This Machine Kills

At last, the Luddism episode has dropped! We dig into the actual, and massively misunderstood, history of Luddites — not as an insult for people who are deemed “anti-progress,” but as a labor movement who confronted the machinery of industrial capitalism. We discuss how Luddism should inform militant working class power, what lessons we can apply today for how we think about technology, and draw connections to other struggles against oppressive systems, whether in the streets or the shop floors. Think of Luddism as like Marie Kondo, but for technopolitics. Does this technology contribute to human well-being and/or social welfare? If not, take it apart and toss it away! (Listen to the end for a post-outro treat from Klobbering Klobuchar.)

Some stuff we reference:

• A Nod to Ned Ludd by Richard Byrne https://thebaffler.com/salvos/a-nod-to-ned-ludd

• Sabotage by Elizabeth Gurly Flynn https://www.marxists.org/subject/women/authors/flynn/1917/sabotage.htm

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

Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl). Thanks to Laura for voicing Klobbering Klobuchar.

Folk, country, punk, rap – these seemingly disparate genres all have deep roots in radical politics of the working class. They each emerged out of particular material conditions and, in turn, sought to create music about those conditions. And they have all been subjected to, in their own way, processes of depoliticization that have attempted to defang their social messages. To help us recover these lost histories – and draw parallels to the ways technology has also undergone processes of being made ahistorical and apolitical – we are once again joined by Alexander Billet, an editor at Locust Review and contributor to Jacobin, whose work provides great materialist analysis of music and culture.

Check out Alex’s work http://alexanderbillet.com/ and follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/UbuPamplemousse

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

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

[Oh the irony that, on an episode about music, the sound quality on this episode is a little gritty due to some recording issues – big ups to Jereme for working production magic cleaning up the audio.]

In this episode, we discuss the cultural and technological politics of music and the shadow that Spotify has cast over the industry. As exploitation in the cultural economy accelerates, it’s become radical to even recognize that artists are also workers. And, as such, we all have a stake in their struggles and solidarities against the platformization of culture.

Joining us on this journey into sound, we have Alexander Billet, an editor at Locust Review and contributor to Jacobin, whose work focuses on the intersections of art, music, and politics. Check out Alex’s essay on Spotify’s exploitative streaming model: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/12/spotify-streaming-model-exploitation-class-conflict

Follow him on twitter: https://twitter.com/UbuPamplemousse.

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

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

Conservative commentators used the phrase “immanentize the eschaton” as a criticism of socialism and communism. For these stooges, who thought they stood at the end of history, any alternative to neoliberal capitalism and American hegemony was tantamount to ushering in the apocalypse. Well we’re here to tell you not to fear the end of their grand utopian project. If the rest of us experience this reality as a lived dystopia, then why not try to hasten its demise? We dig deeper into our discussion on the radical potential of real utopias, providing more examples along the way.

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

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

TMK is taking a break from our regularly scheduled analysis of the ongoing dystopia by pivoting to utopianism! In this episode, we take seriously the question: What would it mean to do utopianism in a way that doesn’t demand abandoning our commitments to materialist critique? We argue for why the anti-capitalist left must reassert its capacity for utopianism and outline some examples of “real utopias” with radical potential that are inspiring our thinking about the kind of alternatives that are imminently achievable.

Our discussion builds on the analytical framework detailed by Erik Olin Wright in his work on real utopianism and anti-capitalism:

• Transforming Capitalism through Real Utopias (essay) https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/Published%20writing/Presidential%20address%20--%20uncorrected%20page%20proofs.pdf

• How to Be an Anticapitalist in the Twenty-First Century (book) https://www.versobooks.com/books/3065-how-to-be-an-anticapitalist-in-the-twenty-first-century

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

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

We continue our discussion on Huawei by laying out the ways that network infrastructure has become a site for proxy battles as the US/UK and China pursue different agendas for national security and industrial policy.

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

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

Time to get into the 5G! Well, okay, the international political economy of 5G and the new Cold War with China. We trace the history and expansion of Huawei—a hugely important, but greatly misunderstood (and badly analyzed), company at the center of next-gen communication technologies—and its role in the global development of the telecom industry since the 1980s. This episode is kinda information dense, but a focused analysis of Huawei is crucial for figuring out pressure points or fault lines in the global system. 5G won’t cause covid, but will it cause communism?! (Nah, it’s state capitalism).

Our discussion builds on, and fills in some gaps in, this great new essay by Evgeny Morozov on the geopolitics of Huawei: https://mondediplo.com/2020/11/10huawei

Subscribe to hear the second part of conversation with Michael and get more premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills

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

“Technological superiority is a prerequisite for ethical superiority.” These words by Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, encapsulate a dangerous philosophy underpinning how the bloodless ghouls in the tech sector aim to integrate their systems and ideologies into the military-industrial complex. Michael joins us again to discuss the deep technological, ethical, and political contradictions that undermine their claims to superiority of any kind. As Luckey and his ilk create and operate the machinery of American imperialism, we must reject their claims to superiority and their ascension up the chain of command.

Subscribe at patreon.com/thismachinekills to help support TMK and hear premium episodes every week!

• Read Michael’s excellent essay on the politics of drone warfare and drone witnessing: The Testimony of Drones https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/the-testimony-of-drones/

• Follow Michael on twitter: https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a

• Check out his work: https://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/our-people/michael-richardson

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

We jump into the abyss of Anduril Industries—one of the most actually evil, yet little known, technology companies in existence today—and Palmer Luckey, its ultra right-wing founder and Peter Thiel acolyte. To help us discuss how Silicon Valley is bringing its brand of innovation and disruption to the military-industrial complex, we’re joined by Michael Richardson, a senior research fellow at the University of New South Wales and expert on the cultural politics of military technology and drone warfare.

• Read Michael’s excellent essay on the politics of drone warfare and drone witnessing: The Testimony of Drones https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/the-testimony-of-drones/

• Follow Michael on twitter: https://twitter.com/richardson_m_a

• Check out his work: https://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/our-people/michael-richardson

Subscribe at patreon.com/thismachinekills to hear the second part of conversation with Michael and get more premium episodes every week!

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

We discuss the aftermath of the election, including the banner year for the tech sector, the power dynamics of a Biden/Harris administration, the dynastic conspiracy of interests in San Francisco politics, the risks of a disengaged polity, and the need for an active left.

Subscribe at patreon.com/thismachinekills to help support TMK and hear premium episodes every week!

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