We talk about the absurdities of proptech – or the real estate technology sector – which is jam packed with out-of-control purchasing by house-flipping algorithms powered by automated valuation models that lead to balance sheets filled with liabilities and it’s all fuelled by way too much free-flowing capital. In other words, a classic recipe for disaster. The article we discuss: ••• House-flipping algorithms are coming to your neighborhood | Matthew Ponsford https://www.technologyreview.com/202...
Apr 25, 2022•8 min
We are unlocking a premium episode in which we discuss Ed’s new reporting on the political economy of play-to-earn games, focusing on Axie Infinity and its super-exploitative system of “managers” and “scholars.” Surprise, surprise – the technological and financial foundation of Axie Infinity is just a house of cards built on a bed of sand. Its failure is inevitable. The question is: how much damage will it do along the way? Some stuff we reference: ••• The Metaverse Has Bosses Too. Meet the ‘Man...
Apr 20, 2022•1 hr 9 min
We dive into chapter 6 – Gardens of Adonis – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. Here we bust the myth of the “Agricultural Revolution” in two main senses. First, we bust the idea of agricultural development as a linear, deterministic, teleological transitional stage in human society. Second, we bust the idea of agriculture as a revolution that happened immediately, spread quickly, and never turned back. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every w...
Apr 17, 2022•7 min
We’re joined by Richard Nieva, reporter at Buzzfeed, who, along with his colleague Aman Sethi, just published a massive investigation into Worldcoin, a company that aims to distribute crypto to people around the world in exchange for having their eyes scanned by an ominous biometrics device called the Orb. We discuss the long list of major issues with Worldcoin’s operations—including faulty technology, delayed payments, labor exploitation, colonialist extraction, and much more—as uncovered by Ri...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 8 min
We discuss Ed’s new reporting on the political economy of play-to-earn games, focusing on Axie Infinity and its super-exploitative system of “managers” and “scholars.” Surprise, surprise – the technological and financial foundation of Axie Infinity is just a house of cards built on a bed of sand. Its failure is inevitable. The question is: how much damage will it do along the way? Some stuff we reference: ••• The Metaverse Has Bosses Too. Meet the ‘Managers’ of Axie Infinity | Ed Ongweso Jr. htt...
Apr 10, 2022•7 min
We dive into chapter 5 – Many Seasons Ago – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: 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)
Apr 07, 2022•11 min
We’re joined by one of the best critical observers of Web3 around – Molly White, creator of Web3 is Going Just Great – to discuss what made her, as a software engineer who is immersed in the tech sector and discourse, finally have to take a stand on Web3. We then break down how Web3 fetishizes its own apparent complexity-as-convolution, the pitfalls in how it is covered by reporters, the cynicism of its biggest advocates, and the internal ideological contradictions at the heart of Web3. Check ou...
Apr 05, 2022•1 hr 28 min
Content warning: this episode has explicit discussion of anti-Black racism experienced by Black workers at Tesla, including racist discrimination, imagery, and slurs. We discuss the details of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of more than 4,000 current and former Black workers at Tesla. The lawsuit is based on a long list of allegations of rampant, systemic, abhorrent acts of racism and discrimination in the company’s automotive plant in Fremont, California. Some stuff we reference: ••• Ca...
Mar 31, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Our impromptu discussion last week about Jame C. Scott and dual use anthropology made us revisit a classic essay in which Malcolm Harris critically analyzes the anarcho-liberal politics advocated for by Scott. Imagine if the normative basis for your “radical” politics amounted to: throw your hands up like you just don’t care, because nothing matters anyway. We then move on to a new essay offering a thoughtful critique of sci-fi author Neal Stephenson and his latest book that centers on an anarch...
Mar 27, 2022•8 min
Our intrepid reporter goes gonzo as Ed descends into the doltish phantasmagoria of SXSW. There are nightmares of humanoid rabbits as Web3 meets Midsommar. Spectacles and speculations of all varieties multiply faster than the mind can process. The old world is dying; long live the new flesh. Ed’s article – At SXSW, A Pathetic Tech Future Struggles to Be Born https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gb75/at-sxsw-a-pathetic-tech-future-struggles-to-be-born Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in...
