The History of the Trotting Horse Racing Industry

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Leland Stanford started the Palo Alto stock farm in California to breed horses. He developed what's called the Palo Alto system to breed these horses and you later kind of link that development and that kind of ethos through to the development of human capital, you know, at the university and in this industry more generally. And it becomes very quickly an inspiration for other horse breeders who are kind of like mad that this rich asshole has totally transformed their whole sport, but have to admit that he did do it.

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.

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