Author: Paris Marx

Paris Marx takes a solo episode to discuss the billionaire space race. Specifically, how billionaires are selling grand futures of space travel as a PR scheme to get huge public contracts that will allow them to control the infrastructure of space.

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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:

• Paris wrote about the billionaire space race, and it was translated into German, Italian, and Turkish.
• New Mexico’s $220-million Spaceport America that’s used by Virgin Galactic is a joke.
• SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has been way overhyped.
• If we went to Mars, we would get cancer.
• Adam Mann had a great essay on how we should think about Mars, and whether it’s “ours.”
• Elon Musk says we can be indentured servants on Mars, and people will die.
• Paris has written about Jeff Bezos’ space colonies, and compared them to Blade Runner and The Expanse.
• Jeff Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO to take on the role of Executive Chairman.
• Ursula K. Le Guin argues science fiction isn’t about the future, nor is it predictive.
• Amazon’s emissions rose 19% in 2020 and it’s helping Big Oil.
• Paris wrote about the real climate future billionaires are creating.

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Paris Marx is solo this week, providing an update on the podcast, the series of guests planned for May, and what’s coming next for Tech Won’t Save Us!

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:

• Paris wrote about the future of the internet, why Elon Musk is planning for climate apocalypse, the problems with Jeff Bezos’ space future, and why a socialist future won’t look like a capitalist one.
• Paris was recently on the Digital Void podcast.

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Paris Marx is joined by Gavin Mueller to discuss who the Luddites really were, what they can teach us about how we think about technology today, and why they show the need for a decelerationist politics of the future.

Gavin Mueller is the author of “Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job.” He’s also a lecturer in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the editorial collective of Viewpoint Magazine. Follow Gavin on Twitter as @gavinmuellerphd.

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:

• An excerpt of Gavin’s book was recently published in Logic Magazine, and previously criticized fully automated luxury communism.
• Gavin recommends E.P Thompson’s “The Making of the English Working Class”
• Courts ruled that Uber drivers in the UK are workers, and Deliveroo couriers in Amsterdam are employees.

Support the show