Épisodes

  • Why Countries Must Fight For Digital Sovereignty w/ Cecilia Rikap

    Why Countries Must Fight For Digital Sovereignty w/ Cecilia Rikap
    Aug 21 2025
    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
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    1 h
  • Will the Pope Be An Ally Against AI? w/ Paolo Benanti

    Will the Pope Be An Ally Against AI? w/ Paolo Benanti
    Aug 14 2025
    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
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    56 min
  • What Google Zero Means for Journalism w/ Matt Pearce

    What Google Zero Means for Journalism w/ Matt Pearce
    Aug 7 2025
    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 hyperlink AI scrapers are driving traffic away from traditional sites while increasing their operational costs. Learn more about coping with news fatigue. Support the show
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    1 h et 1 min
  • Trump’s Crypto Profiteering Is Worse Than You Think w/ Jacob Silverman

    Trump’s Crypto Profiteering Is Worse Than You Think w/ Jacob Silverman
    Jul 31 2025
    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
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    1 h
  • Decomputing For a Better Future w/ Dan McQuillan

    Decomputing For a Better Future w/ Dan McQuillan
    Jul 24 2025
    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
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    58 min
  • Microsoft is Gutting the Video Game Industry w/ Nathan Grayson

    Microsoft is Gutting the Video Game Industry w/ Nathan Grayson
    Jul 17 2025
    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
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    55 min
  • How the US Weaponizes Tech in the Middle East w/ Laleh Khalili

    How the US Weaponizes Tech in the Middle East w/ Laleh Khalili
    Jul 10 2025
    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
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    54 min
  • The Geopolitical Fight Over Huawei w/ Yangyang Cheng

    The Geopolitical Fight Over Huawei w/ Yangyang Cheng
    Jul 3 2025
    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
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    54 min