This Machine Kills - 392. Deep Freak Out

Ed and Jathan are together in the San Francisco Bay Area huddled over a single mic like a fire keeping us warm as we record an episode about DeepSeek before running off to our book launch event at City Lights (thanks all the wonderful TMK fans who made it a packed house!). DeepSeek, the disruptive new LLM from a Chinese startup / hedge fund, is being hailed as Silicon Valley’s “Sputnik moment.” We dig into how DeepSeek challenges the fundamental economics of the AI industry, while casting a skeptical eye on claims that DeepSeek solves any of the real problems of AI—financial, social, or political. ••• Deep Impact | Ed Zitron https://www.wheresyoured.at/deep-impact/ ••• DeepSeek sends a shockwave through markets https://www.economist.com/business/2025/01/27/deepseek-sends-a-shockwave-through-markets ••• The real meaning of the DeepSeek drama https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/01/29/the-real-meaning-of-the-deepseek-drama ••• OpenAI targets $300bn valuation in SoftBank-led funding round https://www.ft.com/content/2c697ff8-dfe9-4c42-a328-d21216293aa3 Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

It Could Happen Here - CZM Book Club: Cool Zone 2055: The Dreadnaught Funeral

Margaret from the future continues her reporting from the front in Catalonia.

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It Could Happen Here - It Could Happen Here Weekly 167

All of this week's episodes of It Could Happen Here put together in one large file. 

  1. The Decline and Fall of the American Post Office

  2. Nut Country Revisited feat. Steven Monacelli & Dr. Michael Phillips

  3. They're Trying to Put Women Into Men's Prisons

  4. How Unions Can Protect Trans Rights

  5. Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #1

You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today!

http://apple.co/coolerzone 

Sources:

The Decline and Fall of the American Post Office

https://www.nalc.org

https://www.fightingnalc.com

https://concernedlettercarriers.com

https://www.nalc.org/member-benefits/nalc-disaster-relief-foundation 

Nut Country Revisited

Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America https://www.ucpress.edu/books/a-culture-of-conspiracy/paper 

Mark Fenster, Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture   https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816654949/conspiracy-theories/ 

Edward H. Miller, Nut Country: Right-Wing Dallas and the Birth of the Southern Strategy https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/N/bo19197692.html

How Unions Can Protect Trans Rights

Solidarity Pledge:  https://crm.broadstripes.com/ctf/SJID0H 

https://sbworkersunited.org/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-sign-orders-ending-diversity-programs-proclaiming-there-are-only-two-sexes-2025-01-20/

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-orders-end-federal-support-gender-affirming-care-minors-2025-01-28/

https://www.wjhl.com/news/regional/tennessee/bill-would-block-insurance-companies-that-cover-gender-affirming-care-from-contracting-with-tenncare/

https://www.npr.org/2024/12/24/nx-s1-5238169/starbucks-strike-christmas

https://www.them.us/story/starbucks-threatens-to-take-away-trans-rights-at-stores-that-unionize

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Horror in the Jungle: Crossing the Darién Gap, Chapter Two

As the only land bridge between South and Central America, the notorious Darién Gap is a lawless, unforgiving region through which thousands of people, every year, traverse in search of survival and escape. In the second chapter of this special two-part series, Ben and Matt explore the harrowing reality of making this passage. Beset with bandits, crime, corruption, cartels and danger, innocent people are hoping against hope to survive the horrors of the jungle, and arrive at a better place in the north.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Philosophers In Space - Bobiverse Book Five Pt2 and Advanced AI Alignment

We're doing engineering, what could go wrong?! Thoths! That's what. Or did Thoth go wrong? Maybe all of this is entirely how it should go, maybe Mud is a savior for all Bobkind. Join us and find out, as we parse the messy balance of raising an AGI.

Not till we are lost: https://www.amazon.com/Not-Till-Are-Lost-Bobiverse/dp/B0CW2345TV

Superintelligence: https://www.amazon.com/Superintelligence-Dangers-Strategies-Nick-Bostrom/dp/0198739834

Support us at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/0G

Join our Facebook discussion group (make sure to answer the questions to join): https://www.facebook.com/groups/985828008244018/

Email us at: philosophersinspace@gmail.com

If you have time, please write us a review on iTunes. It really really helps. Please and thank you!

Music by Thomas Smith: https://seriouspod.com/

Sibling shows:

Embrace the Void: https://voidpod.com/

Content Preview: Starship Troopers and Satirizing Fascism

Serious Inquiries Only - SIO472: Anti-woke Crybabies Call ASL Interpreters Unnecessary. Here’s the Fascinating Science Behind Why They Are Vital

The absolute man-babies who make up the anti-woke movement are always crying about some very minor thing that makes other people's lives better and is no actual burden to them, but is different than the past. This week, that thing happens to be... ASL interpreters at press conferences and such? It's hard to imagine how sensitive you'd have to be to have a problem with this, but their victimhood complex gives Dr. Jenessa Seymour a chance to teach us some really interesting science! It turns out, ASL interpreters are very necessary and closed captioning is not sufficient. There's so much here that you might not have considered before!

Are you an expert in something and want to be on the show? Apply here!

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Native America Calling - Friday, January 31, 2025 — The Menu: Mohawk chef’s TV show, Ducheneaux leaves USDA office, and a kids’ cookbook

In the new APTN series One Dish One Spoon with chef Tawnya Brant (Mohawk), viewers follow her and her sister Dakota to local kitchens, farms, and waterways to expose the traditional foodways of the Six Nations. Zach Ducheneaux (Cheyenne River Sioux) leaves his post this month as the administrator of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency where he helped direct some of the federal government’s key agriculture and faming programs and policies. The work of Mariah Gladstone (Cherokee and Blackfeet) teaching people about Indigenous food and cooking leads her to publish an Indigenous foods cookbook for kids, Mountains to Oceans: Kids’ Recipes from Native Land. That’s all on The Menu, our regular feature on Indigenous food sovereignty hosted by Andi Murphy.

It Could Happen Here - Executive Disorder: White House Weekly #1

In this new weekly series, the gang get together to speed run the first two weeks of Trump’s second term, his deluge of executive orders, and what they mean on the ground.

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Listener Mail: Chimera, The Bible, A Controversial Salute

Griffin explores the nature of chimera and ethics.Oz Woman prompts the guys to quote the Bible. Marvelous Marvin has questions about salutes. All this and more in this week's listener mail segment.

They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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