The Imperial Role of Technology in the United States

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

i feel like this is a piece of technology that we have forgotten, right, or that has been so long kind of excluded from the discourse that we have about the tech industry in the united states. And there is a kind of missionary saviourism behind te that i think we all have seen. Obviously, the te companies portray themselves as making society better. But if you look at the stuff that people use and need to use all the time, the processos, the chips, almost all of it is american stuff. It was something that obviously they did a good job securing, to the detriment of everybody else, absolutely.

Paris Marx is joined by Michael Kwet to discuss how digital technologies are used to entrench the power of the United States and its dominant corporations at the expense of the Global South.

Michael Kwet is a Visiting Fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. He got his PhD in Sociology at Rhodes University in South Africa. Follow Michael on Twitter at @Michael_Kwet.

🚨 T-shirts are now available!

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

Michael wrote about digital colonialism and the need for a Digital Tech Deal.
Bill Gates wrote a notorious letter in 1976 opposing the sharing of software as it conflicted with Microsoft's business model.
Tech companies export content moderation, training AI, call center, and even more labor to the Global South.
Gabriel Winant criticized the dominant liberal perspective on antitrust action.

Support the show