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Silicon Valley wants to shape our future, but why should we let it? Every Thursday, Paris Marx is joined by a new guest to critically examine the tech industry, its big promises, and the people behind them. Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. It’s not your usual tech podcast.
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Paris Marx is joined by Laleh Khalili to discuss Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, the structural factors that allowed him to build an empire, and the many ways he’s shaped the modern tech industry. Laleh Khalili is Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and the author of Sinews of War and Trade and her forthcoming book Extractive Capitalism. 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...
1Paris Marx is doing a solo episode this week to bring together some important issues that have been on his mind lately. This is a recording of a talk Paris gave in Auckland, New Zealand on how Silicon Valley’s alliance with Donald Trump forces us to reassess the politics of the internet and challenge our collective dependence on US tech as it embraces the project of American empire. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of in...
Paris Marx is joined by Aline Blankertz to discuss whether Europe is going to finally make a serious push to end its dependence on US tech and how different European interests are trying to take advantage of those debates. Aline Blankertz is an economist working on digital policy. She currently works with Rebalance Now and was previously at Wikimedia Germany. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to deman...
Paris Marx is joined by JS Tan to discuss his experience seeing first hand how Microsoft deployed its cloud and machine learning services to help Chevron extract more oil and gas, and the state of tech worker organizing around climate change. JS Tan is a PhD student at MIT, researching cloud computing in the US and China. He’s a a member of Collective Action in Tech and writes the Value Added newsletter. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider soc...
Paris Marx is joined by Kate Green and Milo to discuss how Elon Musk’s DOGE is dismantling the US Digital Service and the consequences that has on really improving service delivery in government. Kate Green and Milo are former US Digital Service engineers. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with T...
Don’t worry; your regularly scheduled Tech Won’t Save Us is coming soon! But if you’re looking to try something a little different and get a critical take on the ongoing Canadian election, check out Campaign Cops, a special five-week series hosted by Paris Marx and Rachel Gilmore. The first episode is here for you to try out, but if you want to keep listening, find future episodes on Rachel’s YouTube channel or her podcast feed on places like Apple or Spotify. Support the show
Paris Marx is joined by Jen St. Denis to discuss how Silicon Valley thinking is creeping into Canadian politics as Donald Trump continues to threaten the country with tariffs and annexation. Jen St. Denis is a reporter with The Tyee. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production ...
Paris Marx is joined by Timnit Gebru to discuss where the AI industry stands in 2025 as AI increasingly becomes a geopolitical football even as the big promises made by AI companies fail to materialize. Timnit Gebru is the founder and executive director of the Distributed AI Research Institute. 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. Support the show on Patreon. Th...
Paris Marx is joined by James Meadway to discuss how the UK Labour Party is embracing AI regardless of the cost and the consequences of allowing US companies to dominate the digital economy in so many other countries. James Meadway is an economist and the host of Macrodose. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in ...
Paris Marx is joined by Ed Niedermeyer to discuss the trouble with Tesla’s business model and how that makes Elon Musk’s power vulnerable to protest and boycott. Ed Niedermeyer is the author Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors and a co-host of the Autonocast. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in pa...
Paris Marx is joined by Makena Kelly to discuss how Elon Musk’s DOGE is reshaping the US government and the consequences that has for government employees and the wider public. Makena Kelly is a senior writer at WIRED and writes the weekly Politics Lab newsletter. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnershi...
Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Alex Hanna, the Director of Research at the Distributed AI Institute. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon. Support the show
Paris Marx is joined by Eoin Higgins to discuss how tech billionaires set out to change the media ecosystem and made it profitable for influential voices to shift to the political right. Eoin Higgins is a journalist and the author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. 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. Support the s...
Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Julia Black, a reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon. Support the show
Paris Marx is joined by Liz Pelly to discuss how Spotify changes how we listen to music and the broader impacts it has on the wider music industry. Liz Pelly is a music journalist and the author of Mood Machine. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Al...
Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss David Golumbia's final book Cyberlibertarianism and how right-wing politics shaped how we think about the internet. Chris Gilliard is co-director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute and author of the forthcoming book Luxury Surveillance, coming in 2026. 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. Support the show ...
Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Émile P. Torres, a postdoctoral researcher at Case Western University. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.Support the show
Paris Marx is joined by Gaby Del Valle to discuss the inauguration of Donald Trump and what the tech oligarchy hopes to get from their relationship with him. Gaby Del Valle is a policy reporter at The Verge and is working on a book on ecofascism that will be released by Bloomsbury in 2026. 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. Support the show on Patreon. The pod...
Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Dan McQuillan, author of Resisting AI and a lecturer at Goldsmiths University of London. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon. Support the show
Paris Marx is joined by Jathan Sadowski to discuss the relationship between technology and capitalism, and what lessons can be taken from the Luddites to properly assess and understand these systems. Jathan Sadowski is is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism. He’s also the co-host of This Machine Kills and a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective ...
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No one’s talking about this, and now they’re in the white house.
I'm reminded of IBM's origins
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Paris!! Talk less! You're always just recapping what your guests have just said. It's aggravating!
This was like listening to 2 high, sophomoric twits yammer over a joint. It was an uncritical, facile, blathering armchair exploration of a lazy, loose hypothesis.
Right?
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This was simply stupid. In addition to many other misrepresentations in this conversation, effective accelerationism and effective altruism were presented as birds of a feather. However, effective accelerationism arose *in opposition* to effective altruism (which the former call "doomers"). To see it in action, see the recent fisco with Sam Altman at OpenAI.
Another episode beating on a straw man. Paris is more interested in guffawing at misrepresentations and wallowing in mischaracterizations than in understanding a topic or testing ideas. It's childishness masquerading as thoughtfulness for the sake of hollow self-righteousness.
@1:05:35: Although I generally agree with most of the criticisms against Israel mentioned in this episode, Paris's equivocation about Oct. 7th was reprehensible. Is he so stupid as to think it undercuts Palestinian advocacy to reproach the vile barbarism of Oct. 7th? It seems as if Paris is so zealously obsequious towards his guests that he often finds himself with a mouthful of foot... and that's the generous interpretation.
You started this episode with a complete misrepresentation of what Summers said. You've made such a habit of strawmanning that I just don't find you credible anymore.
I dislike many things about Elon Musk, but this whole Musk sub-series was quite weak. It included many legitimate criticisms, but it was padded out with too many loose connections, weakly argued criticisms, and vague aspersions.
Tezla?
I'm often impressed by just how off-putting vocal fry is for me. In this case, I couldn't stop the episode fast enough. What's especially strange is how the prevalence of vocal fry has sky-rocketed in the last 10 years (along with other affectations, such as up-talk and some forms of lisping).
Host....please use another word or phrase when confirming or agreeing with something your guest says. The response "Absolutely! " is soooo over used by your generation.
Much too race-centric, even to the point of racializing geography and claiming that each of us inherits the sins (and grievances) of historical people of the same race (even irrespective of a lack of genealogical connection). This is just more "race-first" garbage made combustible with misappropriated words, such as "colonial".
Fascinating discussion.
Summary: P: kind of in particular kind of in particular A: sort of sort of sort of sort of
@50:30: Another lazy commentator who fancies herself a journalist, yet spreads rumors (which were started to undermine unions' negotiating positions) that could be dispelled with a simple Google search. "The Apprentice" began in 2004. It's beginning had nothing to do with the 2007 labor strike. Good grief. Do your job.
@52:50: Paris thinks there's only a weak genetic component of intelligence, and that there's little evidence to the contrary? Good grief, he does like to speak confidently--with hedged hyperbole--about things he clearly knows little about. Ugh, it seems a "liberal education" increasingly entails training people to make smug, ignorant "critiques" and has little to do with learning anything... presumably because that would evince a colonially hegemonic othering of their lived ways of knowing, or some such BS.