I've Written a Book About the Working Class Background of Some of the Founders

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The founders of Am.org come from a more well off background, even though they presented themselves as like these really kind of self made individuals. So it is really interesting to kind of see the class backgrounds of a lot of these founders. I was so tired of hearing about people who sat at b b ss when they were seven and their father came home with a computer in the eighties. And then i so wanted to kind of push back that a little bit with, well, yes, i was on ell it was very ordinary. It was for the masses am ands just like kind of pushing back against these narratives.

Paris Marx is joined by Joanne McNeil to discuss how our experience online has evolved over the past three decades, the class backgrounds of tech founders, how the AIDS crisis robbed us an important contribution to the early web, and whether COVID-19 will change how we use platforms in the future.

Joanne McNeil is the author of “Lurking: How a Person Became a User.” She has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, WIRED, the Baffler, and more. Follow Joanne on Twitter as @jomc.

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 Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter.

Support the show