Best AgitProp Podcasts (2024)

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361. The Artists vs. the Machines (ft. Brian Merchant) 1:00:49

30m ago1:00:49

1:00:49

We’re joined by Brian Merchant to chat about his reporting on the frontlines of labor exploitations in video games development and animation studios where companies are using AI to replace and degrade jobs, fracture and disempower the workforce, and push the quality of artistic works down even further. When executives explicitly say they are going …

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Patreon Preview – 360. Bubbles and Black Markets 8:26

10m ago8:26

8:26

We get into the collapse of investor confidence in the AI boom, then turn to the thriving black markets for smuggling vast quantities of AI microchips into China and the geopolitics of technological progress and economic sanctions as AI becomes a site of proxy wars by other means.••• Burst Damage https://www.wheresyoured.at/burst-damage/ ••• With S…

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359. We Are All Cyborgs (ft. Danya Glabau, Laura Forlano) 1:13:11

2d ago1:13:11

1:13:11

We are joined by Danya Glabau and Laura Forlano, authors of Cyborg, a new book that explores how this archetype of sci-fi stories is also a critical theory for understanding the tangle of socio-technical relations that constitute our lives. The cyborg helps us think in terms of embodiment and environments, break down boundaries and barriers, and tr…

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Patreon Preview – 358. Se7en Voice What’s in the Benchmark? 8:52

6d ago8:52

8:52

We first get an update on regulatory arbitrage in the weed vape industry, then discuss how the benchmarks used to rank AI models—and make claims about their "intelligence" relative to humans—are largely low quality, out-of-date, not fit for purpose, or just meaningless and deceptive. Yet they are widely treated by industry as authoritative standard…

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357. CrowdStrike ClusterFuck 1:14:43

12d ago1:14:43

1:14:43

We first talk about how all news stories, even the most world historic ones, feel ephemeral and disposable, and how this is the perverse effect of a (news/social/cultural) media ecosystem that is designed around logics of optimizing for content production and audience attention. Then we get into the CrowdStrike outage and how it reveals (and requir…

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Patreon Preview – 356. Car Dealerships Are an Affront to God 6:11

15d ago6:11

6:11

We talk about that paragon of capitalism, car dealerships, and the deceptive, manipulative, extractive tactics they have perfected to make the experience as hellish as possible — particularly by turning the dealership’s finance and insurance department into an engine of 100 percent pure parasitic profit.••• Escape From the Box https://prospect.org/…

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355. The Rise of Shadow Finance 1:24:27

1M ago1:24:27

1:24:27

We are a bit ahead with recording, but we had to talk about the Trump assassination attempt and JD Vance being tapped for vice president (for like the first 30 minutes). Then we get into a great essay on how private financial markets — or the shadow finance system that is unregulated, unaccountable, and undemocratic — have become the dominant form …

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Premium – 354. Capital Questions Gen AI 10:03

27d ago10:03

10:03

We take a look at recent reports where venture capitalists like Sequoia and the investment banks like Goldman Sachs are starting to wonder out loud whether AI will ever be able to generate enough revenue and consumer demand to make the bubble feel solid. The returns on AI necessary for this massive infrastructure buildout to make sense are looking …

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353. Slaughterbots, Roll Out! 1:17:47

1M ago1:17:47

1:17:47

We refocus on the war in Ukraine and the country’s pivot toward being the “Silicon Valley for autonomous drones and other weaponry.” Thanks to a combination of foreign investment, entrepreneurial governance, DIY scrappiness, and a ‘by any means necessary’ attitude, the future of cheap, lethal, autonomous warfare is being forged and tested in Ukrain…

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Patreon Preview – 352. Big Vape, Small Cigs 5:25

1M ago5:25

5:25

We chat about an interesting case study in technology governance: the rise of vapes and the return of cigarettes. How do you create new markets for a product that is highly addictive but also extremely regulated (even banned)? The answer is to flaunt regulation, disrupt competitors, and create an image of coolness using social media influencers. Pl…

