Tech Won't Save Us

Paris Marx is joined by Eric Roesch to discuss the aftermath of the SpaceX Starship launch that caused so much environmental damage in April 2023 and the broader consequences of Elon Musk’s consistent regulatory evasion.
 
Eric Roesch is an expert in environmental compliance and risk assessment who writes about intersection of capitalism, markets and greenwashing as ESG Hound. You can follow Eric’s newsletter on Substack.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Eric wrote about the damage the Starship launch was going to have, SpaceX’s violation of the Clean Water Act, and Elon Musk’s general regulatory evasion. He also shared a lot of photos of the aftermath of the Starship launch.
• Paris wrote about the late David Golumbia and his work on Disconnect.
• The Federal Aviation Administration says SpaceX needs to take 63 corrective measures before another Starship launch.
• The FAA was sued by environmental groups over the impacts of the Starship launch. SpaceX joined that lawsuit.
• SpaceX still needs approval from the US Fish and Wildlife Service before it can launch again. They’ve previously not been happy with SpaceX.
• Ronan Farrow put shed light on the power Elon Musk has amassed in the New Yorker.

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Paris Marx is joined by Yangyang Cheng to discuss the growing divide between the United States and China, and how nationalistic narratives distract us from a better understanding of tech in both countries.
 
Yangyang Cheng is a particle physicist and research scholar at Yale Law School. She’s written for the New York Times, The Guardian, The Nation, WIRED, and many others. You can follow Yangyang on Twitter at @yangyang_cheng.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Yangyang wrote about the myth of the TikTok spy and the US fixation on Chinese espionage for Wired.
• She mentioned the coming expiry of a science and technology agreement between the US and China. It’s been temporarily extended.
• Paris recently wrote about the benefits the US receives from the global footprint of its tech companies, and why that makes China look like a threat.

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Paris Marx is joined by Dean Preston to discuss the havoc robotaxis are wreaking in San Francisco and the wider impacts the tech industry has had on the city.
 
Dean Preston is the District 5 Supervisor in San Francisco and the first democratic socialist elected in the city in 40 years. He’s also a tenant attorney and founder of Tenants Together. You can follow Dean on Twitter at @DeanPreston.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Paris interviewed one of the activists placing cones driverless cars to disable them and draw attention to the California Public Utilities Commission’s pro-corporate regulatory decisions.
• In 2011, Twitter got a massive tax break to stay in San Francisco instead of moving its offices elsewhere in the Valley.
• Salesforce CEO Marx Benioff was a rare tech mogul to support San Francisco’s ballot measure to create a new tax to fund help for homeless residents.
• A ballot measure to increase the transfer tax on properties over $10 million won in 2020, despite industry opposition.
• The campaign against progressive district attorney Chesa Boudin was bankrolled by tech and real estate money. Jacob Silverman put this into wider context in a piece about the rise in the political influence of David Sacks.

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Paris Marx is joined by Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole to discuss why they launched 404 Media, how it was inspired by their work at Motherboard, and their reflections on the state of tech media.
 
Jason Koebler and Samantha Cole are co-founders of 404 Media. Jason was editor-in-chief of VICE’s Motherboard. Samantha was a senior editor at Motherboard and is the author of “How Sex Changed the Internet.” Find out more about 404 Media.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Last week the 404 team introduced themselves. Among the stories they published were pieces looking into Apple AirPods Max and AI-generated porn.
• Vice declared bankruptcy in May 2023.
• Paris argued in Disconnect that the media failed the public in how they reported on Elon Musk.

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Paris Marx is joined by Ben Tarnoff to discuss the ELIZA chatbot created by Joseph Weizenbaum in the 1960s and how it led him to develop a critical perspective on AI and computing that deserves more attention during this wave of AI hype.
 
Ben Tarnoff writes about technology and politics. He is a founding editor of Logic, and author of Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @bentarnoff.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Ben wrote a long article about Weizenbaum and what we can learn from his work for The Guardian.
• Paris wrote a skeptical perspective on AI hype and the promises of ChatGPT in Disconnect.
• Zachary Loeb has also written about Weizenbaum’s work and perspective on AI and computing.

