Tech Won't Save Us - The Forgotten Story of How Conservatives Shaped the Internet w/ Becca Lewis

Paris Marx is joined by Becca Lewis to discuss the right-wing project to shape the internet in the 1990s and how we’re still living with the legacies of those actions today.

Becca Lewis is a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University.

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 Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.

Also mentioned in this episode:

  • Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen mentioning the Italian Futurists in his Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
  • Ruth Eveleth wrote about the Italian Futurists in the context of Silicon Valley.
  • In 1995, Wired published a story on how “America’s futurist politicians” Al Gore and Newt Gingrich were in an epic struggle to shape the internet.
  • Becca mentioned the work of Nicole Hemmer and Patricia Aufderheide.

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Tech Won't Save Us - How YouTube Normalizes Right-Wing Extremism w/ Becca Lewis

Paris Marx is joined by Becca Lewis to discuss YouTube’s history of incentivizing extreme content, how the storming of the US Capitol shows the power of media spectacle, and why we should see social media platforms as media companies.

Becca Lewis is a PhD candidate in Communication at Stanford University. She’s also written for a number of publications, including NBC News, Vice News, and New York Magazine. Follow Becca on Twitter as @beccalew.

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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network at harbingermedianetwork.com.

Also mentioned in this episode:

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