461. The Book of Ludd

461. The Book of Ludd

From This Machine Kills by This Machine Kills

June 12, 2026 · 1h 19m

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of religious exemptions from AI use and various policy proposals regarding public ownership in AI technologies.

“Welcome to the Church of Ludd, it’s nice to see you join our congregation. Please pick up a pamphlet as you walk in, which explains how to set up your religious exemption from using AI at your workplace.” — After a fun story about religious refusal of AI, we then chat about the various policy proposals being put forth by folks like Sam Altman and Bernies Sanders which outline how public wealth funds, equity stakes in AI companies, and dividend payments can buy the public’s trust in these technologies. ••• She won a religious exemption from using AI at work. The Pope's remarks could fuel similar appeals. https://www.businessinsider.com/worker-got-religious-exemption-using-ai-at-work-2026-6 ••• Senior U.S. Officials Eye Government Shares in AI Giants https://www.notus.org/technology/trump-ai-stake-openai ••• Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Sam Altman are all talking about public ownership in AI https://apnews.com/article/sam-altman-ai-bernie-sanders-trump-public-ownership-772224f9cd138eb79d3ef3336858a5d5 Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jathan Sadowski, Edward Ongweso Jr.

Topics covered

  • AI
  • public ownership
  • religious exemption
  • policy proposals
  • technology trust

Keywords

  • AI
  • religious exemption
  • public wealth funds
  • equity stakes
  • technology policy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Church of Ludd, Business Insider, Notus, AP News

Books & works: The Mechanic and the Luddite

More episodes of This Machine Kills

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the This Machine Kills podcast page.