Is That Really the Best Way to Give Back to the World?

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Long-termism is a way for people to feel that Billionaires are justified in having the power and wealth that they have right because you know We shouldn't take it from them. They should just invest it in effective Organizations and nonprofits and charities to make the world a better placeright? Yeah, it is a fantasy in which they are the well deserving elites because they all figured out and we should trust them And the reality is like we live in a world without wizards like they like I'm not saying they're not smart in their own realms But they haven't figured out the entire world the entire universe Like he yeah, like he has mostly to his credit like stayed within his fucking lane He

Paris Marx is joined by Dave Karpf to discuss Meta’s misguided attempt to turn Facebook into a metaverse company, how Wired Magazine has evolved, and why the tech billionaires are destroying the world.

Dave Karpf is an Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, George Washington University. He’s also the author of The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy and Analytic Activism: Digital Listening and the New Political Strategy. Follow Dave on Twitter at @davekarpf.

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:

Dave wrote about the history of WIRED Magazine’s future predictions and why VR never dies.
People Make Games made a video looking at what’s going on in VRChat.
Meta’s legs demo wasn’t real.
Douglas Rushkoff’s new book Survival of the Richest looks at how the rich are trying to protect themselves from the crises they’re making worse.
Science fiction books mentioned: Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, and William Gibson’s The Peripheral.