This Machine Kills

01:17:03

477. Amerikkka Intelligence

This Machine Kills ·

2026/10/01

We get into the new decree from Trump that “artificial intelligence” is now called “super intelligence” – it sounds less fake and more powerful — and the broader currents of tech advice and policy in the Trump administration. Then we discuss how OpenAI and Anthropic are behaving like rogue agents, who are also irresponsible and incompetent to a degree that should be unbelievable. ••• Trump says the US is officially renaming AI to ‘super intelligence’

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00:07:39

Patreon Preview – 476. Can You Believe What Leftists...

This Machine Kills ·

2026/09/26

We learn all about how leftists are against any new regulations for AI. It’s the unbelievable return of horseshoe theory as we discuss the curious new discourse cycle being promoted by prominent pundits.••• The Curious Left-Wing Argument Against New AI Regulations https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/09/ai-regulation-anti-monopoly-challenge/688707/ ••• Obsolete: The AI Industry’s Trillion-Dollar Race to Replace Us – and How to Stop It – book review

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01:23:38

475. Never Let a Computer Tell Me Shit

This Machine Kills ·

2026/09/17

We jump off from the OpenAI - Hugging Face hacking incident as a way to talk about the misleading, cynical, and hysterical ways we talk about AI and the stranglehold that existential risk has on our framings and discourses. The OAI-HF event shows that rather than treating machine learning as certain kind of technology that does things in ways that can be explained and contextualized, even when our understanding is somewhat murky or incomplete, AI is proffered as an emergent god with mystified

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00:07:25

Patreon Preview – 474. Gym, Tan, Leverage

This Machine Kills ·

2026/09/11

We bring together two different stories about the tech sector and speculative real estate booms. First, how Netflix promises to turn the Jersey Shore into “Hollywood East”. Second, how the data centre bonanza is stretching Wall Street beyond its limits.••• Can Netflix remake Jersey Shore — and its property market? https://www.ft.com/content/abbc3601-9ebc-4f3a-a317-0b1eee96e5a8 ••• The multiplying risks of financing data centres https://www.ft.com/content/9cb63980-cd43-419d-a7e5-42039b9fd01e

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01:28:55

473. Tech Workers of the World, Unite (ft. JS Tan,...

This Machine Kills ·

2026/09/03

[We had technical difficulties and had to use a backup recording, sorry!] We chat with JS Tan and Clarissa Redwin — both veteran tech workers and labor organizers — about their new book which chronicles the tech worker movement over the last ten years. JS and Clarissa have been deeply involved in this movement, which gives them the perfect vantage point to trace the catalyzing events and organizing efforts, as well as discuss what went right, what went wrong, and how the tactics for class

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00:08:13

Premium – 472. Australia’s AI Pitch Deck

This Machine Kills ·

2026/08/27

We turn our sights down under by taking a closer look at the new all-of-government strategy for AI in Australia’s Interests. Australia has plotted out a bold, progressive vision where AI enthusiasm is mandatory, no is not an option (and. in fact, the lack of choice is actually empowering), and the country, with all its open space and valuable resources, is the next great investment opportunity for foreign capital. But don’t worry, just like mining companies before, tech firms are expected to earn

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01:47:41

471. Breaking the Leviathan

This Machine Kills ·

2026/08/22

We take a deep dive into New York’s police-surveillance infrastructure, a sprawling leviathan that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was outspoken against during his campaign, but has now inherited and is even warming up to as his administration settles into power.••• Mamdani’s Surveillance State https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/mamdani-surveillance-state.html ••• Walking the Thin Blue Line https://www.thedriftmag.com/walking-the-thin-blue-line/ ••• The New York City Police Department’s Domain

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00:08:19

Patreon Preview – 470. Choking on Data Exhaust

This Machine Kills ·

2026/08/12

We chat about Ed’s engagement with communities pushing back against data center development in Tulsa, plus some major reporting showing the sheer scale of fossil-fuelled data center development in the United States. We’re talking more than 120 GIGAWATTS of new gas-burning power plants in development just to electrify data centers. There’s simply no way to equivocate about this amount of new pollution — new smog, new acid rain, new environmental health crises — being emitted for the purpose of

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01:39:32

469. The Maniacs are Running the Asylum (ft. Nikhil...

This Machine Kills ·

2026/08/06

We’re joined by Nik Suresh, director of Hermit Tech and excellent blogger on the software industry. You might know Nik for an incredible essay he wrote a couple years ago about piledriving anybody who mentions AI. Well he’s back at it with another great piece analysing the AI mania that has seemingly possessed every manager in every institution in every sector. We chat about where this mania comes from, how it’s manifesting, and what happens when reality eventually catches up to these

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00:09:32

Patreon Preview – 468. Vibes Make the World Go Round

This Machine Kills ·

2026/07/30

First we get into a very circular (the strongest shape in nature) deal between Nvidia, OpenAI, and Softbank to finance a $250 billion 10-gigawatt data center complex, powered by a natural gas plant built by the US and Japanese governments, on a decommissioned uranium-enrichment site in Ohio, which will be filled by a further $350 billion of chips sold and financed by Nvidia. All very normal stuff. Then we revisit the hysteria over retail theft, why every pharmacy is a prison, and the admission by