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351. How AI is Boiling the Oceans 1:14:48

2M ago1:14:48

1:14:48

We get into how the massive global expansion of data centres — thanks largely to demand from training and operating AI — is putting major strain on energy systems and requiring the generation of more electricity. How’s all that new energy demand being met? Some renewables, a lot of fossil fuels, but also maybe futuristic magic technology? Big tech …

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Premium – 350. Most Data Work is Bullshit 6:41

2M ago6:41

6:41

We chat a bit about some upcoming international travel, then do a reading series by a data scientist who wrote a great blog post about how most of the work done by data scientists in large organizations feels totally worthless, pointless, unfulfilling, and unnecessary — in other words, the definition of bullshit. And yet data science is valorized a…

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349. Death By A Thousand Prices (ft. David Dayen, Lindsay Owens) 1:22:06

2M ago1:22:06

1:22:06

We are joined by David Dayen (editor, American Prospect) and Lindsay Owens (director, Groundwork Collaborative) to discuss the special issue of the American Prospect they put together on “how pricing really works.” We drill down into why pricing is the perfect window for seeing how power works in the economy. We explore the great many tactics and t…

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348. Lost Futures of AI (ft. Evgeny Morozov) 2:10:56

2M ago2:10:56

2:10:56

We are joined once again by Evgeny Morozov to discuss his new podcast series, A Sense of Rebellion, which tells the story of a wild bunch of eccentric hippies who had grand ideas for how to design interactive technologies and intelligent environments and cybernetic systems that are radically different from today’s smart tech and AI. Morozov takes u…

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Patreon Preview – 347. The Insulin Empire, Part 2 (ft. Athena Sofides) 8:52

2M ago8:52

8:52

We keep rolling with our discussion about the Insulin Empire with Athena.••• The Insulin Empire https://thebaffler.com/after-the-fact/the-insulin-empire-ongweso-jr-sofides ••• Mutual Aid Diabetes https://mutualaiddiabetes.com/ ••• T1International https://www.t1international.com/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes…

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346. The Insulin Empire, Part 1 (ft. Athena Sofides) 1:14:40

2M ago1:14:40

1:14:40

We are joined by Athena Sofides who co-wrote (with Ed) a brilliant essay in The Baffler, which provides an in-depth analysis of insulin, the social health factors of diabetes, and the global oligopoly of pharmaceutical corporations that exert total control over – and extract max profits from — this medicine that many millions of diabetics depend up…

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Patreon Preview – 345. Thuggish Ruggish Live Nation 8:00

3M ago8:00

8:00

We do a reading series on a major anti-trust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice against Live Nation / Ticketmaster and the absolutely wild tactics the company used to intimidate competitors, enforce market domination, and totally lockdown the live entertainment industry. Then we wrap up with the new licensing deals between OpenAI and The …

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344. How Uber Weaponizes Complexity to Abuse Workers and Bully States 1:24:58

3M ago1:24:58

1:24:58

We check in with an old enemy of the show, Uber, to discuss it’s recent battles with states over wage floors and worker rights, and get a masterclass on how Uber weaponizes complexity through it’s platform to abuse workers and avoid regulation, while also wielding the threat of capital flight to great effect against politicians and governments. •••…

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Patreon Preview – 343. Broken Windows Redux 10:13

3M ago10:13

10:13

Discussing a new surveillance program by NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the public-private partnerships with Fusus by Axon, we dig into how the moral panic around “organized retail theft” has become a smoke screen / cynical moral alibi for an arms race of policing. It’s new software for the old hardware of an oppressive corporate state.••• Mayor Adams An…

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342. Superalignment with Sam Altman’s Values 1:16:33

3M ago1:16:33

1:16:33

We talk about how everybody on the superalignment team at OpenAI—focused on safety, risk, adversarial testing, societal impacts, and existential concerns—is resigning, including high-profile people like Illya Sutskever. And nobody can talk about it because of draconian rules (even for Silicon Valley) about non-disclosure and non-disparagement peopl…

