Exploring the Controversy of Empathy in Tech Culture

Paris Marx is joined by Julia Carrie Wong to discuss Elon Musk’s recent opposition to empathy, how it comes out of the Christian right, and the relationship it has to previous discussions of longtermism. 

Julia Carrie Wong is a features writer at The Guardian.

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.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Julia wrote about how the Christian right is reframing empathy as a threat to civilization. In 2017, she also interviewed Elon Musk about worker injuries at Tesla.
• In February, none other than Pope Francis pushed back on JD Vance’s use of a Christian theological concept to justify Trump’s inhumane immigration policies.

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