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How Cloud Giants Cement Their Power w/ Cecilia Rikap Jan 02, 2025

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Cecilia Rikap to discuss the ways Amazon, Microsoft, and Google gain power from companies becoming dependent on their cloud services and how generative AI exacerbates that problem.

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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Maybe We Should Destroy AI w/ Ali Alkhatib Dec 26, 2024

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Ali Alkhatib to discuss the difficulty of holding the AI industry accountable and why sometimes it makes sense for people to destroy AI systems that are harming them.
Ali Alkhatib works with Logic(s) magazine and was previously the director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics.
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:

Ali wrote a blog post called “Destroy AI.”

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The Year in Tech w/ Molly White, Brian Merchant, & Eric Wickham Dec 19, 2024

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White, Brian Merchant, and Eric Wickham to discuss the highs and lows (mostly lows) of this year in tech news.
Molly White is the creator of Web3 is Going Just Great and Follow the Crypto. Brian Merchant is my co-host on System Crash, a new podcast we’re hosting. He’s also a longtime tech journalist and author of Blood in the Machine. Eric Wickham is the producer for Tech Won’t Save Us, along with a bunch of other podcast, and an independent journalist.
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:

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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How Data Is Changing Air Travel w/ Amanda Mull Dec 12, 2024

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the data-informed decisions that are changing the way we all experience air travel, mostly for the worse.
Amanda Mull is a senior reporter and Buying Power columnist at Bloomberg Businessweek.
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:

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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Patreon Preview: Spain Doesn’t Have Water for Data Centers w/ Aurora Gomez Delgado Dec 10, 2024

Show notes

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Aurora Gomez Delgado of Tu Nube Seca Mi Río. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

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Should Australia Ban Teens from Social Media? w/ Cam Wilson Dec 05, 2024

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Cam Wilson to discuss Australia’s plan to ban under-16s from social media, the interests driving it, and whether it’s the right approach to tackle the harms of those platforms.
Cam Wilson is associate editor at Crikey.
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:

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

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Patreon Preview: The Crippling Energy Demand of Ireland’s Data Centers w/ Brid Smith Dec 03, 2024

Show notes

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Brid Smith, a former TD or Member of Parliament in the Irish Parliament in Dublin. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

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Patreon Preview: Fighting Data Centers in Chile w/ Sebastian Lehuede Nov 29, 2024

Show notes

Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Sebastian Lehuede, a lecturer at King’s College London. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.

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Nuclear Won’t Meet Tech’s Energy Demands w/ MV Ramana Nov 28, 2024

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by MV Ramana to discuss the tech industry’s push to have nuclear energy power its data centers and why the reality of nuclear power isn’t as great as its promoters often make it seem.
MV Ramana is a Professor and Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Nuclear Is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change.
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:

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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The Forgotten Story of How Conservatives Shaped the Internet w/ Becca Lewis Nov 21, 2024

Show notes

Paris Marx is joined by Becca Lewis to discuss the right-wing project to shape the internet in the 1990s and how we’re still living with the legacies of those actions today.
Becca Lewis is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford 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. 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 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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