This Machine Kills

We bullshit about ICP, the Joker, and Megalopolis for the first 33 minutes. So jump a bit into the episode if you wanna skip the verbal shit posting and get to the analytical discussion of BYD. We chat broadly about the background and rapid rise of BYD, the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. We explain why BYD is such a fascinating company that is worth keeping a close eye on because it sits at the intersection of multiple TMK interests: industrial policy, geopolitics of technology, political economy of green innovation, and the economic Cold War between the US and China. ••• BYD Is Winning the Global Race to Make Cheaper EVs https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-10-16/electric-car-brand-byd-leads-race-to-make-cheap-evs-despite-tariffs ••• The Electric Vehicle Developmental State https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/byd/ ••• Apple Secretly Worked With China’s BYD on Long-Range EV Battery https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-16/apple-secretly-worked-with-china-s-byd-on-long-range-ev-battery ••• China’s Economic Growth Is Good, Actually https://jwmason.org/slackwire/chinas-economic-growth-is-good-actually/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

First we have an update on an old startup as Worldcoin changes its name to World and redesigns its Orb to be more than just an eyeball scanner but also now an identification service called Deep Face. Repeat the satanic mantra after me: World, Orb, Deep Face. We then sit back as Prof Ed walks us through an in-depth investigation into how Uber and Lyft used driver lockouts—preventing them from logging on, seemingly at random and for long periods—as a cynical response to minimum pay laws in New York City. This regulatory arbitrage and brutal optimization resulted in significant impacts on drivers and major savings for the companies. ••• Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Gets a New Name, and New Hardware https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-10-17/sam-altman-s-worldcoin-gets-a-new-name-and-new-hardware ••• How Uber and Lyft Used a Loophole to Deny NYC Drivers Millions in Pay https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-uber-lyft-nyc-drivers-pay-lockouts/?srnd=phx-technology Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We chat about a great investigation into the powerful networks of political influence and intimidation that tech companies are bankrolling to ensure that politicians at local, state, and federal levels advance the interests of Silicon Valley—or at least not stand in their way. For example, one recently created pro-crypto super PAC has $170 million in its war chest, which it has used to influence Senate and House seats this election cycle. We also talk about the political strategist, Chris Lehane, who has been the driving force behind the tech sector’s realpolitik strategy—from Airbnb to Coinbase to OpenAI. ••• Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/14/silicon-valley-the-new-lobbying-monster Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We are joined by a dear friend of the show, Paris Marx, to talk about his new series on Tech Won’t Save Us called “Data Vampires” – which provides an excellent deep dive into the politics, ideologies, and consequences of the global expansion of data centers by big tech giants. Data Vampires is full of original research and interviews, plus excellent production. We touch on some of the series’ major themes before going down our own rabbit holes discussing the geopolitics of data centers as a form of imperial infrastructure for techno-capitalism. ••• Listen to Data Vampires on Tech Won’t Save Us by Paris Marx: https://techwontsave.us/episodes Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

Bringing together a few news items, we analyze the politics of scale in AI. First, OpenAI has one of the largest funding rounds ever at $6.6 billion raised for a valuation of $157 billion—with our boy Masayoshi finally getting his taste of OpenAI by investing $500 million. Second, CA Governor Gruesome Newsom vetoed an AI safety bill, which would have put stricter regulations on the largest class of AI models. Third, an excellent new paper offers a blistering critique of the bigger-is-better paradigm in AI. ••• SoftBank to invest $500mn in OpenAI https://www.ft.com/content/b1efdc2a-4dbc-40cc-920e-2cf389d261e8 ••• In California, no AI bill is safe https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/in-california-no-ai-bill-is-safe ••• Hype, Sustainability, and the Price of the Bigger-is-Better Paradigm in AI https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.14160 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We chat with Marijam Did, author of the new book Everything to Play For, which bridges radical leftist politics and video games through a real material analysis of video games as an industry, art form, and social space. Marijam lays out the case for why these two communities of radical leftists and gamers—which have largely been distinct and even antagonistic to each other—need to be brought together for the betterment of both sides. Leftists and gamers have a lot to learn from each other. Indeed, as we argue, they need each other. Marijam’s new book – Everything to Play For: How Videogames Are Changing the World https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3086-everything-to-play-for Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

