This Machine Kills

We discuss Chapter 4 of Autonomous Technology: “Technocracy.” We get into different historical ideas of technocracy – from Francis Bacon to Thorstein Veblen – before digging into the political theory of technocracy – the form of its power, the source of its authority, the methods of its legitimation – and then finally relating it to the ascendant (wannabe) God-Engineers of today. You can find a free pdf of the whole book here: https://www.ratical.org/ratville/AoS/AutonomousTechnology.pdf

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

We discuss how the failed promises of smart city megaprojects around the world – really honing in on Africa and a case study of Konza City in Kenya – perfectly encapsulate the brand of colonialism propagated by consultants like McKinsey. The “visions” and “strategies” they sell as ways of achieving prosperity, progress, and prestige are based on a dual ideology of technological and developmental determinism. While these smart cities never materialize in the way their marketing brochures and thought leaders proclaim, they aren’t failures—because they were never meant to actually succeed. Read this fantastic piece of reporting by Carey Baraka in Rest of World: https://restofworld.org/2021/the-failed-promise-of-kenyas-smart-city/

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

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

(Jathan's mic is busted for this episode – sorry!) We hit y’all with a double header about what happens when the cop in our mind is allowed to thrive. First is the psychodrama and that led to a successful member of the liberal professoriate to become a cop just to sate her curiosity and stick it to her mom. Second is the entrepreneurs who prey on the social anxiety and paranoia to whip people into frenzy as a way to sell their technologies of private policing.

Some stuff we reference:

The Professor Who Became a Cop | Patrick Blanchfield: newrepublic.com/article/162245/rosa-brooks-professor-police-officer

'FIND THIS FUCK:' Inside Citizen’s Dangerous Effort to Cash In On Vigilantism | Joseph Cox and Jason Koebler: vice.com/en/article/y3dpyw/inside-crime-app-citizen-vigilante

Who Runs the Streets of New Orleans? | David Amsden: nytimes.com/2015/08/02/magazine/who-runs-the-streets-of-new-orleans.html

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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

In our mission to analyse capitalism and technology from the experiences of workers, we would be remiss if we ignored a crucial form of labor that people – across the political and social spectrum – too often pretend does not exists unless they want to condem it: sex work. We’re happy to be joined by Liara Roux – sex worker, activist, and author of the new book Whore of New York: Confessions of a Sinful Woman – to talk about her time working with clients in Silicon Valley and the broader politics, perceptions, and platforms of sex.

• Pre-order Liara’s book: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673854/whore-of-new-york-by-liara-roux/9781913462567/

• Follow Liara: twitter.com/LiaraRoux

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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

We discuss Chapter 3 of Autonomous Technology: “The Flaw and its Origins.” First, we dispel the metaphysical arguments based on assertions about how “human nature” relates to modern technology. As Winner says, “These theories pretend to have knowledge” that they could not possibly possess. Second, we deconstruct the grand attempts at “philosophical engineering,” which proclaim that all our socio-technical problems would be solved if we all agreed to adhere to some new ethical blueprint for life. You can find a free pdf of the whole book here: https://www.ratical.org/ratville/AoS/AutonomousTechnology.pdf

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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

Open / Outro: United Forever Fight Together by Rebel Riot, punk band from Myanmar – https://therebelriot.bandcamp.com/track/united-forever-fight-together

We’re joined by Matt Dagher-Margosian – founder of Asia Art Tours and host of The Arts of Travel podcast. We start off talking about some problems in how Anglo/Western leftists often frame and discuss global radical politics, particularly in Asia, as an entry for getting deeper into the pitfalls of engaging in study without action. That is, the necessity of building international solidarity, engaging with struggles against state violence, centering those who have a stake in struggles, and making movements like decolonialism and anti-racism dangerous again. Matt ends the episode by providing us with an excellent list of resources for radical media in various Asian countries. And here’s the lecture at Brown University by Joy James we reference: The Architects of Abolitionism - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9rvRsWKDx0

Check out Asia Art Tours: https://asiaarttours.com/blog/

Listen to The Arts of Travel: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-arts-of-travel/id1406775458

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/asiaarttours

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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

We look at two new books about Amazon—Fulfillment by Alec Macgillis and Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone—as an occasion to further consider the galactic expansion of this evil empire, the relentlessly sociopathic god-emperor at the top, and bad takes that revere Bezos as a quirky innovator and blame consumer choices in the market for the human misery Amazon causes. We’ve dug into Amazon a lot over the last couple months. But Amazon is big. It contains multitudes and contradictions. There’s always more to cover, to analyze, to track, to just try wrapping our minds around.

Some stuff we reference:

• Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America | Alec MacGillis: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374159276

• Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire | Brad Stone: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Amazon-Unbound/Brad-Stone/9781982132613

• To Understand Amazon, We Must Understand Jeff Bezos | Ben Smith: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/books/review/amazon-unbound-brad-stone.html

• We know about Amazon’s sins. Do we care? | James Kwak: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/we-know-about-amazons-sins-do-we-care/2021/03/18/b7ff73ce-7acb-11eb-85cd-9b7fa90c8873_story.html

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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

Cold open: What is Democracy?

Outro: Jeff Mangum and Guy Picciotto at the Rolling Jubilee telethon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztyj7kE9tNc

Extremely excited to be joined by Astra Taylor – acclaimed author, activist, filmmaker, and dream TMK guest – for a wide-ranging discussion about engaging with big important things like democracy, debt, and technology, about putting politics into practice to improve people’s lives, about paying close attention to not just the operators of the machine, but those who are thrown into its gears, and about so much!

Grab Astra’s latest book: haymarketbooks.org/books/1635-remake-the-world

Follow Astra: twitter.com/astradisastra

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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

We're unlocking the first episode of our biweekly TMK book club series – only on Patreon! You can get the other episode, plus more premium content every week, by subscribing at patreon.com/thismachinekills

We’re discussing the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Autonomous Technology: Technics-out-of-Control as a Theme in Political Thought by Langdon Winner. Follow along with us as we take you on a guided tour of a foundational text in technological politics – one that has greatly influenced our own thinking about these issues and which has, for better and worse, remained extremely relevant today. You can find a free pdf of the whole book here: https://www.ratical.org/ratville/AoS/AutonomousTechnology.pdf

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/mech-luddite/

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

We give y’all a primer on the debates about the “right to repair.” Corporations and conservative think tankers love spouting bad faith arguments that frame the right to repair as an issue of innovation, property, and nationalism. But their lobbying against it really boils down to running interference in favor of ongoing expansions of rentier capitalism and digital enclosure, all while trying to resolve the dual crises of overproduction and underconsumption.

Some stuff we reference:

• ‘Right to Repair’ Is Bad for Your Health | Tom Giovanetti: wsj.com/articles/right-to-repair-is-bad-for-your-health-11619986159

• Right to Repair Roundup: One Step Forward, One to the Side | Jerri-Lynn Scofield: nakedcapitalism.com/2020/02/right-to-repair-roundup-one-step-forward-one-to-the-side.html

• Your Smartphone Should Be Built to Last | Damon Beres: nytimes.com/2021/04/25/opinion/iphone-apple-electronics-technology.html

• Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware | Jason Koebler vice.com/en/article/xykkkd/why-american-farmers-are-hacking-their-tractors-with-ukrainian-firmware

• Subscriber City | David A. Banks: reallifemag.com/subscriber-city

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

TMK shirts are now available: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/

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