As the podcast celebrates episode 100, Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss the huge drop in crypto prices, the coming threat (to crypto) of interest rate hikes and regulation, the human impact of crypto schemes, and where things may be going next.Jacob Silverman is a staff writer at The New Republic and writes about crypto with the actor Ben McKenzie. Follow Jacob on Twitter at @SilvermanJacob.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:Jacob and Ben McKenzie wrote about Tether. Zeke Faux also wrote an essential article on the stablecoin, and Jacob recommends Crypto Critics Corner.Crypto prices have plunged, and that’s hurt regular people.New York’s Attorney General reached a settlement with Tether last year.VC firm Andreessen Horowitz is making a big lobbying push in Washington, DC to get favorable crypto regulations.Matt Damon and Spike Lee are among the celebrities to take crypto money and help pump the industry.US regulators are looking at crypto regulations, and Biden administration is planning an executive order to move it forward.China banned crypto mining, Russia proposed a ban on crypto, and many countries have suffered power outages due to crypto mining.Stephen Diehl wrote explained how crypto is about arbitraging securities regulation.Diane Jeantet wrote about a massive series of Bitcoin pyramid schemes in Brazil.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Rob Zacny to discuss the potential consequences of Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and what subscriptions and consolidation might mean for the future of games and the industry.Rob Zacny is a senior editor at Waypoint and co-host of Waypoint Radio. Follow Rob on Twitter at @RobZacny.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:Rob discussed the consequences of the proposed acquisition with his colleague Patrick Klepek.Microsoft plans to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.In November, Phil Spencer said he was troubled by the harassment and abuse at Activision Blizzard.QA workers at Activision’s Raven Software are seeking to unionize. The company said it won’t recognize the union, and is reorganizing the division.A new Game Developers Conference found 55% think the industry should unionize.On January 18, the US Federal Trade Commission began a process to rewrite its merger guidelines.Google shut down its Stadia game studios at least in part due to Microsoft’s acquisition of Zenimax.At GDC in 2005, a developer rant session featuring Warren Spector, Jason Della Rocca, Greg Costikyan, Brenda Laurel, and Chris Hecke presented a grim picture of where the industry was going.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Corrina Laughlin to discuss how evangelical Christians have adapted to modern technologies, how churches have emulated startups, the growth of the faith tech sector, and whether there’s anything that can be learned from their tech experiments.Corrina Laughlin is the author of Redeem All: How Digital Life Is Changing Evangelical Culture. She’s also an instructor of media studies at Loyola Marymount University. Follow Corrina on Twitter at @CKLaughlin.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:Corrina wrote an article about why evangelicals are early adopters for The Atlantic.Pew estimates about 24% of US adults identify as born again or evangelical Protestants.The 1925 Scopes Trial was over the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools.Life.Church makes a ton of high production value resources available to churches looking to start up and expand what they’re doing.The prosperity gospel is a pro-capitalist theological tradition preached by some very wealth pastors, including Kenneth Copeland.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by James Muldoon to discuss his vision for platform socialism and the different ways we could reorganize platforms to serve the public good over corporate profit.James Muldoon is the author of Platform Socialism: How to Reclaim our Digital Future from Big Tech. He’s also a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter and the Head of Digital Research at Autonomy. Follow James on Twitter at @james_muldoon_.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:James wrote about why web3 won’t save the internet.Paris wrote about what’s wrong with discourses about decentralization and why we should nationalize Amazon.Francesca Bria was interviewed by Crypto Syllabus about web3, decentralization, and her experience with municipal tech projects.Facebook’s Project Amplify ensured users saw positive stories about the company.Antonio Negri and Dalla Costa were among the Italian Autonomist Marxists thinking about the social factory. Karl Marx wrote about the concept of surplus value.G.D.H. Cole wrote about guild socialism. James also mentions the work of Otto Neurath.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Quintin Smith to discuss how Roblox profits from the labor of children, built an exploitative in-game economy, and needs to be regulated as soon as possible.Quintin Smith is a journalist working with People Make Games and Shut Up & Sit Down. Follow Quintin on Twitter at @Quinns108.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:Quintin did an investigation of Roblox for People Make Games. Watch part 1 and part 2.Roblox went public on March 9, 2021, hitting a valuation of $45 billion. It’s now over $50 billion and benefiting from the metaverse hype.More than half of US kids and teens under 16 are on Roblox. It’s estimated that half the platform’s users globally are under 13 years old.Cecilia D’Anastasio reported on fascist role-playing games in Roblox.Games featuring sex and nudity are not always caught by Roblox, exposing kids to them.Support the show

