Episodes

  • Patreon Preview – 388. The On-Demand Degradation of Nursing

    Patreon Preview – 388. The On-Demand Degradation of Nursing
    Dec 30 2024
    We get into an excellent new report on the rise of on-demand platforms for nursing, which have spurred further exploitation of labor and degradation of care in an industry that has already been hollowed out by suppression of worker rights and financialization by private equity firms. The destruction of healthcare wouldn’t be complete if tech innovators didn’t use re-skinned versions of algorithmic management software to make things even worse by further stripping the sector to its bare bones. ••• Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble –– ••• Uber for Nursing https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/uber-for-nursing/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! 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)
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    10 mins
  • 387. Getting Fleeced in Nature’s Casino

    387. Getting Fleeced in Nature’s Casino
    Dec 23 2024
    [Note: we explain TMK's new structure from 0:00-10:28, so skip that to get straight into the episode] We dive into the market for catastrophe bonds (or, “cat bonds”) and talk about how this complex financial instrument is sold as the silver bullet for climate finance — especially for under-developed countries that are at risk of devastation from disasters like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes — which is meant to be an alternative to insurance for places that cannot access or afford policies. In reality, they have given institutions like the World Bank the perfect neoliberal policy for climate (in)action, they have provided extremely lucrative windfalls for hedge funds, and they have left people in devastated regions with nothing to show for their expensive premiums. ••• Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble —— ••• The Harsh Reality of ‘Hurricane Insurance’ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-jamaica-hurricane-catastrophe-bonds/ ••• The Risky Business of Predicting Where Climate Disaster Will Hit https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-flood-fire-climate-risk-analytics/ ••• In Nature’s Casino https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/magazine/26neworleans-t.html Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! 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)
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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • Patreon Preview – 386. The FIRE Sector is Under Water

    Patreon Preview – 386. The FIRE Sector is Under Water
    Dec 19 2024
    First we talk about the unholy trinity of Anduril, Palantir, and OpenAI working together to secure major contracts from the Pentagon for networking data systems and training AI models. Then we get into how Blackstone now owns the AI boom with $50 billion invested in data centre infrastructure and another $50 billion in the pipeline. Lastly, we chat about how the mortgage markets in the US, Australia, and elsewhere—the very cornerstone of entire economies and generational wealth—are once again facing systemic risk a lá the 2008 crash, but this time caused by climate catastrophes. ••• Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• We saw a demo of the new AI system powering Anduril’s vision for war https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/12/10/1108354/we-saw-a-demo-of-the-new-ai-system-powering-andurils-vision-for-war/ ••• Mind the Gap: Foundation Models and the Covert Proliferation of Military Intelligence, Surveillance, and Targeting https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.14831 ••• Blackstone’s Data-Center Ambitions School a City on AI Power Strains https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-12-08/georgia-s-blackstone-backed-qts-data-center-hits-resistance-over-ai-power-needs ••• The Climate Risk to the Mortgage System https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/business/economy/mortgages-climate-risk-fannie-freddie.html ••• Surging insurance costs are driving thousands of borrowers to breach their mortgage contracts https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-10/insurance-costs-are-driving-thousands-to-breach-their-mortgages/104703586 ••• How climate risks are driving up insurance premiums around the US – visualized https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/05/climate-crisis-insurance-premiums Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! 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)
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    6 mins
  • 385. BlackRock Bought a Zoo

    385. BlackRock Bought a Zoo
    Dec 15 2024
    We’ve got a great reading series that redirects our attention to another big bugbear of TMK: the destruction – and salvation – of nature via asset markets and risk management. We talk about how the business world is coming around to the idea that is nature is *not* a “a free, infinitely extractable resource” and might actually be a valuable asset worth safeguarding—but only if it has clear and direct links to immediate profit! This has led to a number of great new innovations like “biodiversity credits,” which will surely create all kinds of great and desirable outcomes. ••• Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Do businesses need to care about biodiversity? https://www.ft.com/content/8c6dd560-604b-4d2c-8ff6-4e60a8a4726d Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! 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)
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Patreon Preview 384. – Executive Paranoia