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Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss Sam Bankman-Fried having his bail revoked and Sam Altman’s plan to scan all of our irises to get us into crypto and supposedly protect us from AI.
 
Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at the Harvard Library Innovation Lab. You can follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Molly wrote about Sam Bankman-Fried going to prison and what’s going on with Worldcoin in her newsletter.
• Paris also dug into Worldcoin in the Disconnect newsletter.
• The New York Times published a story about Caroline Ellison based on details provided by Sam Bankman-Fried.
• MIT Tech Review and Buzzfeed News did in-depth investigations of Worldcoin and its exploitation of people in the Global South.
• Worldcoin has been shut down in Kenya and is under regulatory scrutiny in the European Union.

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Paris Marx is joined by Edward Ongweso Jr. to discuss how the venture capital industry works, why the technologies it funds don’t deliver on their marketing promises, and how that’s once again being shown in the hype around AI.
 
Edward Ongweso Jr. is a freelance journalist, co-host of This Machine Kills, and guest columnist at The Nation. You can follow Ed on Twitter at @bigblackjacobin.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Edward wrote about the problems with venture capital and what the AI hype shows us about the industry for The Nation. Earlier this year, he wrote about the tantrum VCs threw after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
• Paris wrote about where Elon Musk’s vision for the X superapp comes from, why his Twitter rebrand isn’t going so well, and why ChatGPT isn’t a revolution.
• In 2020, Sam Harnett wrote about the problem with tech media’s coverage of the gig economy.
• Uber used to want to be the “Amazon for transportation” and the “operating system for everyday life.”
• TIME reported on how OpenAI lobbying watered down EU AI rules.
• Marc Andreessen wrote his pitch for “Why AI Will Save the World.”

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Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss how the right-wing of the tech industry are funding media platforms like Rumble to reshape the political discourse and why they’re helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenge Joe Biden.
 
Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the co-author of Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud. He’s also the host of The Naked Emperor on CBC Podcasts. You can check out Jacob’s Substack.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jacob wrote about Rumble as a MAGA platform, why tech is boosting Robert F. Kennedy Jr., revolutionary war reenactors getting caught up in Facebook’s purge of militia groups, and David Sacks.
• Mark Zuckerberg chose to go easy on Alex Jones and other right-wing figures on Facebook.
• Trump Media may be going public via a SPAC merger.
• Darren Blanton was involved in a scheme to keep Black voters from the polls.
• Wendy Siegelman put together a chart of the connections between Rumble, Trump Media, and other groups.
• Rumble went public via SPAC in 2022.
• Brandy Zadrozny wrote about RFK Jr. and his views for NBC News.

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Paris Marx is joined by Kelsey Atherton to discuss the renewed interest in UFOs, where the conspiracy theories of aliens in the sky came from, and whether flying saucers might really be watching us.
 
Kelsey Atherton is a military technology journalist. He contributes to Popular Science and has written for Slate. Follow Kelsey on Twitter at @AthertonKD.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Kelsey has written about how the military’s culture of secrecy breeds UFO conspiracy theories, why sensors are an important aspect to consider, and the truth of Area 51.
• A U-2 pilot took a selfie with the Chinese balloon shot down earlier this year.
• The military later confirmed the Chinese balloon was not actually spying on the United States.
• One of the balloons that were shot down likely belonged to a hobbyist group called the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade.
• In 2019, a bunch of people online planned to hold a “Naruto run” at Area 51.

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Paris Marx is joined by Keoni Mahelona to discuss the colonial nature of data extraction by major tech companies, and how Te Hiku takes a very different approach to revitalize the Māori language.
 
Keoni Mahelona is the Chief Technology Officer at Te Hiku Media. Follow Keoni on Twitter at @mahelona.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Keoni and some of his colleagues wrote about why OpenAI’s Whisper is another example of colonialism.
• Wired and MIT Tech Review have written about the work Te Hiku is doing with Māori language in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Mark Zuckerberg owns a lot of land in Hawaiʻi, and it’s quite controversial.

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