This Machine Kills
Episodes
Patreon Preview – 71. Evil Empire
22 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We look at two new books about Amazon—Fulfillment by Alec Macgillis and Amazon Unbound by Brad Stone—as an occasion to further consider the galact...
Solidarity is Contagious (ft. Astra Taylor)
18 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: What is Democracy? Outro: Jeff Mangum and Guy Picciotto at the Rolling Jubilee telethon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztyj7kE9tNc Extrem...
*Unlocked* 65. TMK Book Club (Part 1)
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We're unlocking the first episode of our biweekly TMK book club series – only on Patreon! You can get the other episode, plus more premium content e...
68. Fight for Your Right (to Repair)
13 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We give y’all a primer on the debates about the “right to repair.” Corporations and conservative think tankers love spouting bad faith arguments...
67. Klobbering Klobuchar vs. Howling Hawley (patreon promo)
08 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We give y’all an update on the state of antitrust politics in the US by riffing on two new books about antitrust that offer two different visions fr...
66. Down and Out in the Neoliberal Code Academy (ft. Daniel Greene)
05 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re joined by Dan Greene, author of an excellent new book, The Promise of Access: Technology, Inequality, and the Political Economy of Hope. Dan’...
65. TMK Book Club (Part 1) (patreon teaser)
01 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The TMK Book Club is now in session! We’re discussing the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Autonomous Technology: Technics-out-of-Control as a Theme in...
64. Platform Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics
29 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: https://www.npr.org/2021/04/13/984994360/he-tried-to-organize-workers-in-chinas-gig-economy-now-he-faces-5-years-in-jail We dig deeper in...
63. Prime Labor, Living and Dead (patreon teaser)
24 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In part two of our analysis of Amazon, we focus on the labor processes and managerial practices within Amazon warehouses. “Factory work exhausts the...
62. Amazon, Vanguard of Class War (ft. Alex N. Press)
21 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To conduct a post-mortem investigation on the Amazon warehouse union vote in Bessemer, Alabama, we’re joined by Alex N. Press—staff writer for Jac...
61. Potemkin AI (patreon teaser)
17 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: Ghost in the Shell There is a long list of services that purport to be powered by sophisticated software, but actually rely on humans acti...
60. We Live in a Society (of Control) (ft. Liv Agar)
14 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: Garden Glossary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBMRWwjGJHQ It’s time for theory chat! To analyse the techno-politics of smart systems...
59. TMK x 4ZZZ Radio Reversal (ft. Anna Carlson and Natalie Osbourne)(patreon teaser)
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is from a guest appearance by Jathan on 4ZZZ Radio Reversal, a community radio show in Brisbane, hosted by great friends of TMK and criti...
58. Suez Canal /// Imperialist Infrastructure (ft. Laleh Khalili)
06 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Okay, so the big boat is no longer blocking the Suez Canal. But that doesn’t mean we can go back to ignoring the global networks of capitalism and c...
57. The Arbiters of Asset Allocation (patreon teaser)
03 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Premium – 57. The Arbiters of Asset Allocation We pick back up on our discussion of market indices and index providers, honing in on the close relat...
56. The Kingmakers of Finance
31 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s episodes are part of our ongoing, irregular series where we dive into the deepest, darkest crevices of how financial and technological c...
55. Journey into the Absurd (patreon teaser)
27 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
cw: we discuss school shootings and sexual assault in the second half of this episode. Cold open: We need to talk about AI ethics (H&M): https://www....
54. Shooting for the Stars (ft. Aaron Thorpe)
24 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The great Aaron Thorpe — co-host of Trillbillies, host of A Time of Monsters, the poster formerly known as posadist_trapgd — joins us for an extre...
53. Necropolitics of the Techno-Fix (patreon teaser)
20 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We go in on the dangerous obsession that billionaires like Bill Gates have with framing the most existential risks in society, from public health to c...