    Patreon Preview 384. – Executive Paranoia
    Dec 10 2024
    We tie together a number of things: first, the assassination of UnitedHealth Group’s CEO and the reactions to this event; second, a new startup in the Thiel family that rehabilitates Sauron as a shining beacon of security for the terrified tech elite; and third, the vision put forward by Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, for an army of ethical techno-slaves that are powered by a new vaporware platform called Agentforce. Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Why "we" want insurance executives dead https://www.usermag.co/p/yes-we-want-insurance-executives ••• Fearful of crime, the tech elite transform their homes into military bunkers https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/12/05/tech-ceos-elites-home-security-silicon-valley/ ••• How the Rise of New Digital Workers Will Lead to an Unlimited Age https://time.com/7178872/agents-unlimited-age/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! 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)
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    8 mins
  • 383. Rage Against the Administrative Machine

    383. Rage Against the Administrative Machine
    Dec 7 2024
    We talk about the legal battles that Musk and Amazon are waging against the National Labor Relations Board, in part by claiming the NLRB is unconditional because it violates employers’ rights to a trial by jury. We then get into a broader discussion of how the right-wing has organised a highly effective — while also ideologically inconsistent — political movement which is based on a single-minded obsession with — and demonic hatred of — the bureaucratic minutiae of oft-overlooked government agencies and appointments. We argue that the left needs a new theory of the state, which can underlie its own obsession with the concrete operations of bureaucratic power and a political movement focused on taking control of this administrative machinery. Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• How Elon Musk And Amazon Could Deal A Blow To Workers' RightsHow Elon Musk And Amazon Could Deal A Blow To Workers' Rights https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-spacex-amazon-nlrb_n_67472463e4b0f973902fa591 Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! 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)
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Patreon Preview – 382. Don’t Fetishize the AI Hype

    Patreon Preview – 382. Don’t Fetishize the AI Hype
    Dec 4 2024
    We chat about Ed’s brilliant critical review of the new book AI Snake Oil and talk about the shortcomings of analysis that are so focused on demystifying the hype about what AI can do that the hype becomes the only thing that matters. We sharpen our own critique by sparring with this interesting and thoughtful — but also limited and naive — critique of AI. Rather than treating hype as the root of all evil in tech — and thus framing our solutions to AI harms as a technical exercise of discerning snake oil from real cures — we must push further to attack the material foundations of the AI industry. Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• AI Scams Are the Point https://newrepublic.com/article/188313/artifical-intelligence-scams-propaganda-deceit Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)
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    10 mins
  • 381. NYT v. OpenAI: Romancing the Data

    381. NYT v. OpenAI: Romancing the Data
    Nov 28 2024
    We get into the New York Times's lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, which challenges the use of copyrighted material as training data for AI models. The NYT’s case is built on notions of “romantic authorship” — or the irreducible / ineffable quality of creativity and individuality in human works — and discuss the analytical weakness of building critiques and strategies on such immaterial, shifty grounding, and the serious limits such a framing puts on potential solutions. We also chat about OpenAI’s further push into education and its effects on teaching. Pre-order Jathan’s new book! https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• New York Times Says OpenAI Erased Potential Lawsuit Evidence https://www.wired.com/story/new-york-times-openai-erased-potential-lawsuit-evidence/ ••• NYT v. OpenAI: The Times’s About-Face https://harvardlawreview.org/blog/2024/04/nyt-v-openai-the-timess-about-face/ ••• AI Companies Are Trying to Get MIT Press Books https://www.404media.co/mit-press-ai-training-on-books/ ••• There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/11/opensubtitles-ai-data-set/680650 ••• OpenAI releases a teacher’s guide to ChatGPT, but some educators are skeptical https://techcrunch.com/2024/11/20/openai-releases-a-teachers-guide-to-chatgpt-but-some-educators-are-skeptical/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (www.x.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (www.x.com/braunestahl)
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    1 hr and 23 mins