This Machine Kills

We start chatting about Jathan going on television to talk about AI – friend or foe? hype or hysteria? – then discuss SAG-AFTRA going on strike and the potential future divisions between artificial content vs organic products in the entertainment industry. 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)

[Unlocking this one from the paywall] We start by talking about Ed’s new sci-fi / cosmic horror story in the latest issue of Logic(s). We cruise by the aborted cage fight between Zuck and Musk. Then somehow make our way to a long discussion of behavioral insurance technologies and start sketching out a political theory of insurance and its institutional forms in society. Stuff we reference: ••• The Circle | Ed's new story https://logicmag.io/supa-dupa-skies/the-circle/ 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 off with the very funny legal letter that Musk’s lawyers sent to Zuckerberg threatening legal action for Threads stealing IP from Twitter. Then we get into reporting on the rampant use of psychedelics in Silicon Valley. But they aren’t taking drugs for cool reasons, but rather to become more productive and creative with microdosing. This is yet another way to chemically create the most productive workforce, who are also more resilient against the soul crushing brutality of a capitalist regime. It’s like if MKUltra took place in a Stanford lab with VC funding. Stuff we reference: ••• Screenshot of Twitter v. Threads letter (part one): https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0YXx0qaUAEpR05?format=jpg&name=large ••• Screenshot of Twitter v. Threads letter (part two): https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0YX0SDakAA1F6U?format=jpg&name=large ••• Magic Mushrooms. LSD. Ketamine. The Drugs That Power Silicon Valley. https://www.wsj.com/articles/silicon-valley-microdosing-ketamine-lsd-magic-mushrooms-d381e214 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 look into a new startup – Inflection AI – that has raised $1.5 billion, was co-founded by tech elites, and just released an AI chatbot, Pi, that is meant to be your ultra friendly, personal companion, coach, creative partner and more. We place our bet that this won’t be the last time we hear about Inflection AI. Everything about this company — its funding partners, founders’ pedigrees, AI product, and public mission – points to Inflection AI becoming even bigger and unavoidable. Stuff we reference: ••• AI Funding Explosion: Inflection AI Nabs $1.3B, Runway and Typeface Also Raise Big https://news.crunchbase.com/ai-robotics/funding-explosion-venture-generative-ai-unicorn/ ••• Inflection AI https://inflection.ai/ 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 by talking about Ed’s new sci-fi / cosmic horror story in the latest issue of Logic(s). We cruise by the aborted cage fight between Zuck and Musk. Then somehow make our way to a long discussion of behavioral insurance technologies and start sketching out a political theory of insurance and its institutional forms in society. 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 Sammon – politics reporter at Slate – to discuss one of the best pieces of gonzo reporting in recent memory. Alex journeyed into the heart of darkness at the center of American capitalism: the National Automobile Dealers Association. We discuss why a critical analysis of car dealers is necessary for understanding the real composition of class power and wealth in society. The politics of how car dealerships became a network of deeply entrenched fiefdoms with the power of king makers is absolutely stunning. Plus, we talk about the debauchery and decadence on display at the NADA conference. ••• Alex’s car dealers article: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/rich-republicans-party-car-dealers-2024-desantis.html ••• Alex’s Trump streamers article: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/06/trump-miami-courthouse-indictment-desantis.html ••• Alex’s twitter: https://twitter.com/alex_sammon ••• American Gentry | Patrick Wyman https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/trump-american-gentry-wyman-elites/620151/ 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 Ed’s new column for The Nation, what he’s got planned, the long arc of arguments he’s building, and how the key to good tech criticism is to talk about technology by using it as a way to talk about other things. After a while discussing the hows and whys of good old historical materialist analysis, things then go off the rails in the best ways. Ed’s column: https://www.thenation.com/authors/edward-ongweso-jr/ 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 Antony Loewenstein — author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World — to discuss his extensive reporting on the Israeli occupation of Palestine, the policing tactics and surveillance technologies that are tested on Palestinians before sold as part of lucrative global export industry, and how the dynamics of occupation never stay within their cordoned zones but always expand to capture increasingly more people and places. ••• Antony’s book: https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/2684-the-palestine-laboratory ••• Antony’s twitter: https://twitter.com/antloewenstein 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)

The tech asset bubble is now so massive that its reality distortion field is affecting the major indices like the S&P 500, warping their ability to serve as useful signals and indicators about the economy, and causing passive investors that peg trillions of dollars to these indices to become mechanically over-exposed to a handful of tech companies. All our fates are increasingly and intricately tied to the volatile financials of a few corporations. Very cool! Stuff we reference ••• Rise of the tech giants exposes the problem of index distortions https://www.ft.com/content/e0176208-fa3e-453c-8a9d-0bca61af9cdf ••• Nvidia races towards $1tn club as AI frenzy drives chip stocks higher https://www.ft.com/content/b074781a-683f-4b20-8c70-33bb71399d94 ••• What is the real point of all these letters warning about AI? https://www.fastcompany.com/90902786/what-is-the-real-point-of-all-these-letters-warning-about-ai 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 Auni Ahsan and Stephen McMurtry – organizers with the Alphabet Workers Union – to talk about the nuts and bolts of organizing at a major tech company, the development of AWU and its relationship with Communications Workers of America, what it means to be a tech worker today, the conditions and issues for labor in the sector, the purpose of organized labor power more broadly, the challenges and opportunities for AWU as they continue to grow. ••• AWU https://alphabetworkersunion.org/ ••• CODE-CWA Trainings https://code-cwa.org/upcoming-trainings 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)