Stay ConnectedA podcast about technology and political economy /// Agitprop against innovation and capital /// Hosted by Jathan Sadowski and Edward Ongweso Jr., Produced by Jereme Brown /// Hello friends and enemies
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First up is old friend FTC’s recent actions ordering companies to destroy “models and algorithms” derived from “ill-gotten data.” This is a massive regulatory precedent that targets the underlying business model of tech companies, rather than just slapping them on the wrist with fines. We then roll into the latest news from old enemy Uber, who has rolled out a new secretive algorithm that determines how much drivers get paid. This is part of an ongoing agenda to make markets for everything into black-boxed, real-time, hyper-competitive technologies of governance. Some stuff we reference: ••• FTC Takes Action Against Company Formerly Known as Weight Watchers for Illegally Collecting Kids’ Sensitive Health Data | https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2022/03/ftc-takes-action-against-company-formerly-known-weight-watchers ••• The FTC Forced a Misbehaving A.I. Company to Delete Its Algorithm | https://onezero.medium.com/the-ftc-forced-a-misbehaving-a-i-company-to-delete-its-algorithm-124d9f7e0307 ••• Secretive Algorithm Will Now Determine Uber Driver Pay in Many Cities | https://themarkup.org/working-for-an-algorithm/2022/03/01/secretive-algorithm-will-now-determine-uber-driver-pay-in-many-cities ••• Law and the Future of Gig Work in California: Problems and Potentials (Part 1) | https://onlabor.org/law-and-the-future-of-gig-work-in-california-problems-and-potentials-part-1/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
We dive into chapter 3 – Unfreezing the Ice Age – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. We travel back to prehistoric times to learn how the actual archaeological evidence flies in the face of persistent, ubiquitous interpretations of human nature as unchangeable and human society as one-dimensional. Instead, we see how social fluidity and political experimentation has long been the norm – and the rigidity of our institutions and thinking today is the real anomaly. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
Rather than try to hit you with hot takes and quick analysis on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we take a step back and round up of the most craven people in crypto who saw this crisis as a problem in need of web3 solutions. Brace yourself for the most harebrained schemes and opportunistic scams. The great thing about the blockchain is that it promotes peace and profits at the same time. Some stuff we reference: ••• Crypto Community Rushes to Ukraine’s Defense Armed With NFTs, DAOs | Maxwell Strachan https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7dx39/crypto-community-rushes-to-ukraines-defense-armed-with-nfts-daos ••• Crypto won’t save Ukraine — or Russia | Linsey Choo https://www.protocol.com/newsletters/protocol-fintech/ukraine-russia-crypto?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5 ••• Crypto and NFT scammers take advantage of the invasion of Ukraine to boost their grifts | Web 3 is Going Great https://web3isgoinggreat.com/?id=2022-02-26-0 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers! In our first Mail Bomb episode, we riff on some of the excellent questions submitted by subscribers and chat about which dead leftist figures we would bring to Davos, the best ways to make your coworkers into Luddites, and professional advice for being academics, journos, and techies in the TMK style, among other topics. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
We’re joined by Phil Neel, a communist economic geographer, to dig deep into different theories of crisis in capitalism. While theorizing crisis is a core part of the Marxist analysis of capitalism, we focus on understanding how major approaches in mainstream economics try (and fail) to explain the features, causes, and solutions for crisis. Bonus: we learn how economics is a disproven cosmology maintained by bourgeois ideology—like astrology for the ruling class. Double bonus: we end the episode with an explanation and critique of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). Check out some of Phil’s work: ••• Global China, Global Crisis: Falling Profitability, Rising Capital Exports and the Formation of New Territorial Industrial Complexes | Phillip Neel https://drive.google.com/file/d/1krt15Qx0lPizv7SPR8b0GhsmGK61k1TP/view ••• Hinterland: America’s New Landscape of Class and Conflict | Phil Neel https://www.akpress.org/hinterland.html ••• Phil Neel at Brooklyn Rail | https://brooklynrail.org/contributor/phil-a-neel Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