With the news of interest rates dropping again, we refocus our attention on Masayoshi Son, the man who perhaps most embodies the pathologies of technological capitalism. Thanks to a new biography, we learn fascinating color about Masa’s character which further support what we already to know to be true: he is an ambitious disrupter who is burdened with delusions of grandeur, a degenerate gambler who has turned his addiction to leverage into a personal mythos, and a gifted intermediary who knows how to engineer debt and extract fees. ••• The mystery of Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s great disrupter https://www.ft.com/content/424eb5f8-efb4-4fc8-b86a-0359f6fac9eb Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

Jumping off a spate of recent reporting, we revisit the deep relations between the tech sector and fossil fuel industry and discuss how companies like Microsoft are turning to oil and gas companies as a solution for AI’s profit problem. How are tech companies going to offset their trillion dollars of capital investment into AI infrastructure? One revenue strategy: selling bespoke AI systems to companies like ExxonMobil and Chevron which make fossil fuel extraction even more efficient, thus optimizing the process of socio-ecological collapse. Gotta capture those profits while there’s still time! ••• Microsoft’s Hypocrisy on AI https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/09/microsoft-ai-oil-contracts/679804/ ••• AI Boom Is Driving a Surprise Resurgence of US Gas-Fired Power https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-16/us-natural-gas-power-plants-just-keep-coming-to-meet-ai-ev-electricity-demand ••• The U.S. Has a Methane Problem. A.I. Is Making It Worse. https://newrepublic.com/article/186213/methane-emissions-ai-flaring-court ••• Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse? https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/sep/15/data-center-gas-emissions-tech ••• Three Mile Island Plans to Reopen as Demand for Nuclear Power Grows https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/20/climate/three-mile-island-reopening.html ••• AI is revitalizing the fossil fuels industry, and big tech has nothing to say for itself https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/ai-is-revitalizing-the-fossil-fuels ••• AI is fueling a data center boom. It must be stopped. https://disconnect.blog/ai-is-fueling-a-data-center-boom/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We dive into a weird but revealing article about the phalanx of private security that Elon Musk has amassed around him, spending a small fortune on ex-operators who plan escape routes for his events, clear rooms before he enters, and assess (perceived) threats to his personal safety. His “mushrooming security apparatus” has caused a feedback loop or paranoia and isolation as he becomes further removed from any social connections to other people. We relate this to a broader zeitgeist of fear in American society that has given rise to—and is fuelled by—the explosion of growth in private security firms. ••• Inside Elon Musk’s Mushrooming Security Apparatus https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/13/technology/elon-musk-security.html ••• The Thin Purple Line https://harpers.org/archive/2024/09/the-thin-purple-line-jasper-craven-private-security-guard/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We are joined by Gaby Del Valle who has written a great—and distressingly relevant—essay for The Baffler, which reports on the “eugenic foundations of the war on woke.” We dig into the beliefs of innate biological hierarchy and genetic superiority that underpin so much of mainstream right-wing politics. Whether it’s the convergence of Christian nationalist and tech rationalists around issues like declining birth rates and embryo engineering, or its the resurgence of blood libel with JD Vance’s fascist fairy tale about Haitian migrants, or its the cultural war against woke universities and DEI committees—these various sects are all unified by their use of biological essentialism to justify social domination. ••• Live Free or DEI https://thebaffler.com/salvos/live-free-or-dei-del-valle ••• Follow Gaby: https://x.com/gabydvj Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

Keeping with our recent theme of exploring the relations between the military and tech sector, we jump off a great essay in The Baffler to discuss a crucial part of this complex: university research. Universities – especially, academics in STEM faculties – must be understood as defense contractors who are partners with the military (and adjacent agencies); they advance the military’s goals and are dependent on the military’s cash. You can call them “research grants,” you can say their purpose is to “advancing knowledge,” you can extoll the benefits of “supporting academics and higher education,” but those are just euphemisms for the realities of the military-industrial-university complex. ••• War Machine Learning https://thebaffler.com/salvos/war-machine-learning-mccarthy Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

