Computer Says Maybe26 Sep 2025

Gotcha! How MLMs Ate the Economy w/ Bridget Read

Multi-level marketing schemes have built an empire by enticing people with promises of self-realisation and economic freedom. The cost is simple: exploit and be exploited.

More like this: Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David Seligman

This is part two of Gotcha! Our series on scams, how they work, and how technology is super-charging them. This week Bridget Read came to Alix with a very exciting business opportunity. Bridget authored Little Bosses Everywhere — a book on the history of MLM.

We explore how door-to-door sales in the mid 20th century US took on the business model of a ponzi scheme, and transformed the sweaty salesman into an entrepreneurial recruiter with a downline.

MLM originators were part of a coordinated plan to challenge the new deal in lieu of radical free enterprise, where the only thing holding you back is yourself, and the economy consists solely of consumers selling to each other in a market of speculation. The secret is, no one is selling a product — they’re selling a way of life.

Further reading & resources:

Buy Bridget’s book: Little Bosses Everywhere: How the Pyramid Scheme Shaped America
Family Values by Melinda Cooper
The Missing Crypto Queen: a podcast by BBC Sounds, about a large scale crypto scam, where there wasn’t even any crypto
LuLaRoe — the pyramid scheme that tricked American mums into selling cheap clothes to their friends and family with the promise of financial independence.
My Experience of Being in a Pyramid Scheme (Amway) — a personal account by Darren Mudd on LinkedIn
Watch our recent live show at NYC Climate Week

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SPECIAL: Israel’s AI Kill List in Lebanon w/ Nabih Bulous

The Israeli military is using data, surveillance, and AI to kill noncombatants in Southern Lebanon. More like this: Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt MahmoudiThis week, we're kind ...

29 Maj 19min

Computer Says Kill: Anthropic is NOT the Good Guy w/ Madeline Batt

Anthropic’s AI systems have been used in illegal American invasions in Iran and Venezuela. They have partnered with Musk in the disastrous Memphis Colossus facility. And yet! News coverage, some civil...

22 Maj 41min

Computer Says Kill: The Toxic Love Triangle of Big Tech, Big War & Big Science w/ David Gray Widder

Academia, Big Tech, and the military are caught in a sordid love triangle — and their love language is money.More like this: Computer Says Kill: The Blank Check to Beat China w/ Lis SiegelFor part fiv...

15 Maj 37min

Computer Says Kill: The Blank Check to Beat China w/ Lis Siegel

The US is in a race to ‘beat China’ at AI. Or is it? What if I told you that powerful actors in the US have built the story of an all-or-nothing race to get what they want?More like this: Computer Say...

8 Maj 43min

Short: RightsGone? Why Zambia May Have Pulled the Plug on RightsCon

RightsCon has just been cancelled by the Zambian government with no word to the organizers, five days before it was set to begin.RightsCon is the biggest annual global gathering of the digital rights ...

1 Maj 13min

Computer Says Kill: A License for Unlimited War w/ Amos Toh

Military spending on AI is a triple black box: How is AI being used in the military? Who is winning these contracts and what are they worth? And what is the military’s end-game here?More like this: Ho...

1 Maj 47min

Computer Says Kill: How a Calculator Company Reshaped Modern Warfare w/ Jeff Stern

Precision weapons are meant to make warfare more exact. But what happens when the executive branch uses precision as an excuse to make more war and target with less and less accountability for accurac...

24 Apr 37min

Computer Says Kill: Collapsing the Chain w/ with Matt Mahmoudi

How does a country wage war using LLMs? Oh and WHY?More like this: AI in Gaza: Live from Mexico CityIn Computer Says Kill Ep #1 we are joined by Matt Mahmoudi. The US Department of War is leaning heav...

16 Apr 49min