Category: 3-SometimeCommentary

A bonus deep-dive episode into the culture and politics of Big Tech and Silicon Valley!

Today Andy chats with the writer Wendy Liu (no relation) about her recent book, Abolish Silicon Valley.

A programmer, former Google intern, and startup founder, Wendy has written on a host of political-economic questions swirling around Silicon Valley today: how to organize contract workers in Silicon Valley; Andrew Yang and UBI; and why we should socialize Amazon.

Above all, she is interested in spoiling the myths that Silicon Valley tells itself and sells to the public. This episode focuses on her individual reckoning with the reality of Big Tech and capitalism: her distaste for corporate identity politics, how her social position (second-generation Chinese-Canadian woman) shaped her growth, the contrast between STEM and political education, and the mythology of meritocracy.

0:00 – Wendy’s own trajectory from youthful adherent of the cult of Silicon Valley (Elon Musk, Elizabeth Holmes) to disillusionment and critique.

19:30 – Wendy’s thoughts on entering the tech world as a woman and an Asian-(North) American—from minimizing her feelings of difference in order to fit in to gaining a structural understanding of gender and race. Some choice words for White Fragility-style corporate diversity measures. And a brief discussion of the mind-blowing history of Chinese labor migration to the West Coast.

41:30 – Our thoughts on a previous listener question: why so many Asian-Americans opt for STEM education and career paths. Parental pressure? Culture? 

48:00 – We discuss friend-of-the-show Immanuel Wallerstein’s classic, Historical Capitalism (Verso, 1983), and his criticism of the concept of meritocracy. Why is Silicon Valley’s cult of meritocracy a “sham”? How should the rest of us try to process and make sense of this critique?

On the Gist, David Ruffin.

In the interview, former senior strategist for the NRA Joshua L. Powell is here to discuss his new book, Inside the NRA: A Tell-All Account of Corruption, Greed, and Paranoia within the Most Powerful Political Group in America. During the first half of this two-part conversation, he and Mike talk about the nefarious ways Wayne LaPierre used the NRA to push forward polarizing but niche interests, and the case New York State Attorney General Letitia James is bringing against them.

In the spiel, Amy Coney Barrett’s personal life is judicial. 

Email us at thegist@slate.com

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley.

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Paris Marx is joined by Tim Hwang to discuss how digital ad markets became financialized, why Google and Facebook have an incentive to hide how poorly digital ads actually work, and how a financial bubble in digital advertising could usher in a better future of the internet.

Tim Hwang is a writer, researcher, and former global public policy lead for artificial intelligence and machine learning at Google. He is also the author of “Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet.” Follow Tim on Twitter as @timhwang.

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.

Find out more about Harbinger Media Network and follow it on Twitter as @harbingertweets. You can also find out more about Alberta Advantage on their website.

Also mentioned in this episode:

• The United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner isn’t so sure Cambridge Analytica was as good at changing our minds as it made us all believe.
• When Procter and Gamble cut their digital ad spend by $200 million, its reach increased by 10%.
• A Google report found that 56% of ad impressions may not even be seen by humans.
• Facebook’s “pivot to video” was based on false metrics and caused a lot of journalists to lose their jobs.
• Paris wrote a critical review of The Social Dilemma for Jacobin.

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On the Gist, an Alaskan drama.

In the interview, Mike talks with Robert Cahaly, head pollster of the Atlanta-based Trafalgar Group. Cahaly explains their polling methodology in gathering accurate opinion data, why social desirability bias comes into play, and how his team was able to predict Trump’s win in 2016. Now he posits that in 2020 Trump has more support than the polls could be showing. 

In the spiel, Kabuki-style hearings continue for Amy Coney Barrett.

Email us at thegist@slate.com

Podcast production by Daniel Schroeder and Margaret Kelley.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Andy has an exclusive interview with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to break down what's at risk if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice: the ACA, LGBTQ rights, women's rights, and labor rights. Senator Schumer provides insights on Mitch McConnell, a contested election scenario, and the health consequences of a hearing with Senators who have tested positive for COVID.

Keep up with Andy on Twitter @ASlavitt and Instagram @andyslavitt.

Follow Senator Schumer on Twitter and Instagram @SenSchumer. 

In the Bubble is supported in part by listeners like you. Become a member, get exclusive bonus content, ask Andy questions, and get discounted merch at https://www.lemonadamedia.com/inthebubble/ 

Support the show by checking out our sponsors!

• Livinguard masks have the potential to deactivate COVID-19 based on the testing they have conducted from leading universities such as the University of Arizona and the Free University in Berlin, Germany. Go to shop.livinguard.com and use the code BUBBLE10 for 10% off.
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Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

• Read Amy Coney Barrett’s 2017 article criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ACA: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2330&context=law_faculty_scholarship  
• Watch On The Basis of Sex, the film about Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s early life that Senator Schumer mentions in the episode: https://www.focusfeatures.com/on-the-basis-of-sex 
• Help elect a Democratic Senate by contributing to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: https://www.dscc.org/ 
• Are you hoping to vote in the 2020 election? Are you confused about how to request an absentee ballot in your state? This website can help you with that: https://www.betterknowaballot.com/  
• Volunteer to work at your local polling place this November 3rd: https://www.powerthepolls.org/. 
• Pre-order Andy’s book, Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response, here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250770165 

To follow along with a transcript and/or take notes for friends and family, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/in-the-bubble shortly after the air date.

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.

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