Computers Are a Tool of Liberation

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In the late sixties, students were sharing punch cards as giant impersonal i b m, blubabla. In 19 71, you have intel coming out with what they call a computer on a chip,. Other micro chip companies are coming out with the same thing. And this is where we get so you have this group of tinkerers that end up radicalized to some degree in college. You know how i'm going to change the world? I'm going to do it through computers.

Paris Marx is joined by Margaret O’Mara to discuss how the state and military have been at the center of the US tech industry since the very beginning, but how it was written out of the popular narrative during the neoliberal turn in the 1980s.

Margaret O’Mara is the author of “The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America” and a professor at the University of Washington. Follow Margaret on Twitter as @margaretomara.

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, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

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