Our Data Vampires series may be over, but Paris interviewed a bunch of experts on data centers and AI whose insights shouldn’t go to waste. We’re releasing those interviews as bonus episodes for Patreon supporters. Here’s a preview of this week’s premium episode with Julia Black, a reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team. For the full interview, support the show on Patreon.
Tech Won't Save Us - The “Dark Elf” Leading Tech’s Extreme Right w/ Julia Black
Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss who Curtis Yarvin is and how his anti-democratic, far-right writings have influenced the politics of Silicon Valley and the wider American extreme right.
Julia Black is a features reporter on The Information’s Weekend Team.
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:
- Julia wrote about Curtis Yarvin and his ideas for The Information. She also wrote about the Musk-aligned tech CEOs trying to shape how we think about the future.
- Paris wrote about Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
- The Dark Enlightenment is an anti-democratic, anti-egalitarian political project.
- Gil Duran wrote about the Reboot Conference and how it put the connections between the tech industry and the Heritage Foundation on display.
- The Heritage Foundation is flooding federal agencies with thousands of information requests to identify government employees to be purged under a second Trump administration.
- Peter Thiel wanted Balaji Srinivasan to become head of the Federal Drug Administration under the Trump presidency.
- According to Nick Land, hyperstition refers to ideas that bring themselves into being.
Tech Won't Save Us - Pronatalism and Silicon Valley’s Right-Wing Turn w/ Julia Black
Paris Marx is joined by Julia Black to discuss tech billionaires’ embrace of pronatalism and how it’s part of a broader rationalist project to remake society and protect their privileged positions.
Julia Black is a senior correspondent at Insider and previously worked at Esquire and Vox. Follow Julia on Twitter at @mjnblack.
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.
The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.
Also mentioned in this episode:
- Julia wrote about pronatalism, Lex Fridman, and Sam Altman.
- Paris wrote about eugenics in Silicon Valley.
- Marc Andreessen wrote “It’s Time to Build” in April 2020.
- Timnit Gebru gave a presentation on the TESCREAL bundle of ideologies. Émile Torres made a thread on Twitter about it.