Mike Pepi is the author of “Against Platforms”, a bold critique of the hidden costs of digital life – and a manifesto for a better future. He is also one of my best friends and someone I have been in conversation with for over a decade.

In this episode, we discuss our shared history in working to develop a new institutionalist critique of emerging technologies and platforms. The vast expansion of platforms during the 2010’s, which now encompass nearly all aspects of social life, represented a blindspot for the political left. To understand how this happened, we need to retrace the history of the 60’s counter-culture and the embrace of libertarian philosophies amongst the New Left.

Since 2011, Mike Pepi, Brad Troemel, myself and other artists and writers have been engaged in an on-going dialogue that explores the ideological roots and design of platform technologies. Mike writes:

“We have been taught that digital technologies are neutral tools, transparent, easily understood, and here to serve us. The reality, is that they are laden with assumptions and collateral consequences – ideology, in other words. And it is this hidden ideology that must be dismantled if we are to harness technology for the fullest expression of our humanity.”

Get the book:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/761644/against-platforms-by-mike-pepi/

My guest is Daniel Keller, an artist whose work and research has inspired me for over a decade. We discuss tech monopolies and their cozy relationship to state power, the artificial intelligence race, the chips war, network states and geopolitical competition between the US and China. These are the defining conflicts of the 21st century.

My guest is Jack Wagner, a writer & director, host of the Otherworld podcast and one of my all time favorite posters. We discuss his experience of creative life on the internet and explore the many esoteric belief systems that have grown out of social media. We see a trend of increasing irrationality in a complex world. At the end we pay homage to one of the greatest memes ever made.

My guest is Caleb Cain or Faraday Speaks as he is known online. In 2019, Caleb Cain posted a video on YouTube called “My Descent into the Alt-Right Pipeline”. In the video, he described his first person experience of online radicalization. It quickly went viral. Soon after, Cain was profiled in The New York Times in a piece titled “The Making of a YouTube Radical”. In 2020, he was featured again by the New York Times in the popular Rabbit Hole podcast. Today, he joins us to tell his side of the story.

My guest is Amber A'Lee Frost, a writer, organizer, co-host of the Chapo Trap House podcast and the author of Dirtbag (2023). We discuss today's dysfunctional left, elite overproduction, online political subcultures and the emergence of “youth” as a counter-cultural and consumer demographic. Is the New Right support for labor real? What does it mean for American workers?

My guest is musician Matty Healy of The 1975. He joins me to discuss internet culture and the strange aesthetics of our time. We explore the inspirations behind his work, including the writing of cultural theorist Mark Fisher. Matty describes the "slow cancellation of the future" by comparing distinct styles of pop music across various decades. Fisher links these cultural moments to larger economic shifts that are often felt but rarely seen.

Yung Chomsky is the producer of the TrueAnon podcast, creator of the mobile app Phomo, and a natural athlete with 16 years of experience. We discuss his personal journey of learning to lift online while exploring exercise subcultures via forums and message boards. We sort the facts from fictions and discuss the tenuous connections between weight lifting and far right politics. This is the lifting episode. We’re all gonna make it.

My guest is comedian Peter James Fowler. He joins me to discuss his political meme account that he ran at age 11. I’ve spent the last few years interviewing young people who make radical posts online. Peter shares his journey from growing up in evangelical Christianity, to new atheism, and from Trump to Bernie.

My guest is artist and geographer Trevor Paglen. His groundbreaking work links new technological developments to larger political issues that are often secret or unseen. We discuss the emerging paradigm of "psyops capitalism", the history of the CIA's MK Ultra psychological operations and how magic shapes our perception of reality. These technologies culminate to form a new economic order of private surveillance, manipulation and financial extraction.

My guest is ‪JJ McCullough a YouTuber who was previously a TV political commentator and columnist at the Washington Post. We discuss generational shifts from the political left to right, explore the state of alternative media and debate the origins of right-wing populism. While we disagree on some core issues, we always grant each other the space to fully argue an idea. My analysis and understanding is strengthened through our on-going dialogues.