To mark the occasion of his new best selling airport book, we take a deeper look at Yuval Noah Harari’s impoverished thought and intellectual style via a great review essay by Daniel Immerwahr. We see how Harari’s doomsday scenarios are based on an extreme form of technological determinism + a romanticized humanism-as-critique + a disinterest in material analysis of political economy + an ironically chatbot-esque style of intellectualism. ••• Yuval Noah Harari’s Apocalyptic Vision https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/10/yuval-noah-harari-nexus-book/679572/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We do a deep dive into Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism Strategy and Little Tech Agenda, which together lay out a clear ideology of how tech startups are integral to the American empire. All this venture capital firm asks for is your belief in a16z as a conduit for the spirit of innovation, your trust in America as a vessel for the progressive spirit, and your optimism in a future led by a16z’s vision. Oh yeah, and also billions of dollars to invest in bringing about “the glory of a Second American Century.” ••• Blackstone set to acquire Australian data centre business AirTrunk https://www.ft.com/content/d7399891-15a4-47fb-b8f3-47970e156956 ••• American Dynamism https://a16z.com/american-dynamism ••• Building American Dynamism https://a16z.com/building-american-dynamism/ ••• The Little Tech Agenda https://a16z.com Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We chat with friend of the show Michael Richardson—author of the new book Nonhuman Witnessing—about the ongoing, deepening relationships between Silicon Valley and the US military. We check up on new activities from old enemies—Y Combinator, Anduril, Palantir, among others—and get into the changing cultures on both sides as they converge around defense innovation as a solution for Silicon Valley’s problems of needing another endless pool of capital and the Pentagon’s problems of needing to maintain a dying empire and beat China in an arms race. ••• Michael’s new book – Nonhuman Witnessing: War, Data, and Ecology after the End of the World https://dukeupress.edu/nonhuman-witnessing ••• Start-up incubator Y Combinator backs its first weapons firm https://www.ft.com/content/17f16071-87e0-4675-a152-6d6285b97fd5 ••• Anduril now valued at $14 billion, set to build autonomous weapons factories https://www.axios.com/2024/08/08/anduril-14-billion-autonomous-weapons ••• Army chooses Palantir to build next-generation targeting system https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2024/03/06/army-chooses-palantir-to-build-next-generation-targeting-system/ ••• Palantir Ontology https://www.palantir.com/docs/foundry/ontology/overview/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We chat about a heinous crossover as Axon – major police tech firm, maker of tasers and body cameras – creates a new AI product with ChatGPT that automates police reports using audio recordings from body cameras. We get into this whole political economy of cop power and carceral tech. Then we talk about how all the economists are Big Mad because of proposed bans for price gouging of food. ••• Police officers are starting to use AI chatbots to write crime reports. Will they hold up in court? https://apnews.com/article/ai-writes-police-reports-axon-body-cameras-chatgpt-a24d1502b53faae4be0dac069243f418 ••• The Body Camera: The Language of our Dreams | Alec Karakatsanis https://campuspress.yale.edu/yjll/volume-4/3/ ••• Sometimes You Just Have to Ignore the Economists https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/08/economists-kamala-harris-price-gouging/679547/ ••• Kamala Harris and America’s broken capitalism https://www.ft.com/content/41d31b4b-b0bd-4971-9f0f-543990a27103 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

{Producer’s note: this episode has an electronic buzz in parts due to a dying microphone. I cleaned it up as much as possible, but it couldn’t be totally removed. So it goes!} We go deep on the recent federal antitrust case against Google, which ruled that the company is a monopoly (obviously). We get into the details of the case, before spinning off to talk more broadly about market domination and disaster capitalism, then get back to the potential remedies for addressing Google’s power over search and the implications for techno-economic regulation. ••• Disaster Capitalism Revisited https://theideasletter.substack.com/p/disaster-capitalism-revisited ••• Will Google’s Monopoly Be Vanquished? https://prospect.org/justice/2024-08-09-will-googles-monopoly-be-vanquished/ ••• Google as monopolist https://www.ft.com/content/1d01b2d1-fc70-4d4a-823a-13fb24c9a7ef ••• Monopoly Money https://www.wheresyoured.at/monopoly-money/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We get into a new profile of Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, which is written by Maureen Dowd, one of the NYT’s most credulous opinion writers, and thus the perfect person to coax Karp into being as weird as he wants to be. This piece reveals a lot of core lore about Karp and shines light on a man who is riddled with contradictions and has turned that affliction of the soul into a superpower. ••• Alex Karp Has Money and Power. So What Does He Want? https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/17/style/alex-karp-palantir.html Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We’re joined by Brian Merchant to chat about his reporting on the frontlines of labor exploitations in video games development and animation studios where companies are using AI to replace and degrade jobs, fracture and disempower the workforce, and push the quality of artistic works down even further. When executives explicitly say they are going to use a technology to destroy your livelihoods, then you should believe them and act accordingly. The collective response by workers – especially in the highly unionized animation industry – has been strong and swift. Their message is clear: “AI can fuck right off.” ••• AI Is Already Taking Jobs in the Video Game Industry https://www.wired.com/story/ai-is-already-taking-jobs-in-the-video-game-industry/ ••• He Made a Movie About Humans Rising Up Against AI. Now He’s Doing the Real Thing https://www.wired.com/story/hollywood-animators-fight-artificial-intelligence-labor-mike-rianda/ ••• Brian’s newsletter: https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)

