Elon Musk has built himself a corporate empire, but how did he do it? He’s styled himself at as the cofounder of Tesla, but the real innovations came from its actual founders before he took the credit and spun a ton of deceptive tales he couldn’t follow through on to boost its share price. Ultimately, his interventions have had some serious consequences. This is episode 3 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective o...
Oct 26, 2023•53 min•Ep. 191
Elon Musk is man, but he’s also a character that he crafted and which the media blew up to unimaginable scale. Without the media, Musk would not be the man he is today because that myth — and the way it exaggerated some of his traits and virtually hid others — was essential to his success. This is episode 2 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspirin...
Oct 19, 2023•44 min•Ep. 190
Elon Musk wasn't always the influential billionaire he is today. To begin our dive into the myth of Musk, we need to go back to his origins — to find out where he came from, what inspired him, and how he became the man he is today. Those details set the foundation for the three episodes to come. This is episode 1 of Elon Musk Unmasked, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal ...
Oct 12, 2023•40 min•Ep. 189
Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the start of the criminal trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, what we know about the case, and whether he’s likely to be found guilty. 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 . Find more of Jacob’s work on jacobsilverman.com . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with...
Oct 05, 2023•56 min•Ep. 188
Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the history of the Luddites, why we have their story all wrong, and what we can learn from them today. Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times and the author of Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech . 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 ( @techwontsav...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 187
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...
Sep 21, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 186
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 worl...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 185
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...
Sep 07, 2023•59 min•Ep. 184
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 wo...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 183
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,...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 182
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...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 181
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 ...
Aug 10, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 180
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 perspe...
Aug 03, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 179
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 tec...
Jul 27, 2023•58 min•Ep. 178
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 ( @techwontsav...
Jul 20, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 177
Paris Marx is joined by Antony Loewenstein to discuss how the Israeli weapons industry tests new military technologies on occupied Palestinians before selling them internationally. Antony Loewenstein is an independent journalist who’s written for the New York Times and the Guardian . He’s the author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports The Technology Of Occupation Around The World . Follow Antony on Twitter at @antloewenstein . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech,...
Jul 13, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 176
Paris Marx is joined by David Moscrop to discuss Canada’s plan to make Google and Meta pay news publishers, and what might happened now that they’re threatening to pull Canadian news from their platforms. David Moscrop is a freelance writer and the author of Too Dumb for Democracy?: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions and How We Can Make Better Ones . Follow David on Twitter at @David_Moscrop . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the go...
Jul 06, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 175
Paris Marx is joined by Molly Crabapple to discuss why AI image generation tools are a threat to illustrators and why we need to refuse the idea that Silicon Valley’s visions of technology are inevitable. Molly Crabapple is an artist and writer based in New York. She is the author of two books, Drawing Blood and Brothers of the Gun with Marwan Hisham. Follow Molly on Twitter at @mollycrabapple . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the g...
Jun 29, 2023•55 min•Ep. 174
Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss the vision of the future of computing offered by Apple’s Vision Pro headset and why it should be resisted. Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the LA Times. He’s also the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech . Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with...
Jun 22, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 173
Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase and what they might mean for the future of the crypto industry. Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at Harvard Library Innovation Lab. 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....
Jun 15, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 172
Paris Marx is joined by Emily Hund to discuss the creation of the influencer industry, how it’s been formalized by companies who profit from it, and what can be done to make it fairer for the people who work in it. Emily Hund is the author of The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media . She’s also a research affiliate at the Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. Follow Emily on Twitter at @emilyadh ....
Jun 08, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 171
Paris Marx is joined by Amanda Mull to discuss the history of consumerism and where ecommerce goes in the next few years as interest rates rise and its market share stalls. Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic , where she writes the Material World column. She’s also a shop steward at The Atlantic Union. Follow Amanda on Twitter at @amandamull . 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 te...
Jun 01, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 170
Paris Marx is joined by Mary-Jane Rubenstein to discuss how ideas that underpinned colonization and Manifest Destiny are now setting the foundation for the billionaire space race and the plan to colonize the cosmos. Mary-Jane Rubenstein is the author of Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race . She’s also a Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the...
May 25, 2023•59 min•Ep. 169
Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss tech billionaires’ embrace of pronatalism and how it’s part of a broader rationalist project to remake society and protect their privileged positions. Julia Black is a senior correspondent at Insider and previously worked at Esquire and Vox . Follow Julia on Twitter at @mjnblack . 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. Foll...
May 18, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 168
Paris Marx is joined by David A. Banks to discuss how cities have been reshaped to attract tech companies and what the consequences have been for the people who live in them. David A. Banks is the author of The City Authentic: How the Attention Economy Builds Urban America . He’s a lecturer in the Geography and Planning department at University at Albany, SUNY. David also writers Other Day and co-hosts Iron Weeds. Follow David on Twitter at @DA_Banks . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspe...
May 11, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 167
Paris Marx is joined by Matt Binder to discuss Elon Musk’s first six months at Twitter and how his obsession with blue checks has decimated the company’s finances. Matt Binder is a reporter at Mashable and the host of Scam Economy and Doomed. Follow Matt on Twitter at @MattBinder . 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 Pa...
May 04, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 166
Paris Marx is joined by Shoshana Wodinsky to discuss the unconvincing arguments being made for a TikTok ban in the United States, then by Daniel Greene to explore how the turn against Chinese technology signals a shift in US policy on the internet and technology. Shoshana Wodinsky is a freelance reporter, previously at Marketwatch and Gizmodo. She writes the Tubes newsletter . Daniel Greene is an assistant professor at the University of Maryland’s College of Information Studies and the author of...
Apr 27, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 165
Paris Marx is joined by Aaron Benanav to discuss OpenAI’s claims that generative AI will take our jobs, how previous periods of automation hype haven’t resulted in mass job loss, and why we need to ensure it doesn’t further empower employers. Aaron Benanav is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and the author of Automation and the Future of Work . Follow Aaron on Twitter at @abenanav . Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worl...
Apr 20, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 164
Paris Marx is joined by Emily M. Bender to discuss what it means to say that ChatGPT is a “stochastic parrot,” why Elon Musk is calling to pause AI development, and how the tech industry uses language to trick us into buying its narratives about technology. Emily M. Bender is a professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Washington and the Faculty Director of the Computational Linguistics Master’s Program. She’s also the director of the Computational Linguistics Laboratory. F...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 163
Paris Marx is joined by Moira Weigel to discuss the third-party sellers who supply many of the goods sold through Amazon, how the company’s policy decisions reshape small businesses to act like mini-Amazons, and what that means for regulatory responses. Moira Weigel is an Assistant Professor at Northeastern University, a Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard Law School, and a founding editor of Logic Magazine. Her most recent book is Voices from the Valley: Tech Workers Talk a...
Apr 06, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 162
