This Machine Kills

Cold open: Channel surfing We’re joined by Danielle Carr, who wrote a killer essay debunking the myth of Neuralink and Elon Musk, to talk about the broader political economy of shitty "science” and shittier "innovators" that have captured the collective imagination. As Danielle writes, “Technology critique should not buy into the hyped fantasies people like Elon Musk peddle. [...] What we have to worry about is something much more disappointing—that the future will look like the present, only more so. In that way, Musk is right: the future is already here.” Check out Danielle’s essay in the Baffler: https://thebaffler.com/latest/shit-for-brains-carr and follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bathr0bespierre. And while you’re at it, read David Graeber’s classic essay, also in the Baffler, which serves as a fantastic companion piece: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit Subscribe to TMK on patreon for access to premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: Crazy Currency with Jack Jammer We enter the “parliament of extrastatecraft” and discuss the actually existing world order — we're talking the techno-politics of standardization, the transnational institutions that establish the rules and structures for essentially everything, and the geopolitical struggle between the US and China over who will wield the technocratic power of standards setting. Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: What does a scanner see? Welcome to the first installment of This Movie Kills! This week we discuss the film A Scanner Darkly (2006), an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel. What do you get when you shake together drug psychosis, police paranoia, distorted perception, atmospheric anxiety, and identity crisis? Bad vibes all around! Or, maybe just another day in “a world getting progressively worse.” The story is from the seventies, the movie feels like the 90s, but the themes are all about today. Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: TMK x SoftBank Main show: Sure you might know all about Amazon’s extensive network of hellish warehouses, its horrendously exploitative labor conditions, its cynical partnerships with the police, military, and intelligence agencies, its supervillain of a founder… but how much do you really know about the Amazon ecosystem of surveillance and control? Have you been able to keep up with the seemingly impossible task of tracking every move of every tentacle of the everything store? Let’s get down to business. Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: Bro, have you heard about this new startup called GOO_LOG? Main Show: We’re joined by Wendy Liu (twitter.com/dellsystem), author of Abolish Silicon Valley, to dissect the system of venture capital that holds immense influence over what counts as innovation, why technology is created, and who gets to reap the benefits. Chances are – unless you have an invite to the ultra exclusive clubhouse – it isn’t you. But here’s the thing, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are alternatives. Grab a copy of Wendy’s excellent book – Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism https://repeaterbooks.com/product/abolish-silicon-valley-how-to-liberate-technology-from-capitalism/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: 1 trillion dollar glitch Main show: It’s finally time to formally introduce the king of kings into TMK canon, into the pantheon of parasites and villains who seek to control the world. We’re talking SoftBank and its founder Masayoshi Son, the only true accelerationist with the fortitude and fortune to actually force us into the post-capitalist singularity. Here’s the excellent article we discuss on data assets and meta-platforms, by van Doorn and Badger: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/anti.12641 Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: The 79-year-old CEO of AliUber and Senator from California Elizabeth Holmes has announced... Main show: We’re joined by David A. Banks (https://twitter.com/DA_Banks), editor-at-large for Real Life and co-host of the Ironweeds podcast (https://twitter.com/ironweedspod), as we take a tour of the subscription economy where nobody owns anything, platforms control access to everything, monopoly rents are extracted everywhere, and the we have no choice but to sign up for Life-as-a-Service. Big thanks to David for writing the script to this week’s cold open and to Britney Gill, co-host of Ironweeds podcast, for voice work! David’s vivid, incisive article on the Subscription Economy: https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/software/337954/where-do-you-live/ Jathan’s article on the Internet of Landlords [pdf]: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54c9a2e8e4b01e05842ad47e/t/5f556202fab9b365a2490794/1599431173262/Sadowski+-+The+Internet+of+Landlords.pdf Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Cold open: Alex Karp’s manifesto of futurism. Main show: Ring the stock exchange bell: Palantir is going public! We do a deep dive into Palantir’s S-1 filing and uncover an emerging schism in Silicon Valley. This episode gets dark as we trace the deep political and philosophical connections between Fascist Futurism and Palantir’s vision of techno-nationalism. You thought this company was evil before? Well buckle up. Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl). Some episode references: Registration Statement on Form S-1 | Palantir Technologies: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm The Futurist Manifesto | Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1909): https://www.societyforasianart.org/sites/default/files/manifesto_futurista.pdf Palantir Goes to the Frankfurt School | Moira Weigel: https://www.boundary2.org/2020/07/moira-weigel-palantir-goes-to-the-frankfurt-school/

Episode now remastered so it sounds 1000x better! Cold open: Agent Zuboff receives her mission. Main show: We politically cancel Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, for advancing / mainstreaming a reactionary critique. Surveillance capitalism is not a “rogue mutation” of a normal capitalism. Surveillance is not the scapegoat that needs to be sacrificed so we can maintain a good version of consumption and commodification. We let you in on a little secret—one that Zuboff’s work is designed to obscure—the real horrors have been coming from inside capitalism all along. Morozov’s article on Zuboff’s bad analysis of surveillance capitalism: https://thebaffler.com/latest/capitalisms-new-clothes-morozov Monthly Review article with good analysis of surveillance capitalism: https://monthlyreview.org/2014/07/01/surveillance-capitalism/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl). Thanks to Laura for voice work on the cold open.

Cold open: You come at the king, you best not miss. Main show: We're locked and loaded with stacks of earnings reports. We've got Uber's finances in our sites. We take aim at the economic underpinning of this lobbyist with an app. It's time for some Uber theory, baby. Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).