We get into the collapse of investor confidence in the AI boom, then turn to the thriving black markets for smuggling vast quantities of AI microchips into China and the geopolitics of technological progress and economic sanctions as AI becomes a site of proxy wars by other means. ••• Burst Damage https://www.wheresyoured.at/burst-damage/ ••• With Smugglers and Front Companies, China Is Skirting American A.I. Bans https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/04/technology/china-ai-microchips.html ••• How four U.S. presidents unleashed economic warfare across the globe https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2024/us-sanction-countries-work 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 Danya Glabau and Laura Forlano, authors of Cyborg, a new book that explores how this archetype of sci-fi stories is also a critical theory for understanding the tangle of socio-technical relations that constitute our lives. The cyborg helps us think in terms of embodiment and environments, break down boundaries and barriers, and trace the dialectics of control and freedom that come with being cyborgs. ••• Cyborg | Danya Glabau, Laura Forlano https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547550/cyborg/ ••• Danya on Twitter: https://x.com/allergyPhD ••• Laura on Twitter: https://x.com/laura4lano 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 first get an update on regulatory arbitrage in the weed vape industry, then discuss how the benchmarks used to rank AI models—and make claims about their "intelligence" relative to humans—are largely low quality, out-of-date, not fit for purpose, or just meaningless and deceptive. Yet they are widely treated by industry as authoritative standards. Then we talk a bit about yet another case of a risk scoring algorithm resulting in devastating consequences. ••• Everyone Is Judging AI by These Tests. But Experts Say They’re Close to Meaningless https://themarkup.org/artificial-intelligence/2024/07/17/everyone-is-judging-ai-by-these-tests-but-experts-say-theyre-close-to-meaningless ••• An Algorithm Told Police She Was Safe. Then Her Husband Killed Her. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/07/18/technology/spain-domestic-violence-viogen-algorithm.html 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 first talk about how all news stories, even the most world historic ones, feel ephemeral and disposable, and how this is the perverse effect of a (news/social/cultural) media ecosystem that is designed around logics of optimizing for content production and audience attention. Then we get into the CrowdStrike outage and how it reveals (and requires) a more fundamental, systemic critique of IT infrastructure and its techno-politics. ••• The Microsoft/CrowdStrike outage shows the danger of monopolization https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/20/the-microsoftcrowdstrike-outage-shows-the-danger-of-monopolization ••• CrowdStruck https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jul/20/the-microsoftcrowdstrike-outage-shows-the-danger-of-monopolization%20https://www.wheresyoured.at/crowdstruck-2/ 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 talk about that paragon of capitalism, car dealerships, and the deceptive, manipulative, extractive tactics they have perfected to make the experience as hellish as possible — particularly by turning the dealership’s finance and insurance department into an engine of 100 percent pure parasitic profit. ••• Escape From the Box https://prospect.org/power/2024-07-08-car-dealership-fee-financing-scams 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 a bit ahead with recording, but we had to talk about the Trump assassination attempt and JD Vance being tapped for vice president (for like the first 30 minutes). Then we get into a great essay on how private financial markets — or the shadow finance system that is unregulated, unaccountable, and undemocratic — have become the dominant form of finance in society, thanks in large part to trillions in capital allocated from public pension funds. It’s a classic case of private parasites feeding on public hosts. ••• Private Financial Markets Are Eating The World https://lpeproject.org/blog/private-financial-markets-are-eating-the-world/ ••• Why an ‘AI health coach’ won’t solve the world’s chronic disease problems https://theconversation.com/why-an-ai-health-coach-wont-solve-the-worlds-chronic-disease-problems-234369 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 take a look at recent reports where venture capitalists like Sequoia and the investment banks like Goldman Sachs are starting to wonder out loud whether AI will ever be able to generate enough revenue and consumer demand to make the bubble feel solid. The returns on AI necessary for this massive infrastructure buildout to make sense are looking increasingly fantastical. It was only a matter of time until capital finally came around to our skepticism of generative AI. ••• AI’s $200B Question https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/follow-the-gpus-perspective/ ••• AI’s $600B Question https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/ais-600b-question/ ••• Gen AI: Too Much Spend, Too Little Benefit? https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/gs-research/gen-ai-too-much-spend-too-little-benefit/report.pdf 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 refocus on the war in Ukraine and the country’s pivot toward being the “Silicon Valley for autonomous drones and other weaponry.” Thanks to a combination of foreign investment, entrepreneurial governance, DIY scrappiness, and a ‘by any means necessary’ attitude, the future of cheap, lethal, autonomous warfare is being forged and tested in Ukrainian war zones — before inevitably being deployed everywhere else in some form. ••• A.I. Begins Ushering In an Age of Killer Robots https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/technology/ukraine-war-ai-weapons.html 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 chat about an interesting case study in technology governance: the rise of vapes and the return of cigarettes. How do you create new markets for a product that is highly addictive but also extremely regulated (even banned)? The answer is to flaunt regulation, disrupt competitors, and create an image of coolness using social media influencers. Platforms like Uber learned their strategies from industries like big tobacco, and now the new crop of nicotine dealers are deploying the strategies of platforms like Uber. ••• The Vapes of Wrath https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1197959345 ••• Juul Is an Easy Target—Let's Ban More Tech Products That Harm Us https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjk4q5/juul-is-an-easy-targetlets-ban-more-tech-products-that-harm-us ••• Why Uber and Lyft are taking a page out of big tobacco’s playbook in labor law battle https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/sep/11/why-uber-and-lyft-are-taking-a-page-out-of-big-tobaccos-playbook-in-labor-law-battle ••• Government waters down vaping ban to win support of Greens https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-06-24/vaping-ban-watered-down-greens-support/104016012 ••• How Big Tobacco enlists Black activists to fight menthol, vaping bans https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/21/menthol-ban-vaping-black-lgbt-activists/ ••• Big Tobacco Heralds a Healthier World While Fighting Its Arrival https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/06/health/tobacco-fda-menthol-ban-nicotine.html ••• A Viral Cigarette Brand? In 2023? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/style/hestia-cigarettes-downtown.html ••• That Cloud of Smoke Is Not a Mirage https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/12/style/smoking-cigarettes-comeback.html 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 get into how the massive global expansion of data centres — thanks largely to demand from training and operating AI — is putting major strain on energy systems and requiring the generation of more electricity. How’s all that new energy demand being met? Some renewables, a lot of fossil fuels, but also maybe futuristic magic technology? Big tech firms like Micorosoft and their nuclear tech partners—including startups backed by Sam Altman and Bill Gates—say they expect to harness fusion by 2028. This prediction is totally unserious and fantastical, while also hiding the fact that the expansion of AI is powered largely by fossil fuels. ••• AI Is Already Wreaking Havoc On Global Power Systems https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-ai-data-centers-power-grids/ ••• AI is exhausting the power grid. Tech firms are seeking a miracle solution. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/06/21/artificial-intelligence-nuclear-fusion-climate/ 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 chat a bit about some upcoming international travel, then do a reading series by a data scientist who wrote a great blog post about how most of the work done by data scientists in large organizations feels totally worthless, pointless, unfulfilling, and unnecessary — in other words, the definition of bullshit. And yet data science is valorized and mythologized in ways that are disconnected from material reality. ••• I Will Fucking Piledrive You If You Mention AI Again https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ ••• Most Data Work Seems Fundamentally Worthless https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/most-data-work-seems-fundamentally-worthless/ 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 Dayen (editor, American Prospect) and Lindsay Owens (director, Groundwork Collaborative) to discuss the special issue of the American Prospect they put together on “how pricing really works.” We drill down into why pricing is the perfect window for seeing how power works in the economy. We explore the great many tactics and technologies that companies have devised to make pricing into a major source of profits by enforcing a system of unfair, deceptive, and aggressive strategies designed to exploit each person based on what they are willing to pay and what they are willing to accept. We wrap up by talking about what can be done by legislators, regulators, and the court of public outrage to push back against the weaponization of pricing. ••• How Pricing Really Works https://prospect.org/pricing ••• Groundwork Collaborative https://groundworkcollaborative.org/ ••• David Dayen https://x.com/ddayen ••• Lindsay Owens https://x.com/owenslindsay1 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 once again by Evgeny Morozov to discuss his new podcast series, A Sense of Rebellion, which tells the story of a wild bunch of eccentric hippies who had grand ideas for how to design interactive technologies and intelligent environments and cybernetic systems that are radically different from today’s smart tech and AI. Morozov takes us deep down the rabbit hole of Cold War counterculture and technoculture, and deep into the life and mind of Warren Brodey, a now largely forgotten giant of early cybernetics. This new podcast series is the second in a trilogy on “tech rebels who failed.” ••• A Sense of Rebellion: https://www.sense-of-rebellion.com/ ••• Evgeny Morozov: https://x.com/evgenymorozov ••• The Boston hippies who developed technologies that Silicon Valley wouldn’t dare to make https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/06/15/opinion/warren-brodey-environmental-ecology-lab/ 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 keep rolling with our discussion about the Insulin Empire with Athena. ••• The Insulin Empire https://thebaffler.com/after-the-fact/the-insulin-empire-ongweso-jr-sofides ••• Mutual Aid Diabetes https://mutualaiddiabetes.com/ ••• T1International https://www.t1international.com/ 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 Athena Sofides who co-wrote (with Ed) a brilliant essay in The Baffler, which provides an in-depth analysis of insulin, the social health factors of diabetes, and the global oligopoly of pharmaceutical corporations that exert total control over – and extract max profits from — this medicine that many millions of diabetics depend upon everyday and are unable to access. We go deep on how this insulin cartel is waging, as they write, “a war to remake insulin into a more profitable form, its patients into a more profitable demographic, and its market into a noncompetitive oligopoly.” ••• The Insulin Empire https://thebaffler.com/after-the-fact/the-insulin-empire-ongweso-jr-sofides ••• Mutual Aid Diabetes https://mutualaiddiabetes.com/ ••• T1International https://www.t1international.com/ 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 do a reading series on a major anti-trust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice against Live Nation / Ticketmaster and the absolutely wild tactics the company used to intimidate competitors, enforce market domination, and totally lockdown the live entertainment industry. Then we wrap up with the new licensing deals between OpenAI and The Atlantic, Vox Media, News Corp – and what they portend for the hollowed out future of news media. ••• How Live Nation’s Monopoly Works https://prospect.org/power/2024-05-24-how-live-nations-monopoly-works/ ••• The Monopoly Case Against Ticketmaster, Explained https://www.404media.co/the-monopoly-case-against-ticketmaster-explained/ ••• Exclusive: The Atlantic, Vox Media ink licensing, product deals with OpenAI https://www.axios.com/2024/05/29/atlantic-vox-media-openai-licensing-deal ••• Former OpenAI board member explains why CEO Sam Altman got fired before he was rehired https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/29/former-openai-board-member-explains-why-ceo-sam-altman-was-fired.html ••• America’s premier pronatalists on having ‘tons of kids’ to save the world: ‘There are going to be countries of old people starving to death’ https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins 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 check in with an old enemy of the show, Uber, to discuss it’s recent battles with states over wage floors and worker rights, and get a masterclass on how Uber weaponizes complexity through it’s platform to abuse workers and avoid regulation, while also wielding the threat of capital flight to great effect against politicians and governments. ••• Minneapolis just called Uber’s bluff — other cities must follow their lead https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/4550102-minneapolis-just-called-ubers-bluff-other-cities-must-follow-their-lead/ ••• Uber’s and Lyft’s ride-hailing deal with Minnesota comes at a cost https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/21/uber-and-lyfts-ride-hailing-deal-with-minnesota-comes-with-a-cost/ ••• The Gig Economy vs. America’s Workers https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/uber-lyft-doordash-ballot-measures-massachusetts-legalize-gig-workers-by-sandeep-vaheesan-2024-05 ••• How Uber and Lyft Avoid Millions in Business Taxes https://slate.com/business/2024/05/uber-lyft-gig-economy-driver-classification-business-taxes-unemployment.html 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)