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Patreon Preview – 341. Cyber Freak Beat 9:20

3M ago9:20

9:20

After revisiting our discussion of stimulants from last episode, we dive deep into a new hive of freaks on the internet and examine the psychology of forum posters on the Cybertruck Owners Club.••• Cybertruck Owners Club https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/forum/ Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! ht…

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340. With AI Friends Like These, Who Needs Society? 1:29:59

3M ago1:29:59

1:29:59

First we dive into some exciting news of actual innovation: ultrasonic extraction for cold brew coffee. Then offer a live react to OpenAI’s new product GPT-4o, which is its new flagship model in the form of a voice assistant, and jump from there to talk more deeply about the problems with AI companions via a tech column in the NYTimes.••• Scientist…

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Patreon Preview – 339. Reality is Downstream from the Unreal Engine 7:10

3M ago7:10

7:10

In what feels like a curse of eternal return, we discuss the news that Softbank is leading a $1 billion funding round into what is now the premier UK AI startup, Wavye, which has a generative simulation model for driving data. We then transition to talking about a long piece of reporting on video game engines like Unreal and Unity, the dream of cre…

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338. Certified Rap Beef // Campus Actions, Deranged Reactions 1:26:22

4M ago1:26:22

1:26:22

Because we are all rap heads at TMK, we have been feeling juiced up by the beef between Kendrick and Drake, so we spend the first half breaking that down. Then we catch up on the campus protests and collective actions, the vibes on the ground in the encampments, and the range of deranged reactions by people who are disconnected from reality.Subscri…

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Unlocked – 333. JSOC for the Environment 1:09:28

4M ago1:09:28

1:09:28

[Jathan got married last weekend! So no new shows until next week.]We dig into reporting on a special forces unit in the Brazilian ministry of environment which is composed of tier one operators who are also all scientists that are driven by a singular righteous mission of protecting the Amazon rainforest, wildlife and Indigenous communities from i…

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Premium – 337. A History of Fossil Empire in Palestine, Part 2 6:21

4M ago6:21

6:21

We continue our discussion of Andreas Malm’s new, giant, magisterial essay, which lays out a longue durée analysis of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, situating it in a history of fossil empire, colonial annihilation, and ecological catastrophe that stretches directly back to 1840. The project of settler-genocide today is one that kicked off nearly tw…

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336. A History of Fossil Empire in Palestine, Part 1 1:19:14

4M ago1:19:14

1:19:14

We start with the announcement of Jathan’s new book, plus direct attention to a new special issue on ideologies and power in AI. Then we send our solidarity and support to Jodi Dean and others who are being punished for speaking out for Palestinian emancipation, before digging into the main subject of this episode and the next one: a giant, magiste…

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Patreon Preview – 335. Seto Kaiba is My Role Model 9:32

4M ago9:32

9:32

First we eulogize the dream deferred of Neom, then we add more lore to Palmer Luckey who, as we find out, has modeled his whole life on a literal-minded interpretation of a character from Yu-Gi-Oh!, then we talk more about the conspiratorial and immaterial thinking of the China-TikTok Hawks, finally we heap praise on a very astute essay about the m…

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334. Israel’s AI Kill List: “Once you go automatic, target generation goes crazy.” 1:25:50

4M ago1:25:50

1:25:50

In the first part of the show, we talk about a ridiculous new paper funded by OpenAI that aims to reconcile all human values by combining them into a “moral graph” to train Socratic LLM through reinforcement learning by people “voting on wisdom upgrades.” Then we dig into the latest reporting on yet more AI systems that Israel is using to intensify…

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Patreon Preview – 333. JSOC for the Environment 4:33

5M ago4:33

4:33

We dig into reporting on a special forces unit in the Brazilian ministry of environment which is composed of tier one operators who are also all scientists that are driven by a singular righteous mission of protecting the Amazon rainforest, wildlife and Indigenous communities from illegal miners and loggers. It’s almost like if the EPA had a wet wo…

