This Machine Kills

Ed returns from his annual trip to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. We learn about the hottest new trends and devices hitting the market. Big this year: chatbot wrappers, making everything into phone, unnecessary and dysfunctional “AI-powered” features, plus the mass infantilization of humanity under the guise of frictionless convenience. ••• In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing https://www.thecut.com/article/brooding-friction-maxxing-new-years-2026-resolution.html Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

In this discussion, Aaron Benanav, a political economy scholar and author, delves into envisioning post-capitalist frameworks without rigid blueprints. He critiques existing economic structures, advocating for flexible institutional designs. Topics include the necessity of markets for producer coordination, maintaining scarcity in a new economy, and rethinking monetary systems. Benanav emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation over profit and introduces innovative concepts like investment boards and technical associations as alternatives to traditional unions.

The hosts dive into the absurdity of tech trends, questioning the concept of 'vibe coding' and its implications. A shocking $1.5B settlement by Anthropic raises eyebrows, highlighting the financial absurdities of startup culture. They speculate about how legal pressures might push Anthropic toward an IPO. Fun predictions for the coming year and a tongue-in-cheek look at what billionaire bloodsports might entail add an entertaining twist. Their witty banter exposes the ridiculous side of the tech bubble and its overinflated valuations.

Joining the discussion is Aaron Benanav, a political economy researcher and author of 'Beyond Capitalism.' He pinpoints the limitations of capitalism's single-minded focus on profit maximization and its detrimental effects on societal goals. Aaron argues for a multi-criterial economy, emphasizing the need for democratic institutions to navigate competing values. He critiques past socialist experiments, highlighting lessons learned, and insists that investment should be a democratic, creative process driven by diverse goals like sustainability and care.

The hosts dive into the moral panics surrounding vaping in schools, highlighting how it triggers a boom in bathroom surveillance. They argue that schools prioritize punitive measures over supportive responses, ignoring the root causes of youth vaping. The discussion reveals how vape design targets young users with high nicotine levels. The conversation also connects current vaping trends to historical tactics of the tobacco industry. Anecdotes and immediate reactions provide a personal touch to the complex issues at hand.

After discussing the Council of Neo-Nicaea — but like, what if Jesus was an AI? — we then discuss an incredibly harrowing story of abusive practices at Alpha School, charter schools structured around AI authoritarianism where personalized learning software enact a cruel regimes of punishing metrics, where any humanity is replaced by the cold logic of optimization, where kids are indoctrinated early into the harsh reality of a control society. ••• Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out https://www.wired.com/story/ai-teacher-inside-alpha-school/ ••• Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

We dig into a new interview with Alex Karp as part of his ongoing Crash Out Tour and learn about the paranoid delusions of a man being sacrificed by the new pagans of a global woke religion — all while his own family won’t talk with him. If you spend enough time targeting individuals, eventually you too will become a targeted individual. ••• Alex Karp Goes to War https://www.wired.com/story/alex-karp-goes-to-war-palantir-big-interview/ ••• Moira Weigel — Palantir Goes to the Frankfurt School https://www.boundary2.org/2020/07/moira-weigel-palantir-goes-to-the-frankfurt-school/ ••• Michael Burry launches newsletter to lay out his AI bubble views after deregistering hedge fund https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/michael-burry-launches-newsletter-to-lay-out-his-ai-bubble-views-after-deregistering-hedge-fund.html Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

We chat with Becca Monteleone — author of The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority — about the critical intersection of disability and technology. Among many things, we get into the politics of how knowledge about the effects, experiences, and treatments for disability are produced, who has the authority to produce that knowledge, and who must be compliant to the power of that knowledge. ••• The Double Bind of Disability How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority | Rebecca Monteleone https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517917685/the-double-bind-of-disability/ Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

Fresh off the New Luddism conference and Luddite Tribunal in New York City, we talk shit about gamerism and the tough solutions required, then get into the deeply sinophobic China envy that motivates the liberal wonks and prevents them from embracing the light of Luddism. Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

[This episode was recorded before Amazon announced its massive layoffs.] We chat with Eliza and Dawn from the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice about their organizing campaigns and how they are holding Amazon to account for its promises about sustainability and applying pressure on Amazon’s leadership to make them recognize important issues that they otherwise ignore. We get into the ways that the roll-out of AI and build-out of data centres has catalyzed critical discussions among Amazon workers related to environmental impacts, workers rights, and social justice—and how confronting AI has become a cornerstone for social movements and worker organizing. ••• Amazon Employees for Climate Justice | Open Letter https://www.amazonclimatejustice.org/open-letter?ms=tmk ••• AECJ Solidarity Letter https://www.amazonclimatejustice.org/solidarity?ms=tmk ••• The Amazon Unsustainability Report https://static1.squarespace.com/static/65681f099d7c3d48feb86a5f/t/6721c4047213ea343e50536f/1730266118471/unsustainability-report-2.pdf Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)