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01:25:16

467. Industrial Policy by Other Means (ft. Matt...

This Machine Kills ·

2026/07/24

We chat with Matt Haugen and Jesse Goldenstein from the Climate + Community Institute about a new report they co-authored laying out how the US is engaging in industrial policy for AI development in ways that are often indirect, inconsistent, and interpersonal, but ultimately are configured around supporting a specific configuration of (venture) capitalist strategy for intensive, rapid development, all while making political economic choices that prioritize anti-social infrastructure over social

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00:10:00

Patreon Preview – 466. I’m Evil as Shit

This Machine Kills ·

2026/07/18

We first open a door by talking about the great new ‘right to repair’ ruling from the FTC, which is the result of a long fight against rentier monopolies and digital enclosure, and should be precedent for expanding these battles and rights much further. We then tune back into hell by discussing how the AI-driven promises of convenience, personalization, and agentic servants are bribes meant to make people accept their own dependence, exploitation, and subservience to tech capital. Finally, a quick

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01:25:35

465. Malcolm X1 Technologies

This Machine Kills ·

2026/07/10

We chat all about the growing market for humanoid robots. What are the financial incentives and social ideologies driving the creation of technologies designed to directly mimic (and replace) humans—even though such designs make little sense as engineering choices? What kind of society makes these technologies attractive for investors and consumers, but also ultimately doomed to fail as solutions for real problems? ••• Are Humanoid Robots Ready to Be Deployed

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00:07:25

Patreon Preview – 464. Pep Rally

This Machine Kills ·

2026/07/02

Miracle cures! Get your miracle cures! What the hell are peptides? Why is this class of black/gray market drugs on everyone’s lips and being injected into everybody’s veins? Where did this multi-billion market suddenly come from? We take a look at the political economy of peptides, the pernicious consumerization of healthcare, and the potential consequences of this surging peptidal wave for society. ••• The Billion-Dollar Peptides Gold Rush

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01:33:01

463. The Abuse is the Point (ft. Ben Somers)

This Machine Kills ·

2026/06/26

(Sorry we’re a little late; blame producer pneumonia) We open the nightmare world folder and go through a series of stories about technology, surveillance, and policing. Cops using AI to generate “evidential material” in criminal cases, cops using Flock automated license plate readers to stalk people, cops using Flock to wrongfully arrest folks, and then a wildcard: billions of images from the Pokemon Go databases are being used to develop geospatial models for robots and drones. We then end the

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00:07:09

Patreon Preview – 462. Somebody’s Really Gotta Do...

This Machine Kills ·

2026/06/19

If every billionaire is a policy failure, then the world’s first trillionaire is a far more serious omen of collapse. We spend this episode talking about Muskism, reflecting on an economy that is racing in two very opposite directions, and considering the broader public (non-)response and social ramifications of the Age of the Trillionaire.••• Elon Musk Becomes the World’s First Trillionaire https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/technology/elon-musk-trillionaire.html ••• Wages Are Falling. Wealth Is

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01:18:47

461. The Book of Ludd

This Machine Kills ·

2026/06/12

“Welcome to the Church of Ludd, it’s nice to see you join our congregation. Please pick up a pamphlet as you walk in, which explains how to set up your religious exemption from using AI at your workplace.” — After a fun story about religious refusal of AI, we then chat about the various policy proposals being put forth by folks like Sam Altman and Bernies Sanders which outline how public wealth funds, equity stakes in AI companies, and dividend payments can buy the public’s trust in these

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00:05:52

Patreon Preview – 460. Mr. Worldspirit

This Machine Kills ·

2026/06/05

It’s a news roundup! First, in a duo of stories designed to make Ed jealous, Australia has seized 20 million illegal vapes at the border since January 2024, while the Australian attorney general has announced a $1.4 billion lawsuit against 3M over the harmful effects of PFAS or “forever chemicals”. Second, Anthropic files a massive IPO, with OpenAI and SpaceX looking to do the same soon. We chat about the implications of $3-4 trillion worth of liquidity events happening in the tech sector at the

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01:12:50

459. One Border After Another (ft. Gaby Del Valle)

This Machine Kills ·

2026/05/29

We chat with Gaby Del Valle—policy reporter at the Verge—about her excursion to the Border Security Expo, the new hardware and software being sold to fight the endless battle at the border, and how the border has now expanded to encompass everywhere and everybody. Plus we discuss Gaby’s research into the white supremacist ideologies of eugenicist environmentalism that have motivated immigration politics for a very long time.••• The Border is Everywhere

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00:04:58

Patreon Preview – 458. Seduced by the Slop Tsunami

This Machine Kills ·

2026/05/20

We chat about how so many people keep getting seduced into thinking chatbots are conscious, or just keep hedging their bets in some kind of Cyber-Pascal’s Wage, or just keep lying to prop up an industry and culture they are invested in perpetuating. Then we argue why, rather than just be eroded into acquiescence by an overwhelming tsunami of AI, rather than being bowled over and washed out to sea, you should never give these systems and their booster the benefit of the doubt. Never accept that these

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