Discussing a new surveillance program by NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the public-private partnerships with Fusus by Axon, we dig into how the moral panic around “organized retail theft” has become a smoke screen / cynical moral alibi for an arms race of policing. It’s new software for the old hardware of an oppressive corporate state. ••• Mayor Adams Announces new Pilot Program to Combat Retail Theft, Create Efficiencies, Improve Police-Community Relations Using Innovative Technology https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/383-24/mayor-adams-new-pilot-program-combat-retail-theft-create-efficiencies-improve#/0 ••• Privacy or safety? U.S. brings 'surveillance city to the suburbs' https://www.context.news/digital-rights/privacy-or-safety-us-brings-surveillance-city-to-the-suburbs 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 talk about how everybody on the superalignment team at OpenAI—focused on safety, risk, adversarial testing, societal impacts, and existential concerns—is resigning, including high-profile people like Illya Sutskever. And nobody can talk about it because of draconian rules (even for Silicon Valley) about non-disclosure and non-disparagement people must sign (or risk their vested equity) upon exiting the company. For us, the turmoil of OpenAI is indicative of conflict between true believers (superalignment) and cynical operators (Sam Altman). Outro: Aunty Donna – Real Estate Agents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGm267O04a8 ••• “I lost trust”: Why the OpenAI team in charge of safeguarding humanity imploded https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/5/17/24158403/openai-resignations-ai-safety-ilya-sutskever-jan-leike-artificial-intelligence ••• ChatGPT can talk, but OpenAI employees sure can’t https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2024/5/17/24158478/openai-departures-sam-altman-employees-chatgpt-release 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)

