We talk about the federal intelligence agencies being big fans of great books and movies, and writing about them in their little newsletters. Then move on to a big discussion about how the tech industry has been buoyed by a whole lot of nothing: zero interest rates, zero marginal costs, zero regulation, zero oversight. Those zeroes are key to the political economic foundation of Silicon Valley. And now – due to social, financial, and technological factors – the zeroes are increasing slightly. Will AI be the perpetual value machine that finally helps capital resolve all its contradictions and ascend to the next level? Of course not. But that won’t stop them from trying to force the impossible anyway.

Articles we discuss

••• “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” Move Poses Terror Threat, Kansas City Intel Agency Claims https://theintercept.com/2023/04/11/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-movie/

••• Is Environmental Radicalism Inevitable? https://newrepublic.com/article/171560/how-to-blow-up-a-pipeline-young-activists

••• TechScape: The end of the ‘free money’ era https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/11/techscape-zirp-tech-boom

••• Putting the Silicon in Silicon Valley https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v45/n06/john-lanchester/putting-the-silicon-in-silicon-valley

Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills

Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)