The Politics of Technology

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The political economy of technology has not received enough attention, says Andrew Keen. The risks here as well is that when we allow these companies to use public sector data there's also a risk that they are going to create a product that then helps to kind of undermine the welfare state or you know the public service altogether and actually sets them up to compete with what is being delivered publicly. A really interesting example that I came across in my research was of a triple helix partnership between an SME and a Danish hospital for cardiovascular disease monitoring tech. And interestingly, the nurses were vehemently against the introduction of this new technology because they didn't think it was accurate.

Paris Marx is joined by Rosie Collington to discuss the consequences of outsourcing tech to the private sector, how it causes governments to lose important capacities to serve the public, and how the push for open government data empowered large tech firms.

Rosie Collington is a PhD candidate at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at University College London. She’s also the co-author of The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies with Mariana Mazzucato. You can follow Rosie on Twitter at @RosieCollingto.

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.

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