It’s time for chapter 2 – Wicked Liberty – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. We dig deep into the colonial origins of the Enlightenment, the hegemonic historical narrative of European superiority, the striking indigenous critique that Native Americans levied against European society, and the myths of progress that continue today and prevent us from imagining radically alternative ways of living. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
Continuing our radical tech worker occasional series, we’re pleased to be joined by Bjorn Westergard—senior software engineer at NPR and Marxist union organizer—for a wide-ranging discussion about his own journey into tech and politics, the influence of Occupy Wall Street, his experiences involved with unionization efforts, what the label “tech worker” even means, and the need for labor to go on the offensive against capital. Info for Jathan’s open PhD position: https://supervisorconnect.it.monash.edu/projects/research/social-political-economic-studies-technology-and-fire-finance-insurance-real Check out Bjorn’s blog: https://socialistplanning.org/ Organizing resources: ••• Collective Action in Tech https://collectiveaction.tech/ ••• Tech Workers Coalition https://techworkerscoalition.org/ Some stuff we reference: ••• A Collective Bargain: Unions, Organizing, and the Fight for Democracy | Jane McAlevey https://janemcalevey.com/book/a-collective-bargain-unions-organizing-and-the-fight-for-democracy/ ••• Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: Marx and Normative Social Theory in the Twenty-First Century | Tony Smith https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1190-beyond-liberal-egalitarianism Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
We dig into the complete disaster that is the NFT ecosystem before zooming out to discuss how the real promise and purpose of NFTs is as an instrument for total financialization of everything. Turning every piece of data about any little thing into a commodity that can then be securitized, collateralized, and speculated with. Contained within this little dumb oddity is the seeds for a world designed and defined by fictitious capital – which firms like a16z are doing their damndest to make grow. Some things we reference: ••• The NFT Ecosystem Is a Complete Disaster | Edward Ongweso Jr. https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgdvnd/the-nft-ecosystem-is-a-complete-disaster ••• The Internet Is Just Investment Banking Now | Ian Bogost https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/02/future-internet-blockchain-investment-banking/621480/ ••• Why some Australians are paying real money for virtual land in the metaverse | James Purtill https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-02-04/metaverse-australians-paying-money-virtual-land-real-estate/100798106 ••• Bored Ape start-up in investment talks with Andreessen Horowitz | FT https://www.ft.com/content/acc635d6-bb05-4af6-b4da-b8462c06466d ••• Mapping the celebrity NFT complex | Max Read https://maxread.substack.com/p/mapping-the-celebrity-nft-complex Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
Because it was so damn good, we’re unlocking part two of our discussion with Nick Chavez, focusing on the possibilities and limitations of reengineering capitalist forces of production for communist social relations. We discuss the need for epistemic luddism—or breaking the way we understand and use technologies—and why militancy at points of production is absolutely crucial. What comes first? Which one gives us the other? Radical machines or radical society? The dialectical answer is, of course, why not both! Some stuff we reference: ••• The Present and Future of Engineers | Nick Chavez | Brooklyn Rail https://brooklynrail.org/2021/10/field-notes/THINKING-ABOUT-COMMUNISM ••• Error | Endnotes 5 https://endnotes.org.uk/file_hosting/EN5_Error.pdf ••• How to Make a Pencil | Aaron Benanav https://logicmag.io/commons/how-to-make-a-pencil/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
We kick off the next installment of the TMK book club with The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Join us as we dig into this massive—and massively important—new book, discussing each chapter in-depth. We start with Chapter 1: Farewell to Humanity’s Childhood — and lay out the deceptive myths, championed by pop sci hucksters, that have perpetuated wrong, dull, and dire accounts of the origins of human civilization and modern society. New episodes drop every other week on the Patreon feed. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)
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