This Machine Kills

Guest Joanne McNeil, author of the novel Wrong Way, discusses the need to tell stories about ordinary people and their social relations with tech systems. They explore the impact of Silicon Valley billionaires, perception of giftedness, reviving new wave sci-fi, work experiences, and the importance of different perspectives in writing.

We step into the art world by way of a long profile of Holly Herndon, an experimental artist and musician who works with artificial intelligence to create provocative, strange, and deeply personal works that serve as meta commentaries on the intersection between art + tech + society. Through a start-up she co-founded, Herndon is also engaged in advocacy work to build a “consent layer” for artists in AI infrastructures. We critically discuss the political / cultural economy of these dynamics — these ways of seeing and means of producing artworks — both old and new. ••• Holly Herndon’s Infinite Art https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/20/holly-herndons-infinite-art Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

Topics covered in this podcast include insurtech, machine learning in the insurance industry, speculative asset bubbles, the concept of 'the float' in insurance, telematics data and behavioral analytics, and a court case involving NFTs and asset bubbles.

We discuss Chapter 6 — Transcendental Class Domination — and get deeper into an analysis of class relations, the nature of economic power, and how capital wields this form of “impersonal domination” to structure the very “conditions of possibility” for existence and experience in the world. ••• Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital – Søren Mau https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2759-mute-compulsion Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

Discussions on staying hydrated in hot weather and the future without bananas, frustration with anti de-growth arguments, critique of market-based socialism, unsustainability of consumption habits, historical context of bananas as a human right, exploration of sci-fi dreams and technological integration, and the need to move beyond the current system to replace the commodity form with something that serves human needs.

We dive into effective accelerationism—its cult of personality, capitalist metaphysics, techno-theology, and lukewarm manifestos. We connect it to previous movements like Singulatariansim, strip away the mercurial branding of these ideologies, and look more closely at the material politics at their core. ••• ‘It’s a Cult’: Inside Effective Accelerationism, the Pro-AI Movement Taking Over Silicon Valley https://www.theinformation.com/articles/its-a-cult-inside-effective-accelerationism-the-pro-ai-movement-taking-over-silicon-valley ••• The Techno-Optimist Manifesto https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

Returning champion Cory Doctorow joins us to discuss his latest book, The Internet Con, which lays out how the basis of so much material power in the world exists at the intersection of information technology and intellectual property. We get into the mechanics of IT⇔IP, the necessity for interoperability in a world ruled by cartels, and the (intermediate) steps that must be taken now to fight back and create space for even more radical change. ••• Follow Cory: https://twitter.com/doctorow ••• Cory’s new book: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3035-the-internet-con ••• Cory’s other new book: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865939/thelostcause Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We discuss Chapter 5 — Metabolic Domination — which brings us to the end of the first section outlining the material conditions (of human nature, society, life) that allow for the existence of something like economic power. Here we see how economic power operates by inserting itself into, mediating and controlling, the processes of human metabolism—that is, the material things and social relations that people depend upon to live. The very thing that makes humans so powerful—the flexibility, porosity, and promiscuity of our social relations with other things, people, and environments—is also what makes us susceptible to domination of various forms. ••• Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital – Søren Mau https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2759-mute-compulsion Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We are joined by Alex Press — labor reporter for Jacobin — for a broad survey of the very large, active landscape of labor union actions happening in the United States. After updates on strikes, we then discuss the deep intersections of solidarity between labor movements and support for Palestine. The struggle for a better world is not just a bunch of isolated events, disconnected in time and place. We must stand together in the many big fights against domination of all kinds. ••• Writers Against the War in Gaza: https://www.writersagainstthewarongaza.com ••• Follow Alex: https://twitter.com/alexnpress ••• Read Alex’s work: https://jacobin.com/author/alex-press Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)

We are joined by David Z. Morris, a crypto journalist who has been covering the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. We hear from David about what’s been revealed and made clear during the trial as major witnesses from FTX give testimony — and we learn that the cult of personality around SBF, and his interpersonal manipulation of others, really was much deeper and darker than people realized. ••• Follow David: https://twitter.com/davidzmorris ••• David’s substack: https://davidzmorris.substack.com/ ••• Coverage of the SBF trial: https://protos.com/sbftrial/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.twitter.com/braunestahl)