App Store

Google Play

DK - Details page - Device banner - 894x1036

Nyd den ubegrænsede adgang til tusindvis af spændende e- og lydbøger - helt gratis

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst 

Paris Marx


Silicon Valley wants to shape our future, but why should we let it? Every Thursday, Paris Marx is joined by a new guest to critically examine the tech industry, its big promises, and the people behind them. Tech Won’t Save Us challenges the notion that tech alone can drive our world forward by showing that separating tech from politics has consequences for us all, especially the most vulnerable. It’s not your usual tech podcast.


Tech Won't Save Us

Paris Marx is joined by Cecilia Rikap to discuss how countries’ dependence on US tech companies is harming them and why they need to get serious about digital sovereignty.

Cecilia Rikap is Associate Professor in Economics at University College London and Head of Research at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Cecilia (and Paris!) worked on a report offering a roadmap to 
reclaiming digital sovereignty • .
 • The UK Labour Party forced the chair of the Competition and Markets Authority to 
step down • earlier this year to promote its pro-growth agenda.
 • A Microsoft executive told a French Senate committee that it 
could not guarantee data sovereignty • if the US government requested information stored on its servers in Europe.
Alexandre de Moraes is the Brazilian judge • pushing back against big tech.
 • The US is sanctioning judges 
from the ICC • (as well as 
Alexandre de Moraes • )

Support the show

Why Countries Must Fight For Digital Sovereignty w/ Cecilia Rikap

Paris Marx is joined by Paolo Benanti to discuss what Pope Leo XIV’s statements on AI, the publications under Pope Francis, and the ethics of AI from a theological perspective.

Paolo Benanti is an author, academic, and priest. He teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University and was an advisor to Pope Francis on artificial intelligence and technology ethics.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Paris 
wrote about • what Pope Leo XIV and the Church have been saying about AI.
 • In June, Pope Leo 
sent a message • to the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence.
 • Under Pope Francis, the Church published a note on AI called 
Antiqua et nova • . Here is 
a short breakdown • of its content.

Support the show

Will the Pope Be An Ally Against AI? w/ Paolo Benanti

Paris Marx is joined by Matt Pearce to discuss how Google’s use of generative AI is sending far less traffic to all manner of websites, but especially news publications, and what that might mean for the future of journalism.

Matt Pearce is Director of Policy at Rebuild Local News and a former reporter at the Los Angeles Times.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Matt makes the case that unchecked AI may cause 
newsprint to outlive the hyperlinkAI scrapers are driving traffic away from traditional sites • while increasing their operational costs.
 • Learn more about coping with 
news fatigue • .

Support the show

What Google Zero Means for Journalism w/ Matt Pearce

Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire’s Islamophobic attack on Zohran Mamdani, what it tells us about the state of tech’s politics, and how Donald Trump is enriching himself through crypto scams.

Jacob Silverman is a journalist and the author of the forthcoming book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Jacob has reported on the 
Aqua 1 Foundation’s mysterious crypto • deal that puts $75 million dollars in Donald Trumps pocket.
 • Trump signed the 
GENIUS Act • last week, which aims to make crypto more mainstream and is widely viewed as 
openly corrupt • . Trump has already 
made millions of dollars • from crypto.
Crypto is coming • for the US 401k.

Support the show

Trump’s Crypto Profiteering Is Worse Than You Think w/ Jacob Silverman

Paris Marx is joined by Dan McQuillan to discuss the global push by governments to rapidly adopt AI at all costs and how citizens can critically rethink our dependence on these technologies while imagining a collective future that benefits everyone.

Dan McQuillan is a lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London and the author of Resisting AI.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Dan recently gave a talk about 
decomputing as resistance • and published the text on his website.
 • The UK Labour Government is going 
all in on data centre development • , while planning for future 
water shortages • .
 • Academic institutions are 
rapidly adopting • AI technologies, 
with a little help from industry leaders • .
 • The GKN Factory Collective offers an 
inspiring example • of collective action.

Support the show

Decomputing For a Better Future w/ Dan McQuillan

Paris Marx is joined by Nathan Grayson to discuss the latest round of Microsoft layoffs and how the company’s ambition to remake the video game industry around its streaming service has had significant consequences.

Nathan Grayson is a co-founder of Aftermath and author of Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • An Xbox producer told laid off staff to 
use AI • to help cope with unemployment.
 • Microsoft is moving towards 
pressuring staff to use AI • through employee evaluations.
 • Nathan mentions that it’s 
unclear whether Game Pass is even profitable • given how they balance the books.

Support the show

Microsoft is Gutting the Video Game Industry w/ Nathan Grayson

Paris Marx is joined by Laleh Khalili to discuss how the United States uses its control of key technologies to shift global power dynamics, and how that specifically plays out in the Middle East.

Laleh Khalili is Professor of Gulf Studies at the University of Exeter and author of the forthcoming book Extractive Capitalism.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Laleh mentions 
Iran’s accusations towards Meta • regarding WhatsApp. 
Tech executives • are joining the US army.
 • Laleh mentioned 
The Global Interior • by Megan Black.
 • Several years ago, Israel 
used an AI-assisted gun • to kill an Iranian nuclear scientist.

Support the show

How the US Weaponizes Tech in the Middle East w/ Laleh Khalili

Paris Marx is joined by Yangyang Cheng to discuss how Huawei became one of the most powerful companies in China and how current geopolitical narratives distract from the issues at the heart of surveillance capitalism in the US and China.

Yangyang Cheng is a Research Scholar in Law and Fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Yangyang wrote about how Huawei is emblematic of China’s capitalist model for 
ChinaFile • .
 • We also discuss Eva Dou’s 
The House of Huawei • .
 • Donald Trump 
discussed • how the USA uses the same tactics the government accuses China of employing in bad faith.

Support the show

The Geopolitical Fight Over Huawei w/ Yangyang Cheng

Paris Marx is joined by Nitasha Tiku to discuss how AI companies are preying on users to drive engagement and how that’s repeating many of the problems we’re belatedly trying to address with social media companies at an accelerated pace.

Nitasha Tiku is a technology reporter at the Washington Post.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Nitasha wrote about how chatbots are 
messing with people’s minds • .
 • Paris wrote about Mark Zuckerberg’s comments about 
people needing AI friends • .
 • AI companies are 
facing • ongoing 
lawsuits • over harmful content.

Support the show

Chatbots Are Repeating Social Media’s Harms w/ Nitasha Tiku

Paris Marx is joined by Laís Martins to discuss the recent enforcement measures against tech companies like X and Rumble in Brazil, how the country is grappling with the overreach of US tech companies, and the wider discussion about tech policy in Brazil.

Laís Martins is a technology reporter at The Intercept Brasil.

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 and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Kyla Hewson.

Also mentioned in this episode:

 • Laís has reported on 
Rumble's fight against the Brazilian Supreme Court • as well as the decisions the Brazilian government is making to welcome 
AI data centers • .
 • Former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff was 
spied on • by US intelligence services.
 • The Brazilian government has long 
used and supported • open source software.

Support the show

What Google Zero Means for Journalism w/ Matt Pearce

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

Other podcasts you might like ...