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332. Opening the Vicious Circle of Risk Rating (ft. Ariel Bogle) 1:12:16

5M ago1:12:16

1:12:16

We are joined by Ariel Bogle — an investigative reporter with The Guardian Australia — to discuss her new, big piece uncovering the Security Risk Rating Tool created by the private contractor Serco and used to control the lives of people in Australia’s immigration detention centres. We get into the broader context of these tools and then dig into t…

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Patreon Preview – 331. TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Ch. 13 10:16

5M ago10:16

10:16

We discuss Chapter 13 – Surplus Populations and Crisis – and get deeper into the role of surplus populations in capitalism, how your relative position to the circuits of capital plays a big part in dictating what kind of life you have, and why capital needs a steady pool of people to sacrifice to help prevent, mitigate, and weather inevitable crise…

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330. The Silicon Empire in Eastern Europe (ft. Erin McElroy) 1:21:27

5M ago1:21:27

1:21:27

We are joined by Erin McElroy — author of Silicon Valley Imperialism — to first discuss their work as a co-founder of the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project and the important work they are doing on landlord tech, both as an academic and activist. Then we get deeper into their new book that offers a rich, in-depth analysis of how the racial technocapital…

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Patreon Preview – 329. Surging Forward 8:50

5M ago8:50

8:50

In the first part we chat about fast food and the spread of surge pricing to everything, then use some recent announcements in the tech sector to get into the magical thinking and fictitious capital that totally sustains the AI industry all for the grand dream and supreme purpose of squeezing out another 3% annual growth in the economy.••• Uber-sty…

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328. The Universal Science of Advertisement (ft. Lee McGuigan) 1:23:05

5M ago1:23:05

1:23:05

We are joined by Lee McGuigan — author of Selling the American People — to discuss the origins of advertising / adtech and how the ad industry has been deeply entangled with operations research and information technology since the 1940s, way longer than the usual stories of when advertising and technology joined together. As Lee’s work shows, the a…

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Patreon Preview – 327. TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Ch. 12 6:42

5M ago6:42

6:42

We discuss Chapter 12 – The Power of Logistics – and get deeper into how, as Mau writes, “mobility is power, and means of transportation and communication are weapons,” which capital wields against labor, against government, against nature, against itself. We also illustrate the techno-politics of logistics with yet another reveal that a rapidly ri…

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326. The Problem With America’s Ban on TikTok 1:07:38

5M ago1:07:38

1:07:38

We dig into the latest proposed legislation to ban TikTok — which is quickly moving in the US House with broad bipartisan support — and the jingoistic motivations, the complete lack of concern about any of the actual cultural influence, social impact, economic power, or just empirical reality of this technology, and instead the hyper-fixation on th…

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Patreon Preview – 325. Medium Anxiety 5:32

5M ago5:32

5:32

We talk for a while about the data monetization deals happening now between platforms like Reddit and AI companies like OpenAI, then get into cultural concerns about how technology mediates our reality, before ending with a social analysis of anxiety as the dominant affect in society right now. ••• Google cut a deal with Reddit for AI training data…

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324. Dune Dudes 2 // Evicting RENTMaximizer 1:13:02

6M ago1:13:02

1:13:02

We start with a long chat about Dune 2 – to avoid spoilers, or if you just don’t want to hear about Dune, skip to this timestamp: 34:43. We then get into the FTC / DOJ’s case against the rent maximizing algorithms being used by landlords to collude on price and drive up rents. It’s a real delight seeing antitrust enforcers knock back these obviousl…

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Patreon Preview – 323. The Supermarket into Prison Pipeline 9:11

6M ago9:11

9:11

We look at the intensifying systems of surveillance and control that are being integrated into supermarkets to further exploit labor, monitor customers, and capture profits, while also pushing the increased enshittification of grocery stores. We trace how the grocery store has become less a center of food distribution for communities and more like …

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322. Nvidia: 2 Boom 2 Bust 1:17:13

