The Relationship Between the Military and the Tech Industry, Right?

5min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

A lot of public funding goes into the Bay Area, going into companies that are being set up. Varian is the one that you really think of as the first military technology company in World War II. Palo Alto becomes this key to the global economy through weapons and weapons contracts. And so there's a recognition that there is a relationship between the tech industry and the military,. but in the book, you draw this out much further than is often kind of presented in a lot of these histories.

Paris Marx is joined by Malcolm Harris to discuss the sordid history of Silicon Valley, including the long influence of eugenics at Stanford, how Silicon Valley profited from the United States’ wars throughout the 20th century, and why the libertarian narrative of tech hide a much darker reality.

Malcolm Harris is the author of Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World. You can follow Malcolm on Twitter at @BigMeanInternet.

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.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

Also mentioned in this episode: