This Machine Kills

Conservative commentators used the phrase “immanentize the eschaton” as a criticism of socialism and communism. For these stooges, who thought they stood at the end of history, any alternative to neoliberal capitalism and American hegemony was tantamount to ushering in the apocalypse. Well we’re here to tell you not to fear the end of their grand utopian project. If the rest of us experience this...

TMK is taking a break from our regularly scheduled analysis of the ongoing dystopia by pivoting to utopianism! In this episode, we take seriously the question: What would it mean to do utopianism in a way that doesn’t demand abandoning our commitments to materialist critique? We argue for why the anti-capitalist left must reassert its capacity for utopianism and outline some examples of “real utop...

We continue our discussion on Huawei by laying out the ways that network infrastructure has become a site for proxy battles as the US/UK and China pursue different agendas for national security and industrial policy. Subscribe to hear more analysis and get more premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (t...

Time to get into the 5G! Well, okay, the international political economy of 5G and the new Cold War with China. We trace the history and expansion of Huawei—a hugely important, but greatly misunderstood (and badly analyzed), company at the center of next-gen communication technologies—and its role in the global development of the telecom industry since the 1980s. This episode is kinda information...

“Technological superiority is a prerequisite for ethical superiority.” These words by Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, encapsulate a dangerous philosophy underpinning how the bloodless ghouls in the tech sector aim to integrate their systems and ideologies into the military-industrial complex. Michael joins us again to discuss the deep technological, ethical, and political contradicti...

We jump into the abyss of Anduril Industries—one of the most actually evil, yet little known, technology companies in existence today—and Palmer Luckey, its ultra right-wing founder and Peter Thiel acolyte. To help us discuss how Silicon Valley is bringing its brand of innovation and disruption to the military-industrial complex, we’re joined by Michael Richardson, a senior research fellow at the...

We discuss the aftermath of the election, including the banner year for the tech sector, the power dynamics of a Biden/Harris administration, the dynastic conspiracy of interests in San Francisco politics, the risks of a disengaged polity, and the need for an active left. Subscribe at patreon.com/thismachinekills to help support TMK and hear premium episodes every week! Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (...

We’re joined by economist Marshall Steinbaum for a post-mortem on the election results as we work through some critical questions: What comes next? What does a Biden/Harris administration hold for the future of technology policy, labor organizing, and the American economy? What is to be done? How can aggressive antitrust action help stop the bleeding from Prop 22 and put workers on the offensive a...

We enter Phase 3 in our analysis of the urbanization of technology capital. Planetary platforms like Alphabet and Amazon have reached the point where they possess the power and desire to do more than just provide services or consult on managerial changes. Tech companies struggle against the last remaining binds that limit their full ascension to sovereignty. We have a future to win – or lose. Subs...

Cold open: The Ballot or the Bullet So obviously this was recorded before the election, but our topic for this week’s episode is the exact analysis you need to understand how something like Prop 22 could pass in a landslide. We dive into the rise of smart/platform urbanism by guiding you through the urbanization of technology capital over three phases, each one grabbing more power: oversight of ci...

We’re unlocking the Patreon episode this week to give you a taste of that premium content. Subscribe at patreon.com/thismachinekills to hear more premium episodes every week! We continue the conversation about Aaron Benanav’s book by getting into how fictitious capital is not only breaking from, but totally consuming, reality. Accelerating us deeper into an economy built on immiseration and a soci...

We’re joined by Aaron Benanav, author of Automation and the Future of Work, to discuss his excellent and necessary analysis of what the automation discourse gets wrong, the economic history that has led us to where we are now, and the science fiction and utopian ideas that should inspire a post-scarcity world—a world which is not only possible but necessary. Grab a copy of Aaron’s book: https://ww...

In our first Patreon premium episode, the TMK boys get loose and personal while talking about our political origin stories. We chat about our weird and twisting paths to where we are now, drop some bombshells about how our lives could have been totally different, how we got radicalized through music and sci-fi, and why dialectical materialism always leads to the most correct takes. Thanks for subs...