To end 2021, Paris Marx provides a quick update on the podcast and what’s coming next year.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:Paris’ book Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation comes out in July 2022.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Annalee Newitz to discuss what’s wrong with Silicon Valley’s understanding of science fiction, and how tech leaders use it to justify terrible futures.Annalee Newitz is the author of Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age and The Future of Another Timeline. They are also the co-host of Our Opinions Are Correct and a writer for NYT Opinion and New Scientist. Follow Annalee on Twitter at @Annaleen.🚨 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:Annalee wrote about what tech companies don’t get about science fiction for New Scientist.Paris wrote about the dystopian future proposed by the metaverse.The Verge spoke to Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, but the interviewer suggested The Matrix was trying to predict where technology was going.In 1985, Ursula K. Le Guin wrote about science fiction and the future.Facebook is already failing to combat harassment in VR, and its incoming CTO thinks doing so in the metaverse is “practically impossible.”People mentioned: Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, JPL engineer Jack Parsons, and Trekonomics author Manu Saadia.Annalee’s reading suggestions: Ring Shout by P Djeli Clark, Murderbot series by Martha Wells, Infomocracy by Malka Older, An Excess Male by Maggie Shen King, Rosewater by Tade Thompson, Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan, Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, and Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Gita Jackson to discuss the revelations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Activision Blizzard, how workers have organized in response to them, and what it all could mean for the future of the video games industry.Gita Jackson is a senior writer at Motherboard, Vice’s tech vertical. Follow Gita on Twitter at @xoxogossipgita.🚨 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:In July, California’s fair employment department sued Activision Blizzard, revealing shocking interal details, including a “Cosby Suite” and harassing prospective workers at a job fair.In November, it was revealed that CEO Bobby Kotick knew about it and had settled harassment lawsuits. Afterward, workers walked out but the board stood behind Kotick.The heads of Playstation and Xbox released statements criticizing Activision Blizzard’s leadership.Workers are now passing around union cards under the name A Better ABK as the company sends anti-union statements. They have also set up a strike fund.The EA Spouse Letter was written in 2004.Gita wrote about Comic Book Workers United, the union seeking recognition at Image Comics.The Mandalorian used Unreal Engine to create virtual sets, and Unity just bought part of Weta Digital to expand its virtual production.Since recording, Vodeo Games has formed the first video game union in North America.Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Stephen Diehl to discuss why technologists are divided on crypto, what’s wrong with blockchain, why crypto assets are scams, and why web3 is a rebranding effort.Stephen Diehl is software engineer and crypto skeptic based in London. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @smdiehl.🚨 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:Stephen has written about how to understand crypto assets, the problem with “decentralization”, the speculative mania inherent to crypto, why web3 is bullshit, and more on his blog.Some guy bought a beer with crypto and it showed one of the big flaws with using crypto as a means of payment.Andreessen Horowitz one of the main players lobbying for lax crypto regulations in the United States.How Albania’s pyramid scheme crisis in the 1990s holds lessons for the today’s crypto mania.David Golumbia was on episode 67 (July 1, 2021) and Olivier Jutel was on episode 75 (August 26, 2021).Support the show

Paris Marx is joined by Fred Scharmen to discuss Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ visions for space colonization, the inspiration they draw from the work of Wernher von Braun and Gerard O’Neill, and what’s wrong with basing our future on those ideas.Fred Scharmen is the author of Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space. He teaches architecture and urban design at Morgan State University’s School of Architecture and Planning and is the co-founder of the Working Group on Adaptive Systems. Follow Fred on Twitter at @sevensixfive.🚨 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:Paris wrote about the billionaire space race and Jeff Bezos’ vision for space colonization.Wernher von Braun was a Nazi before becoming chief architect of NASA’s Saturn V rocket. He appeared in a 1955 Disney program about space flight, but his past was also criticized, including in a song by Tom Lehrer.Elon Musk has cited Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” as an inspiration and Jeff Bezos saved The Expanse when it was cancelled.Jeff Bezos’ ideas about space colonization come directly from Gerard O’Neill’s vision of space colonies floating in space.Adam Mann asked in the New Yorker whether Mars was really ours for the taking.The Just Space Alliance presents an alternative to the billionaire framing of space.Support the show