6M ago1:17:13

1:17:13

First we chat about the very dumb debacle with Google’s Gemini AI being “absurdly woke,” when in reality the story here is that they were extremely naive and lazy about how to solve the structural biases of white visual culture. Then we get deeper into Nvidia’s major stock rally after blowing away all expectations with their latest financial report…

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Patreon Preview – 321. TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Ch. 11 9:41

6M ago9:41

9:41

We discuss Chapter 10 – The Capitalist Reconfiguration of Nature – and get deeper into why capital seeks to subsume nature, generally, and how capital has been wildly successful at subsuming agriculture, more specifically, through a variety of strategies: technological, organizational, financial. Then we take a look at the latest tactic in capital’…

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320. How the World Became Uninsurable 1:24:33

6M ago1:24:33

1:24:33

We go in for another edition of Crisis Watch: Insurance Death Drive and talk about how insurers are flailing and floundering, grabbing onto anything they can while trying to keep their head above water as they drown, and pulling all of us down with them. Insures across health, car, and home coverage are holding the public hostage as they hike premi…

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Patreon Preview – 319. A Visit from the Smiling Man (ft. Ed Zitron) 6:38

6M ago6:38

6:38

We are joined by the Smiling Man and friend of the show, Ed Zitron. We discuss Flat Earth, CES, How to lose 50k, and everyone’s favorite tech journalist and aviator glasses aficionado. ••• Subscribe to Ed’s new podcast, Better Offline: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-better-offline-150284547/ ••• Subscribe to Ed’s newsletter: https://www.wheresy…

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Unlocked – 312. Not Paid Content for Jungle Jim’s 1:13:39

6M ago1:13:39

1:13:39

We riff about a true vortex of power in America: Jungle Jims. Then we get into a totally absurd – but also refreshingly direct – startup from Germany called Vay that just launched in Las Vegas. And we wrap up by checking in on Sam Altman who has finally decided that, in the name of democracy, OpenAI is ready to get into the “military and warfare” b…

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317. The Art and Science of Communism, Part 1 (ft. Nick Chavez, Phil Neel) 1:17:16

7M ago1:17:16

1:17:16

This is the first part of our giant chat with Nick Chavez and Phil Neel about their new essay published by Endnotes – Forest and Factory – which offers a truly magnificent argument for how to confront the daunting task of overcoming capitalism, for how to imagine the seemingly impossible alternatives of a non-capitalist society, and for how to buil…

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Patreon Preview – 316. TMK BC5: Mute Compulsion, Ch. 10 5:49

7M ago5:49

5:49

We discuss Chapter 10 – The Despotism of Subsumption – and get deeper into the impersonal domination of capital and why the concepts of formal subsumption and real subsumption are necessary for a critical analysis of the socio-technical conditions of capitalism. Plus – we build all this into a discussion of the Apple Vision Pro.••• Mute Compulsion:…

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315. Net Zero Change in the Tech Sector (Ft. Mel Gregg) 1:17:00

7M ago1:17:00

1:17:00

We are joined by Mel Gregg – an anthropologist who worked at Intel for a long time before becoming an industry consultant for sustainability in the tech sector – to discuss the deficiencies in how the tech sector is thinking about sustainability, the corporate governance regimes and net zero dashboards that manage how change does (and does not) hap…

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Patreon Preview – 314. Cops Love Forensic Pseudoscience 10:40

7M ago10:40

10:40

We start with a story designed to hit so many of our pressure points all at once: police have been using pseudoscience machine learning to render 3D avatars of suspects from DNA samples, sometimes from decades ago, and then running these 3D avatars through facial recognition. Then, ending with less horrific and more absurd, we get into an interview…

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313. The Web of Death (ft. Tamara Kneese) 1:30:58

7M ago1:30:58

1:30:58

We’re joined by Tamara Kneese — author of Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond — to discuss her work on how experiences of death and dying shape the internet, the afterlife promised by digital resurrection, the strange quest to solve death, the transhumanist urge to escape death, and the entropic decay of digital in…

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