Mar 25, 2022•1 hr 7 min
We dive into chapter 4 – Free People, the Origin of Cultures, and the Advent of Private Property – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. This chapter is bookended by discussions of two key political distinctions that organize societies in fundamentally different ways. We start with formal freedom vs substantive freedom. Or, freedom as an ideology (e.g. the land of the free; the pursuit of liberty; spreading democracy) and freedom as a practice (e.g. the ability to actually do things ...
Mar 22, 2022•10 min
We're unlocking the latest episode from the premium feed on the political economy of Buy Now, Pay Later companies. What are they, where did they come from, how do they work, why are they booming, and who is winning and losing? We focus our analysis on the big three BNPLs – Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm – each one a super decacorn company that has benefited immensely from debt fuelled spending during the pandemic. Some stuff we reference: ••• Would You Take Out a Loan for a Pair of Jeans? | Susie Cagl...
Mar 15, 2022•1 hr 18 min
We investigate the political economy of Buy Now, Pay Later companies. What are they, where did they come from, how do they work, why are they booming, and who is winning and losing? We focus our analysis on the big three BNPLs – Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm – each one a super decacorn company that has benefited immensely from debt fuelled spending during the pandemic. Some stuff we reference: ••• Would You Take Out a Loan for a Pair of Jeans? | Susie Cagle racked.com/2017/11/29/16710502/affirm-loan-...
Mar 13, 2022•8 min
First up is old friend FTC’s recent actions ordering companies to destroy “models and algorithms” derived from “ill-gotten data.” This is a massive regulatory precedent that targets the underlying business model of tech companies, rather than just slapping them on the wrist with fines. We then roll into the latest news from old enemy Uber, who has rolled out a new secretive algorithm that determines how much drivers get paid. This is part of an ongoing agenda to make markets for everything into ...
Mar 09, 2022•1 hr 15 min
We dive into chapter 3 – Unfreezing the Ice Age – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. We travel back to prehistoric times to learn how the actual archaeological evidence flies in the face of persistent, ubiquitous interpretations of human nature as unchangeable and human society as one-dimensional. Instead, we see how social fluidity and political experimentation has long been the norm – and the rigidity of our institutions and thinking today is the real anomaly. Subscribe to hear ...
Mar 07, 2022•10 min
Rather than try to hit you with hot takes and quick analysis on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we take a step back and round up of the most craven people in crypto who saw this crisis as a problem in need of web3 solutions. Brace yourself for the most harebrained schemes and opportunistic scams. The great thing about the blockchain is that it promotes peace and profits at the same time. Some stuff we reference: ••• Crypto Community Rushes to Ukraine’s Defense Armed With NFTs, DAOs | Maxwell St...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 8 min
You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers! In our first Mail Bomb episode, we riff on some of the excellent questions submitted by subscribers and chat about which dead leftist figures we would bring to Davos, the best ways to make your coworkers into Luddites, and professional advice for being academics, journos, and techies in the TMK style, among other topics. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear:...
Feb 26, 2022•10 min
We’re joined by Phil Neel, a communist economic geographer, to dig deep into different theories of crisis in capitalism. While theorizing crisis is a core part of the Marxist analysis of capitalism, we focus on understanding how major approaches in mainstream economics try (and fail) to explain the features, causes, and solutions for crisis. Bonus: we learn how economics is a disproven cosmology maintained by bourgeois ideology—like astrology for the ruling class. Double bonus: we end the episod...
Feb 25, 2022•1 hr 50 min
It’s time for chapter 2 – Wicked Liberty – of The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow. We dig deep into the colonial origins of the Enlightenment, the hegemonic historical narrative of European superiority, the striking indigenous critique that Native Americans levied against European society, and the myths of progress that continue today and prevent us from imagining radically alternative ways of living. Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! pa...
Feb 20, 2022•8 min
Continuing our radical tech worker occasional series, we’re pleased to be joined by Bjorn Westergard—senior software engineer at NPR and Marxist union organizer—for a wide-ranging discussion about his own journey into tech and politics, the influence of Occupy Wall Street, his experiences involved with unionization efforts, what the label “tech worker” even means, and the need for labor to go on the offensive against capital. Info for Jathan’s open PhD position: https://supervisorconnect.it.mona...