After revisiting our discussion of stimulants from last episode, we dive deep into a new hive of freaks on the internet and examine the psychology of forum posters on the Cybertruck Owners Club. ••• Cybertruck Owners Club https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/forum/ 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)

First we dive into some exciting news of actual innovation: ultrasonic extraction for cold brew coffee. Then offer a live react to OpenAI’s new product GPT-4o, which is its new flagship model in the form of a voice assistant, and jump from there to talk more deeply about the problems with AI companions via a tech column in the NYTimes. ••• Scientists Use Ultrasound to Make Cold Brew Coffee in 3 Minutes Instead of 24 Hours https://www.404media.co/scientists-use-ultrasound-to-make-cold-brew-coffee-in-3-minutes-instead-of-24-hours/ ••• Hello GPT-4o https://openai.com/index/hello-gpt-4o/ ••• Meet My A.I. Friends https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/technology/meet-my-ai-friends.html 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)

In what feels like a curse of eternal return, we discuss the news that Softbank is leading a $1 billion funding round into what is now the premier UK AI startup, Wavye, which has a generative simulation model for driving data. We then transition to talking about a long piece of reporting on video game engines like Unreal and Unity, the dream of creating perfect simulations of reality, and how everything is now downstream from video games. ••• SoftBank leads $1bn funding for UK artificial intelligence group Wayve https://www.ft.com/content/a5704e29-545c-45e6-b7e3-d0a8cda285c4 ••• Wayve GAIA https://wayve.ai/science/gaia/ ••• How Perfectly Can Reality Be Simulated? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/22/can-the-world-be-simulated 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)

Because we are all rap heads at TMK, we have been feeling juiced up by the beef between Kendrick and Drake, so we spend the first half breaking that down. Then we catch up on the campus protests and collective actions, the vibes on the ground in the encampments, and the range of deranged reactions by people who are disconnected from reality. 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)

[Jathan got married last weekend! So no new shows until next week.] We dig into reporting on a special forces unit in the Brazilian ministry of environment which is composed of tier one operators who are also all scientists that are driven by a singular righteous mission of protecting the Amazon rainforest, wildlife and Indigenous communities from illegal miners and loggers. It’s almost like if the EPA had a wet works team—or, at least, it’s a good start. ••• The Brazilian Special-Forces Unit Fighting to Save the Amazon https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/the-brazilian-special-forces-unit-fighting-to-save-the-amazon 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 continue our discussion of Andreas Malm’s new, giant, magisterial essay, which lays out a longue durée analysis of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, situating it in a history of fossil empire, colonial annihilation, and ecological catastrophe that stretches directly back to 1840. The project of settler-genocide today is one that kicked off nearly two hundred years ago. ••• The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth | Andreas Malm https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/the-destruction-of-palestine-is-the-destruction-of-the-earth ••• Palestine Speaks for Everyone | Jodi Dean https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/palestine-speaks-for-everyone ••• Special issue on Ideologies and Power in AI https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/issue/view/749 ••• Jathan’s new book - The Mechanic and the Luddite https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Jathan’s new article on the moral economy of behavioral insurance https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085147.2024.2328992 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 start with the announcement of Jathan’s new book, plus direct attention to a new special issue on ideologies and power in AI. Then we send our solidarity and support to Jodi Dean and others who are being punished for speaking out for Palestinian emancipation, before digging into the main subject of this episode and the next one: a giant, magisterial essay by Andreas Malm which lays out a longue durée analysis of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, situating it in a history of fossil empire, colonial annihilation, and ecological catastrophe that stretches directly back to 1840. The project of settler-genocide today is one that kicked off nearly two hundred years ago. ••• The Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth | Andreas Malm https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/the-destruction-of-palestine-is-the-destruction-of-the-earth ••• Palestine Speaks for Everyone | Jodi Dean https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/blogs/news/palestine-speaks-for-everyone ••• Special issue on Ideologies and Power in AI https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/issue/view/749 ••• Jathan’s new book - The Mechanic and the Luddite https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Jathan’s new article on the moral economy of behavioral insurance https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085147.2024.2328992 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)

