beast newsletter and author of A Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.Also mentioned in this episode: Casey wrote about her DIY Dumbphone Method and reducing social media use. Facebook reportedly detected when teenage girls deleted photos so it could serve them beauty ads. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Aaron Benanav to discuss OpenAI’s claims that generative AI will take our jobs, how previous periods of automation hype haven’t resulted in mass job loss, and why we need to ensure it doesn’t further empower employers. Aaron Benanav is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and the author of Automation and the Future of Work. Follow Aaron on Twitter at @abenanav.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network. Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender to discuss what it means to say that ChatGPT is a “stochastic parrot,” why Elon Musk is calling to pause AI development, and how the tech industry uses language to trick us into buying its narratives about technology. Emily M. Bender is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington and the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master’s Program. She’s also the director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilymbender or on Mastodon at @emilymbender@dair-community.social. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon. The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.  Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss the third-party sellers who supply many of the goods sold through Amazon, how the company’s policy decisions reshape small businesses to act like mini-Amazons, and what that means for regulatory responses.Moira Weigel is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, and a founding editor of Logic Magazine. Her most recent book is Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk about What They Do--And How They Do It, co-edited with Ben Tarnoff. Follow Moira on Twitter at @moiragweigel.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode: 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. Support the show