52. Pharma Profiteers, Vaccine Apartheid
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time for a TMK fact check: coronavirus vaccine edition. We give five out of five pinocchios to the claim that Big Pharma won’t profit hand ov...
51. Clover the Big Red Flag (patreon teaser)
13 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: CNBC turns on Chamath and Clover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRWnxUsyVDg We pick back up on the story of Clover Health—which is su...
50. King of SPACs v. Hindenburg
10 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: Chamath, Clover, CNBC https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/video/chamath-palihapitiya-addresses-some-concerns-surrounding-clover-health-spac/vp-...
49. Of Mind Control and Revolution (ft. Cory Doctorow)(patreon teaser)
06 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cory Doctorow joins us again for an excellent, wide-ranging discussion about his critique of surveillance capitalism, the mind control fallacy that ca...
48. Who Uses the Users? (ft. Cory Doctorow)
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: excerpt from UBIK by Philip K. Dick Outro: amazing new track by Jereme, "End of Time" We’re joined by Cory Doctorow — prolific author,...
47. The Leviathan and The Consumer (patreon teaser)
27 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Picking back up on the fight between Big Media and Big Tech, we dig deeper into the type of power of platforms wield, how their political influence op...
46. Banning Australia (ft. J.R. Hennessy)
24 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After months of threats, Facebook finally hit the big red off button on the server labeled Australia and Google is making big backroom deals with medi...
45. Platform’s Republic of Facebook (patreon teaser)
20 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We riff on the archetype of the tech guy who can’t bear his California dream being soured by the existence of other people struggling to get by in a...
44. How to Think About Data (ft. Salomé Viljoen)
18 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the limitations of existing approaches – and democratic alternatives – to data governance in informational capitalism with Salomé Vilj...
43. Libertarian Mind Palace (patreon teaser)
13 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It’s part two of us ripping into David Friedman’s anarcho-capitalist fever dream, The Machinery of Freedom. And we get real nutty with it as we de...
42. The Machinery of Stupidity
10 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: excerpt from Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=6021&v=ZypJn0PgAHA Have you ever considered that the most impo...
41. BlackRock: CEO of the World (patreon teaser)
06 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After jumping into the abyss of indexation, we’re now smacking directly into BlackRock bottom. The world’s largest asset, which oversees $8.67 tri...
40. The Boardroom of Global Capitalism
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
{The first 15 minutes or so of this episode is a little glitchy, but it gets better} We could have done a full episode about the GameStop affair, but ...
39. Blueprints for a Better Everything (patreon teaser)
30 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing the story of the Lucas Plan, we lay out how this radical blueprint for socially useful production faced opposition at every turn by entrenc...
38. Production for the People!
27 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We take a deep dive into another example of a real utopian project from the 1970s, this time from the UK, which provided detailed concrete plans for h...
37. Automating the Consent Factory (ft. Riley Quinn)(patreon teaser)
22 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re joined once again by co-host of TrashFuture, Riley Quinn, as we conduct further investigations into the mind of the Thought Leader. We start w...
36. Theory of the Thought Leader (ft. Riley Quinn)
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re joined by co-host of TrashFuture – and friend of TMK from the start – Riley Quinn as we examine the brain of the Thought Leader. Forged in...
35. Neoliberal Prices /// Socialist Plans (patreon teaser)
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How is a neoliberal economy planned? How should a socialist economy be planned? We parse through the “socialist calculation debate.” First laying ...
34. Let’s Get Cyber-Physical
13 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
cold open: Interview with Eden Medina on Project Cybersyn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSmQCvfT4pU We dig into one of the most interesting and e...
33. Conceptual Hit List Continued (patreon teaser)
09 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Continuing the TMK conceptual hit list, we set our sights on more key concepts that have been, to varying degrees, corrupted by capital’s foul influ...
32. Conceptual Hit List
06 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re kicking off 2021 with a different spin on the standard new year resolutions by drafting the official TMK conceptual hit list. We go through so...