Cold open: Channel surfing We’re joined by Danielle Carr, who wrote a killer essay debunking the myth of Neuralink and Elon Musk, to talk about the broader political economy of shitty "science” and shittier "innovators" that have captured the collective imagination. As Danielle writes, “Technology critique should not buy into the hyped fantasies people like Elon Musk peddle. [...] What we have to...

Cold open: Crazy Currency with Jack Jammer We enter the “parliament of extrastatecraft” and discuss the actually existing world order — we're talking the techno-politics of standardization, the transnational institutions that establish the rules and structures for essentially everything, and the geopolitical struggle between the US and China over who will wield the technocratic power of standards...

Cold open: What does a scanner see? Welcome to the first installment of This Movie Kills! This week we discuss the film A Scanner Darkly (2006), an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel. What do you get when you shake together drug psychosis, police paranoia, distorted perception, atmospheric anxiety, and identity crisis? Bad vibes all around! Or, maybe just another day in “a world getting progress...

Cold open: TMK x SoftBank Main show: Sure you might know all about Amazon’s extensive network of hellish warehouses, its horrendously exploitative labor conditions, its cynical partnerships with the police, military, and intelligence agencies, its supervillain of a founder… but how much do you really know about the Amazon ecosystem of surveillance and control? Have you been able to keep up with th...

Cold open: Bro, have you heard about this new startup called GOO_LOG? Main Show: We’re joined by Wendy Liu (twitter.com/dellsystem), author of Abolish Silicon Valley, to dissect the system of venture capital that holds immense influence over what counts as innovation, why technology is created, and who gets to reap the benefits. Chances are – unless you have an invite to the ultra exclusive clubho...

Cold open: 1 trillion dollar glitch Main show: It’s finally time to formally introduce the king of kings into TMK canon, into the pantheon of parasites and villains who seek to control the world. We’re talking SoftBank and its founder Masayoshi Son, the only true accelerationist with the fortitude and fortune to actually force us into the post-capitalist singularity. Here’s the excellent article w...

Cold open: The 79-year-old CEO of AliUber and Senator from California Elizabeth Holmes has announced... Main show: We’re joined by David A. Banks (https://twitter.com/DA_Banks), editor-at-large for Real Life and co-host of the Ironweeds podcast (https://twitter.com/ironweedspod), as we take a tour of the subscription economy where nobody owns anything, platforms control access to everything, monop...

Cold open: Alex Karp’s manifesto of futurism. Main show: Ring the stock exchange bell: Palantir is going public! We do a deep dive into Palantir’s S-1 filing and uncover an emerging schism in Silicon Valley. This episode gets dark as we trace the deep political and philosophical connections between Fascist Futurism and Palantir’s vision of techno-nationalism. You thought this company was evil befo...

Episode now remastered so it sounds 1000x better! Cold open: Agent Zuboff receives her mission. Main show: We politically cancel Shoshana Zuboff, author of The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, for advancing / mainstreaming a reactionary critique. Surveillance capitalism is not a “rogue mutation” of a normal capitalism. Surveillance is not the scapegoat that needs to be sacrificed so we can maintain...

Cold open: You come at the king, you best not miss. Main show: We're locked and loaded with stacks of earnings reports. We've got Uber's finances in our sites. We take aim at the economic underpinning of this lobbyist with an app. It's time for some Uber theory, baby. Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by...

Cold Open: A message from Mr. Clean Networks. Main Show: We're joined by Shoshana Wodinsky (https://twitter.com/swodinsky) who helps us breakdown the emerging digital cold war between the US and China. We get into the lunatics who are making policy and writing columns about the coming Chinese Cyber Imperium. Plus, we descend into the abyss of the American Mind. Read Shoshana's excellent article: h...

Welcome to This Machine Kills! Hello friends and enemies. It's episode one and what a better way to kick things off than by diving into the policing-industrial complex. We get into the intimate crossovers between the tech sector and police departments. And the bizarre similarities between the pathetic goons who spend their days defending Blue Lives and Tech Lives. It's a big party full of the wors...