This Machine Kills23 Des 2025

437. Do Socialists Dream of Electric Institutions, Part 1 (ft. Aaron Benanav)

We’re joined by Aaron Benanav to get into his magisterial essays laying out a vision of society beyond capitalism. In part 1 of our conversation, we lay out his incisive analysis of how capitalism is a powerful system built on the obsessive, relentless optimization of one criteria: production for profit maximization. All other criteria are subordinated to this logic to the detriment of all priorities, values, or goals that we could pursue. The failures of previous alternatives to capitalism can be traced to a failure to change the goals, not just the tools of the system. Any real alternative must go beyond simply swapping in new means — the ways we achieve the optimization of economic efficiency — while maintaining the same purpose. They must change the ends of the system: from one criterion to rule them all to the flourishing of a multi-criterial economy. ••• Beyond Capitalism Part 1 & 2 | Aaron Benanav https://www.aaronbenanav.com/papers Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(498)

475. Never Let a Computer Tell Me Shit

We jump off from the OpenAI - Hugging Face hacking incident as a way to talk about the misleading, cynical, and hysterical ways we talk about AI and the stranglehold that existential risk has on our f...

17 Sep 1h 23min

Patreon Preview – 474. Gym, Tan, Leverage

We bring together two different stories about the tech sector and speculative real estate booms. First, how Netflix promises to turn the Jersey Shore into “Hollywood East”. Second, how the data centre...

11 Sep 7min

473. Tech Workers of the World, Unite (ft. JS Tan, Clarissa Redwine)

[We had technical difficulties and had to use a backup recording, sorry!] We chat with JS Tan and Clarissa Redwin — both veteran tech workers and labor organizers — about their new book which chronicl...

3 Sep 1h 28min

Premium – 472. Australia’s AI Pitch Deck

We turn our sights down under by taking a closer look at the new all-of-government strategy for AI in Australia’s Interests. Australia has plotted out a bold, progressive vision where AI enthusiasm is...

27 Aug 8min

471. Breaking the Leviathan

We take a deep dive into New York’s police-surveillance infrastructure, a sprawling leviathan that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was outspoken against during his campaign, but has now inherited and is even war...

22 Aug 1h 47min

Patreon Preview – 470. Choking on Data Exhaust

We chat about Ed’s engagement with communities pushing back against data center development in Tulsa, plus some major reporting showing the sheer scale of fossil-fuelled data center development in the...

12 Aug 8min

469. The Maniacs are Running the Asylum (ft. Nikhil Suresh)

We’re joined by Nik Suresh, director of Hermit Tech and excellent blogger on the software industry. You might know Nik for an incredible essay he wrote a couple years ago about piledriving anybody who...

6 Aug 1h 39min

Patreon Preview – 468. Vibes Make the World Go Round

First we get into a very circular (the strongest shape in nature) deal between Nvidia, OpenAI, and Softbank to finance a $250 billion 10-gigawatt data center complex, powered by a natural gas plant bu...

30 Jul 9min