*UNLOCKED* – Sabotage Feels Good
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We're unlocking the second half of our exploration into the techno-politics of Luddism. Let us all go forth into the new year with dreams of smashing ...
31. Toward the TMK Syllabus (patreon teaser)
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
With all the end of year reading lists rolling out, we decided to hop on the bandwagon and offer our own recommendations for what to read over the hol...
30. Death of the Entrepreneur (ft. Veena Dubal)
23 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We’re joined by the great Veena Dubal (twitter.com/veenadubal), law professor at UC Hastings, for a fantastic discussion about how gig work platform...
29. Sabotage Feels Good (patreon teaser)
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We offer the case for a techno-politics of unmaking — quite literally deconstructing capital — to combat the innovation fetishism that masks the s...
28. The Hammer of Ludd
16 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At last, the Luddism episode has dropped! We dig into the actual, and massively misunderstood, history of Luddites — not as an insult for people who...
27: Music and its Discontents (patreon teaser)
12 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Folk, country, punk, rap – these seemingly disparate genres all have deep roots in radical politics of the working class. They each emerged out of p...
26. Steal this Podcast! (ft. Alexander Billet)
10 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
[Oh the irony that, on an episode about music, the sound quality on this episode is a little gritty due to some recording issues – big ups to Jereme...
25. Socialize the Eschaton (patreon teaser)
06 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Conservative commentators used the phrase “immanentize the eschaton” as a criticism of socialism and communism. For these stooges, who thought the...
24. Utopianism for Cynics
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
23. The Great Decoupling (patreon teaser)
28 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 pur...
22. Huawei or the Highway
25 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
21. Military-Civil Fusion (patreon teaser)
21 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
“Technological superiority is a prerequisite for ethical superiority.” These words by Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries, encapsulate a ...
20. War by Other Nerds (ft. Michael Richardson)
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We jump into the abyss of Anduril Industries—one of the most actually evil, yet little known, technology companies in existence today—and Palmer L...
19. Power and Politics at the Endless Brunch (patreon teaser)
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss the aftermath of the election, including the banner year for the tech sector, the power dynamics of a Biden/Harris administration, the dyna...
18. Antitrust in the Aftermath (ft. Marshall Steinbaum)
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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? ...
17. The Final Phase? (patreon teaser)
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We enter Phase 3 in our analysis of the urbanization of technology capital. Planetary platforms like Alphabet and Amazon have reached the point where ...
16. Who Owns the Future City?
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
*UNLOCKED* 15. The Extermination (of) Imagination
29 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 pr...
14. Deus Ex Growth Machina (ft. Aaron Benanav)
27 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 d...
13. - TMK Origins (teaser)
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 an...
12. The E-CONomy (ft. Danielle Carr)
20 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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...
11. Anonymous Authority
13 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: Crazy Currency with Jack Jammer We enter the “parliament of extrastatecraft” and discuss the actually existing world order — we're t...
10. This Movie Kills: A Scanner Darkly
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
9. Domination Ecosystem
29 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cold open: TMK x SoftBank Main show: Sure you might know all about Amazon’s extensive network of hellish warehouses, its horrendously exploitative...
8. VC Mindset (ft. Wendy Liu)
22 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 Abol...
7. Black Hole Son
15 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 paras...
6. Life-as-a-Service (ft. David A. Banks)
08 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
5. The Palantir Reformation
01 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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’...
4. Zuboff is a PSYOP
25 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Episode now remastered so it sounds 1000x better! Cold open: Agent Zuboff receives her mission. Main show: We politically cancel Shoshana Zuboff, au...
3. Exploitation Über Alles
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
2. Safeguardin' ASSets (ft. Shoshana Wodinsky)
11 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Cold Open: A message from Mr. Clean Networks. Main Show: We're joined by Shoshana Wodinsky (https://twitter.com/swodinsky) who helps us breakdown th...
1. Tech Lives Matter
08 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
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-...