First we eulogize the dream deferred of Neom, then we add more lore to Palmer Luckey who, as we find out, has modeled his whole life on a literal-minded interpretation of a character from Yu-Gi-Oh!, then we talk more about the conspiratorial and immaterial thinking of the China-TikTok Hawks, finally we heap praise on a very astute essay about the material reality of SHEIN. ••• Saudis Scale Back Ambition for $1.5 Trillion Desert Project Neom https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-04-05/saudis-scale-back-ambition-for-1-5-trillion-desert-project-neom ••• How Silicon Valley’s ‘Oppenheimer’ found lucrative trade in AI weapons https://www.ft.com/content/ce6f96f8-6ab8-4089-b7db-f99db22c2071 ••• Super Cute Please Like https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-47/reviews/super-cute-please-like/ 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)

In the first part of the show, we talk about a ridiculous new paper funded by OpenAI that aims to reconcile all human values by combining them into a “moral graph” to train Socratic LLM through reinforcement learning by people “voting on wisdom upgrades.” Then we dig into the latest reporting on yet more AI systems that Israel is using to intensify and justify its genocide in Gaza. This time through generating kill lists and tracking when targets are at home with their family before bombing them. The horrors of reality—not some speculative potentiality, but what already exists—are truly beyond words. ••• ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/ ••• The “Wise AI” paper we talk about https://twitter.com/edelwax/status/1773621129200234573 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 dig into reporting on a special forces unit in the Brazilian ministry of environment which is composed of tier one operators who are also all scientists that are driven by a singular righteous mission of protecting the Amazon rainforest, wildlife and Indigenous communities from illegal miners and loggers. It’s almost like if the EPA had a wet works team—or, at least, it’s a good start. ••• The Brazilian Special-Forces Unit Fighting to Save the Amazon https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/04/08/the-brazilian-special-forces-unit-fighting-to-save-the-amazon 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 Ariel Bogle — an investigative reporter with The Guardian Australia — to discuss her new, big piece uncovering the Security Risk Rating Tool created by the private contractor Serco and used to control the lives of people in Australia’s immigration detention centres. We get into the broader context of these tools and then dig into the specifics of how they work, how they impact detainees, the way the transform subjective discretion into objective judgment, the vicious cycles designed into the tools such that everybody is always “high risk,” and the troubles with investigating systems that are so opaque, secretive, and redacted to hell. ••• Revealed: the secret algorithm that controls the lives of Serco’s immigration detainees https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2024/mar/13/serco-australia-immigration-detention-network-srat-tool-risk-rating-ntwnfb- ••• Ariel on Twitter https://twitter.com/arielbogle 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 13 – Surplus Populations and Crisis – and get deeper into the role of surplus populations in capitalism, how your relative position to the circuits of capital plays a big part in dictating what kind of life you have, and why capital needs a steady pool of people to sacrifice to help prevent, mitigate, and weather inevitable crises. But first we talk for a while about recent analyses of techno-feudalism and why we still think this compelling moral/cultural argument does not necessarily make for a powerful political economic analysis. ••• 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 Erin McElroy — author of Silicon Valley Imperialism — to first discuss their work as a co-founder of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and the important work they are doing on landlord tech, both as an academic and activist. Then we get deeper into their new book that offers a rich, in-depth analysis of how the racial technocapitalism of Silicon Valley has set up imperial outposts in the postsocialist countries of Eastern Europe, specifically Romania. ••• Erin’s book – Silicon Valley Imperialism: Techno Fantasies and Frictions in Postsocialist Times https://www.dukeupress.edu/silicon-valley-imperialism ••• Erin’s website with their projects, publications, etc – https://www.erinmcelroy.net/ ••• Alex Horghidan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cumsecade 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)