Feb 17, 2022•1 hr 50 min
We dig into the complete disaster that is the NFT ecosystem before zooming out to discuss how the real promise and purpose of NFTs is as an instrument for total financialization of everything. Turning every piece of data about any little thing into a commodity that can then be securitized, collateralized, and speculated with. Contained within this little dumb oddity is the seeds for a world designed and defined by fictitious capital – which firms like a16z are doing their damndest to make grow. ...
Feb 12, 2022•9 min
Because it was so damn good, we’re unlocking part two of our discussion with Nick Chavez, focusing on the possibilities and limitations of reengineering capitalist forces of production for communist social relations. We discuss the need for epistemic luddism—or breaking the way we understand and use technologies—and why militancy at points of production is absolutely crucial. What comes first? Which one gives us the other? Radical machines or radical society? The dialectical answer is, of course...
Feb 08, 2022•1 hr 16 min
We kick off the next installment of the TMK book club with The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, by David Graeber and David Wengrow. Join us as we dig into this massive—and massively important—new book, discussing each chapter in-depth. We start with Chapter 1: Farewell to Humanity’s Childhood — and lay out the deceptive myths, championed by pop sci hucksters, that have perpetuated wrong, dull, and dire accounts of the origins of human civilization and modern society. New episodes d...
Feb 06, 2022•10 min
Well it’s finally happened. We are joined by Evgeny Morozov—preeminent critic of digital capitalism and founder of The Syllabus—for a very long conversation. Among a great many things, we discuss: the origins and purpose of The (Crypto) Syllabus platform // the political economy of knowledge creation and curation // Evgeny’s intellectual evolution // why it's not all about the bullshitters and assholes // the immanent critique of web3 // what leftists should learn from engaging with web3 // why ...
Feb 01, 2022•1 hr 52 min
We pick up on part two of our discussion with Nick Chavez, focusing on the possibilities and limitations of reengineering capitalist forces of production for communist social relations. We discuss the need for epistemic luddism—or breaking the way we understand and use technologies—and why militancy at points of production is absolutely crucial. What comes first? Which one gives us the other? Radical machines or radical society? The dialectical answer is, of course, why not both! Some stuff we r...
Jan 29, 2022•9 min
We are joined once again by Nick Chavez, a Marxist mechanical engineer, to discuss the political economy of automation – providing the groundwork for a better understanding of how automation actually operates in the market, the workplace, the interests of capital, and the lives of labor. What happens when the living are dominated by the dead? What happens when you work too much or not work enough? What happens when the bottom keeps falling out of a stagnated service economy? What happens when ca...
Jan 26, 2022•1 hr 23 min
We talk more about (digital) sabotage, the different scales and intensities these actions can take, and the risks of inconvenience or worse, which sabotage as a form of self-sacrifice might require. We then get into the politics of the “slow computing” movement, the failings of “humane technology” philosophies, and why the tech press is a sucker for a redemption story. Some stuff we reference: ••• Gaslighting Your Boss: Creative Experiments in Digital Sabotage | Sam Lavigne: https://pioneerworks...
Jan 23, 2022•10 min
We dig into the different visions that tech billionaires have for space – whether it’s Elon Musk’s ambitions for lording over Mars colonies or Jeff Bezos’s schemes to monopolize logistics for orbital settlements. At the end of the day, we can see the same imperialist imperative inherent to capitalism expressing itself through the search for a new frontier, the final frontier to conquer: space. The essay we discuss: ••• Dawn of the Space Lords | Corey Pein | The Baffler https://thebaffler.com/sal...
Jan 19, 2022•1 hr 12 min
We discuss recent work Andreas Malm – Marxist historian, ecologists, and radical climate activist – as analysed through a large synthetic review essay by Adam Tooze. We get into capitalism’s climate catastrophe, the politics and praxis of direct action, the ahistorical positions and principles of large liberal climate change activism movements, and the urgent need for moral arguments backed up by material actions. It’s how to blow up a pipeline meets how to sabotage a factory line. Some stuff we...
Jan 17, 2022•9 min
Kicking off the new year, we are joined by returning champion Wendy Liu – author of Abolish Silicon Valley – to look back on all the very dumb things the tech sector has forced us take seriously in 2021. We talk about how free flowing capital has both created and accelerated a world built on sand. Where all the vaporware, bullshit, and grifts of things like NFTs, DAOs, and web3 seemingly come from nowhere and become all we can talk about. We wrap up with our hopes that 2022 will be a year that p...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr 14 min
