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PODCAST

Tech Won"t Save Us

Silicon Valley wants to shape our future, but why should we let it? Every Thursday, Paris Marx is joined by a new guest to critically examine the tech industry, its big promises, and the people behind them. Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. It’s not your usual tech podcast.

technology tech news

All Episodes

62:16

Nuclear Won’t Meet Tech’s Energy Demands w/ MV Ramana

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/11/28

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 ...

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59:48

The Forgotten Story of How Conservatives Shaped the...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/11/21

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...

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6:23

Patreon Preview: How Cloud Giants Cement Their Power...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/11/19

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 Cecilia Rikap, an Associate Professor in Economics at University College London. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.Support the show

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64:56

Making Sense of a Pro-Tech Trump Presidency w/ Brian...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/11/14

Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the fallout from the US election, what it means for the tech industry, and more importantly, what it might mean for all of us. They also celebrate the show hitting 250 episodes!Brian Merchant is a longtime tech writer and 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 ...

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4:57

Patreon Preview: Maybe We Should Destroy AI w/ Ali...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/11/13

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. Starting this week, we’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Ali Alkhatib, Logic(s) data editor and former interim director of the Center for Applied Data Ethics. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.Support the show

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64:04

The Corruption of Open Source w/ tante

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/11/07

Paris Marx is joined by tante to discuss troubling developments in the open source world as Wordpress goes to war with WP Engine and a new definition of open source AI doesn’t require being open about training data.tante is a sociotechnologist, writer, speaker, and Luddite working on tech and its social impact.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 o...

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61:55

Silicon Valley is Reshaping US Democracy w/ Jacob...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/31

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss all the money Elon Musk is pouring into the US election and what Silicon Valley’s political influence will mean regardless of who becomes president.Jacob Silverman is the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, coming in September 2025 from Bloomsbury. His book Easy Money is now available in paperback.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of ...

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35:38

Data Vampires: Fighting for Control (Episode 4)

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/28

Tech billionaires are embracing extreme right-wing politics. It’s not just to enhance their power, but to try to realize a harmful vision for humanity’s future that could see humans merging with machines and possibly even living in computer simulations. Will we allow them to put our collective resources behind their science fiction dreams, or fight for a better future and a different kind of technology to go along with it? This is episode 4 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Te...

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60:15

The Threat of Data Colonialism w/ Ulises A. Mejias &...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/24

Paris Marx is joined by Ulises A. Mejias and Nick Couldry to discuss how Silicon Valley's extractive data collection regime and the power it grants them resembles a much older form of exploitation: colonialism.Ulises A. Mejias is a professor of Communication Studies at SUNY Oswego and Nick Couldry is a professor of Media, Communications and Social Theory at the London School of Economics. They are the co-authors of Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back and among the...

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30:47

Data Vampires: Sacrificing for AI (Episode 3)

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/21

Sam Altman is clear: he’s ready to sacrifice anything for his AI fantasies. But are we? We dig into why generative AI has such extreme energy demands and how major tech companies are trying to rewrite climate accounting rules to cover how much their emissions are rising. AI isn’t just churning out visual slop; it’s also being used to transform how our society works and further reduce people’s power over their lives. It’s a disaster any way you look at it. This is episode 3 of Data Vampires, a...

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61:02

The “Dark Elf” Leading Tech’s Extreme Right w/ Julia...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/17

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss who Curtis Yarvin is and how his anti-democratic, far-right writings have influenced the politics of Silicon Valley and the wider American extreme right.Julia Black is a features reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team.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 partnershi...

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33:22

Data Vampires: Opposing Data Centers (Episode 2)

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/14

As hyperscale data centers move into communities, they come with significant water and energy demands that some are not willing to put up with. We go to Ireland, Spain, and Chile to learn about the effects of data centers on the ground and why some communities are fighting back. They’re asking whether the tradeoffs they’re being expected to make are really necessary. This is episode 2 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical per...

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55:25

Gaza Is a Laboratory for Future Warfare w/ Spencer...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/10

Paris Marx is joined by Spencer Ackerman to discuss the past year of Israel's actions in Palestine and the innovations in war technology being used to carry out what the ICJ has deemed a "plausible" genocide in Gaza.Spencer Ackerman is a Pulitzer-prize winning author of Reign of Terror. He’s a contributor at Zeteo and publishes the Forever Wars newsletter. He’s also writing a new series of Iron Man comics that come out very soon.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its wo...

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31:47

Data Vampires: Going Hyperscale (Episode 1)

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/07

Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are the dominant players in the cloud market. Around the world, they’re building massive hyperscale data centers that they claim are necessary to power the future of our digital existence. But they also increase their power over other companies and come with massive resource demands communities are getting fed up with. Is their future really the one we want? This is episode 1 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.Tech Won’t Save Us ...

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58:03

Don’t Fall for Mark Zuckerberg’s Rebrand w/ Karl Bode

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/10/03

Paris Marx is joined by Karl Bode to discuss how Mark Zuckerberg's makeover and the PR campaign that’s accompanied it shouldn’t distract from the ongoing harms of his company.Karl Bode is a freelance tech journalist and consumer rights reporter.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. Produ...

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57:44

What Happens to Our Digital Footprints When We Die?...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/09/26

Paris Marx is joined by Tamara Kneese to discuss the difficult question of what happens to our digital presence after we die and why some tech billionaires are so desperate to make themselves into chatbots.Tamara Kneese is a researcher, organizer, and author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond.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...

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63:36

Will Google’s Monopoly Be Broken Up? w/ Rob Larson

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/09/19

Paris Marx is joined by Rob Larson to discuss the recent ruling that Google is a monopolist, what consequences it might face, and what lessons we can learn from the Microsoft antitrust case in the early 2000s.Rob Larson is the author of Mastering the Universe: The Obscene Wealth of the Ruling Class, What They Do with Their Money, and Why You Should Hate Them Even More and Professor of Economics at Tacoma Community College.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview...

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61:22

Google and Meta Are A Threat to Journalism w/ Matt...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/09/12

Paris Marx is joined by Matt Pearce to discuss how Google sidestepped two California bills aimed at funding journalism and how major tech companies are transforming the web to make hyperlinks less relevant.Matt Pearce is the President of Media Guild of the West and a former reporter at the Los Angeles Times.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 P...

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56:22

Unionizing the Video Game Industry w/ Taylor Welling...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/09/05

Paris Marx is joined by Taylor Welling and Kathryn Friesen to discuss how they formed wall-to-wall unions in the video game industry and their thoughts on broader challenges like layoffs and corporate consolidation.Taylor Welling is a producer and union member at OneBGS and Kathryn Friesen is quest designer and member of the World of Warcraft GameMakers Guild.Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand ...

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56:05

No Tech for Apartheid w/ Mohammad Khatami & Gabi...

Tech Won"t Save Us ·

2024/08/29

Paris Marx is joined by Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner to discuss the complicity of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and how tech workers are organizing to stop it.Mohammad Khatami and Gabi Schubiner are former Google software engineers and organizers with No Tech for Apartheid.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 ...

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339 results

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