Tech Won't Save Us

Paris’ new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires is coming out in October. To celebrate, we’re revisiting the series that planted the seeds for his deep dive into hyperscale data centers, the communities they’re affecting, and the future Silicon Valley is trying to build. This is episode 4 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us. The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Original production on Data Vampires was by Eric Wickham. Current produc...

Paris’ new book Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires is coming out in October. To celebrate, we’re revisiting the series that planted the seeds for his deep dive into hyperscale data centers, the communities they’re affecting, and the future Silicon Valley is trying to build. This is episode 2 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us. The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Original production on Data Vampires was by Eric Wickham. Current produc...

Not long ago, tech jobs were sought after for their security, benefits, wages, and the progressive values promoted by Silicon Valley companies. But now workers are barely hanging on. Clarissa Redwine and JS Tan join Paris Marx to discuss the state of worker organizing in the tech industry, including how it’s changed since the mid-2010s and where it needs to go from here. Clarissa Redwine is a tech worker and labor activist. JS Tan is a PhD candidate at MIT and writes the Value Added newslette...

Governments are prioritizing data centers at the expense of communities and the planet, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Matt Haugen joins Paris Marx to discuss how national strategies are dismantling environmental protections while enriching a handful of megacorporations, and what an alternative agenda could look like. Matt Haugen is Research and Editorial Manager at the Climate and Community Institute. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Supp...

As Big Tech’s power continues to grow, it's more important than ever to understand how companies use their control over cloud infrastructure and services to shape more than just the digital world. Cecilia Rikap joins Paris Marx to discuss how these networks of corporate power operate, including how they are systematically used to influence global politics, the economy, and how society views the world. Cecilia Rikap is an Associate Professor at University College London’s Institute for Innovat...

We are often told that resisting technological development is impossible and ‘progress’ is inevitable, but history says otherwise. Thomas Dekeyser joins Paris Marx to discuss how understanding radical resistances of the past can help us rethink our modern relationship with technology and reshape our vision of the future. Thomas Dekeyser is a lecturer in human geography at the University of Southampton, author of Techno-Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine, and co-creator of the do...

Public ire toward AI keeps growing as the data center boom continues to hit people’s pockets. Chris Person joins Paris Marx to discuss the soaring cost of consumer electronics, including why prices are unlikely to fall anytime soon, and how people can experiment with homespun cyberpunk tech. Chris Person is a co-founder of Aftermath and makes Highlight Reel. The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson. Support the show on Patreon. Also mentioned in this ep...

The Canadian government is going all in on AI, without understanding the real effects of the technology. Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood joins Paris Marx to discuss Mark Carney’s push for large-scale investment in AI, despite being unable to describe how adoption will work, how Canadians will benefit, and what policies will be implemented to mitigate growing risks and harms. Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood senior researcher and political economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The p...

SpaceX is finally going public, and it’s bad news for anyone who wants to rein in Elon Musk. Sean O’Kane joins Paris Marx to discuss the flimsy sci-fi ideas Elon Musk is using to justify the company’s massive valuation and the way corporate governance rules are shifting to give him even more power. Sean O’Kane is a senior reporter at TechCrunch. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech an...

Polymarket and Kalshi are everywhere. But what are they doing to society? Jathan Sadowski joins Paris Marx to discuss the rise of prediction markets and their negative social effects as they push the global economy closer toward the financialization of everything. Jathan Sadowski is an Associate Professor at Monash University. He is the author of The Mechanic and the Luddite and co-hosts This Machine Kills. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, an...