Category: 3-SometimeCommentary

We discuss the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. [0:51]

We also discuss the FDNY’s current “sick out” over vaccine mandates and how the stand-off reveals a tension for progressives who fight for union collective bargaining rights. [6;28]

We then turn to the aftermath of the Youngkin victory in the Virginia elections and discuss the problems with progressives blaming #WhiteWomen for the loss. [9:45]

We unpack the victory of Michelle Wu in Boston and Eric Adams in New York City. [14:36]

We then discuss the effectiveness of masks and how to make sense of shifting CDC guidance. [22:56]

Finally, we talk about the differences between socialism, communism, and democratic socialism [33:08]

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"Defund the police" or "healthy at every size" or "marriage is just an oppressive institution of the patriarchy" - these are just a few of the ideas that are becoming common doctrine among American elites. And Rob Henderson has described these new orthodoxies as “Luxury Beliefs.” 

He says, much like second homes on the beach or Bentleys, luxury beliefs are thoughts that can only be afforded by people whose wealth shields them from the very harm those beliefs can cause to the rest of us. Henderson, a graduate of Yale and a PhD student at Cambridge, should have been susceptible to the very ideas he now criticizes. But the reason he remained immune to the groupthink of academia is because he was, in many ways, an outsider looking in. He grew up in a kind of chaos and suffering that most people shouting about white privilege and the evils of the musical Hamilton could never understand. And that’s why he is able to so accurately observe the indulgence and hypocrisy of our elite class, and call it out for what it is: a luxury.

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Paris Marx is joined by Brian Merchant to discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s big plans for the metaverse, everything that’s wrong with it, the concept’s scifi origins, and why Silicon Valley is desperate to make it happen.

Brian Merchant is the author of The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone and Blood in the Machine, coming in 2022. Follow Brian on Twitter at @bcmerchant.

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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:

• Brian wrote about the dystopian origins of the metaverse for Motherboard and why Silicon Valley wants it to succeed for The Atlantic.
• Paris wrote about how the metaverse is a way to get us to spend more time and money in digital spaces for Business Insider.
• Matthew Ball made the business case for the metaverse last year.
• Apple’s changes to iOS privacy settings cost Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat an estimated $9.85 billion in revenue.
• Emails sent by Oculus CEO Jason Rubin in 2018 asserted that consumers want the metaverse (something that’s not at all clear).
• David Karpf wrote about how VR keeps failing and getting revived for Wired.
• Apple’s AR headset or glasses are supposedly coming in 2022.
• Microsoft is trying to get in on the metaverse with workplace applications of its own.
• Brian hosted a series for Motherboard about the themes of Dune.

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What’s driving GOP success and Democratic losses?

We unpack the Youngkin victory [0:29] and a host of other races around the country, including New Jersey [5:21], Buffalo [7:26], Minneapolis [12:15], and Cleveland [14:44].

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Mary Katharine and Vic are back to chat numbers, from the Virginia governor's race to spending bills to plummeting poll numbers for the Biden administration to the original prices for McDonald's hamburgers.

Times

• 00:13 - Segment: Welcome to the Show
• 09:05 - Segment: The News You Need to Know
• 09:09 - The Virginia Governor's Race
• 14:06 - Tiki torch antics
• 16:47 - Updates on the Infrastructure and Reconciliation bills
• 22:03 - New Jersey governor's race
• 24:29 - Americans lose confidence in President Biden, Democrats, according to NBC Poll
• 28:40 - Let's Go Brandon
• 35:20 - Kanye West's Sunday Service featuring Justin Bieber and Marilyn Manson
• 37:50 - The original McDonald's menu