VC, valuations, and the push to scale

Polymarket and Kalshi are everywhere. But what are they doing to society? Jathan Sadowski joins Paris Marx to discuss the rise of prediction markets and their negative social effects as they push the global economy closer toward the financialization of everything. 

Jathan Sadowski is an Associate Professor at Monash University. He is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite and co-hosts This Machine Kills.

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 Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• Jathan wrote about Kalshi trying to bring about the financialization of everything in Fast Company.
• The NYT reported on the use of classified information by a US soldier to place a bet on the capture of Maduro.
• Wired just reported on how the US is using AI to spot insider trading.
• Polymarket users sent death threats to a reporter.

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