This Machine Kills

We discuss recent work Andreas Malm – Marxist historian, ecologists, and radical climate activist – as analysed through a large synthetic review essay by Adam Tooze. We get into capitalism’s climate catastrophe, the politics and praxis of direct action, the ahistorical positions and principles of large liberal climate change activism movements, and the urgent need for moral arguments backed up by material actions. It’s how to blow up a pipeline meets how to sabotage a factory line. Some stuff we reference: ••• Ecological Leninism | Adam Tooze https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v43/n22/adam-tooze/ecological-leninism ••• Andreas Malm and ecological Leninism | Adam Tooze https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-50-andreas-malm-and-ecological ••• This Nonviolent Stuff′ll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible | Charles E. Cobb Jr. https://www.dukeupress.edu/this-nonviolent-stuffll-get-you-killed Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

Kicking off the new year, we are joined by returning champion Wendy Liu – author of Abolish Silicon Valley – to look back on all the very dumb things the tech sector has forced us take seriously in 2021. We talk about how free flowing capital has both created and accelerated a world built on sand. Where all the vaporware, bullshit, and grifts of things like NFTs, DAOs, and web3 seemingly come from nowhere and become all we can talk about. We wrap up with our hopes that 2022 will be a year that proves one thing: the luddites were right. • Follow Wendy: twitter.com/dellsystem/ • Buy her very good book: repeaterbooks.com/product/abolish-silicon-valley-how-to-liberate-technology-from-capitalism/ Some stuff we discuss: ••• My first impressions of web3 | Moxie Marlinspike https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html ••• Cryptocurrency Investors Try to Turn Private Islands Into Blockchain Utopias | Ed Ongweso Jr. https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3n38x/cryptocurrency-investors-try-to-turn-private-islands-into-blockchain-utopias Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

We're back next week with fresh episodes! Until then, here's part 2 of our in-depth discussion on Aadhaar. We pick up with part two of our deep dive into Aadhaar, looking at the social issues, political implications, and street-level implementation. Building on the work of Ranjit Singh and Steven Jackson, we first lay out an analysis of what it means to “see like an infrastructure.” Then we dwell on the problems, errors, and glitches involved in making Aadhaar actually work. And what that means for different people who are classified as “high-resolution” or “low-resolution” data subjects. Some stuff we discuss: ••• Seeing Like an Infrastructure: Low-resolution Citizens and the Aadhaar Identification Project | Ranjit Singh and Steven Jackson https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.108.22/163.112.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/SLAI_RSSJ.pdf ••• A New AI Lexicon: Resolution | Ranjit Singh https://medium.com/a-new-ai-lexicon/a-new-ai-lexicon-resolution-8f3430654ee4 ••• From Margins to Seams: Imbrication, Inclusion, and Torque in the Aadhaar Identification Project | Ranjit Singh and Steven Jackson https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.108.22/163.112.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/From_Margins_to_Seams_RSSJ.pdf ••• Biometric Marginality: UID and the Shaping of Homeless Identities in the City | Ursula Rao https://www.jstor.org/stable/23391467 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

We're taking a break from recording for the holidays. Enjoy this unlocked Patreon episode. As the Federal Trade Commission files suit to block the merger between Nvidia and Arm, we take the opportunity to revisit the excellent and necessary work of the FTC’s Chair, Lina Khan. We discuss a recent profile of Khan in the New Yorker. Then dig deeper into a very long, very important paper by Khan making the legal case for reviving the antitrust doctrine of structural separation and applying it to break up platform giants like Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook. Some stuff we reference ••• The Separation of Platforms and Commerce | Lina Khan https://columbialawreview.org/content/the-separation-of-platforms-and-commerce/ ••• Lina Khan’s Battle to Rein in Big Tech | Sheelah Kolhatkar https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/06/lina-khans-battle-to-rein-in-big-tech ••• Lina Khan Cashes in Her Chips | David Dayen https://prospect.org/economy/lina-khan-cashes-in-her-chips/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

In part two of our discussion with hosts of Left Reckoning, Matt Lech and David Griscom, we pick right back up where we left off. We get into the environmental racism of where Amazon builds its warehouses and the ways that Black, Hispanic, and/or low-income communities are treated as sacrifice zones for the unending expansion of capitalism and technology. We then talk about the predatory model of buy now, pay later companies—one of the most obviously socially harmful “innovations” to pop off during the pandemic. Follow Matt Lech: https://twitter.com/MattLech Follow David Griscom: https://twitter.com/DavidGriscom Follow Left Reckoning: https://twitter.com/LeftReckonig Some stuff we reference: ••• When Amazon Expands, These Communities Pay the Price | https://www.consumerreports.org/corporate-accountability/when-amazon-expands-these-communities-pay-the-price-a2554249208/ ••• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Opens Inquiry into “Buy Now, Pay Later” Credit | https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/consumer-financial-protection-bureau-opens-inquiry-into-buy-now-pay-later-credit/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

Opening song: Venceremos – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11MlvWKfL7s We’re very excited to be joined by the hosts of Left Reckoning, Matt Lech and David Griscom, for an action packed double header of episodes to keep you busy during the holiday season! We have a very energetic discussion about the project of leftism before getting into a critical political economy analysis of the sudden rise of 15-minute delivery apps and the pushback by workers against anonymous automated management. Part two of our long discussion with Matt and David will be posted on the TMK Patreon. Follow Matt Lech: https://twitter.com/MattLech Follow David Griscom: https://twitter.com/DavidGriscom Follow Left Reckoning: https://twitter.com/LeftReckoning Some stuff we reference: ••• The Dark Side of 15-Minute Grocery Delivery | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/what-instant-delivery-services-could-do-to-cities ••• Workers demand gig economy companies explain their algorithms | https://www.ft.com/content/95e7f150-b0f9-4602-8e5d-76a138b59851 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

We wrap up with the last chapter of Wendy H.K. Chun’s book, Control and Freedom. We discuss: the book’s value as a lens for analyzing current developments and discourses about “web3” — conceptions of the internet as both a public and private space — the general cultural affect of paranoia and its relation to techno-power — a self-crit session on the utility of “emerging technologies” as a term — Chun’s case studies of facial recognition and webcams. You can grab a pdf of Chun’s book here: https://au1lib.org/book/2074091/cc12a3 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

We do a close reading of a new article in Foreign Policy by futurist Parag Khanna and venture capitalist Balaji Srinivasan, which stands as a monument to how “web3” is like a brain worm that destroys people’s ability to think. The articles’ ten theses are a testament to the poverty of thought pervasive in the upper echelons of wealth, influence, and technology. Outro: https://soundcloud.com/braunestahl/future-history-of-luddism Some stuff we discuss: ••• Great Protocol Politics | Parag Khanna, Balaji S. Srinivasan https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/11/bitcoin-ethereum-cryptocurrency-web3-great-protocol-politics/ ••• The Naked and the Ted | Evgeny Morozov https://newrepublic.com/article/105703/the-naked-and-the-ted-khanna Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

As the Federal Trade Commission files suit to block the merger between Nvidia and Arm, we take the opportunity to revisit the excellent and necessary work of the FTC’s Chair, Lina Khan. We discuss a recent profile of Khan in the New Yorker. Then dig deeper into a very long, very important paper by Khan making the legal case for reviving the antitrust doctrine of structural separation and applying it to break up platform giants like Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook. Some stuff we reference ••• The Separation of Platforms and Commerce | Lina Khan https://columbialawreview.org/content/the-separation-of-platforms-and-commerce/ ••• Lina Khan’s Battle to Rein in Big Tech | Sheelah Kolhatkar https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/12/06/lina-khans-battle-to-rein-in-big-tech ••• Lina Khan Cashes in Her Chips | David Dayen https://prospect.org/economy/lina-khan-cashes-in-her-chips/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

We kept ignoring DAOs and web3 hoping it would go away, but sadly it hasn’t. So we pick apart each part of the acronym—decentralized, autonomous, organization—and discuss the techno-politics of their promise and practice. We get into blockchain, smart contracts, and corporate governance. Some stuff we reference: ••• Book-Smart, Not Street-Smart: Blockchain-Based Smart Contracts and The Social Workings of Law | Karen E.C. Levy https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/107 ••• DAOs are interesting, likely, and terrifying | Jason Prado: https://venturecommune.substack.com/p/daos-are-interesting-likely-and-terrifying ••• Zealots of the Blockchain | David Golumbia: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/zealots-of-the-blockchain-golumbia ••• Mapping the NFT revolution: market trends, trade networks, and visual features | Matthieu Nadini et al. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00053-8 ••• Digital extraction: Blockchain traceability in mineral supply chains | Filipe Calvão, Matthew Archer https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096262982100041X Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)