Techtonic with Mark Hurst:
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from October 16, 2023
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Conversations with creators and thinkers who are charting the way forward in a tech-saturated society. Tech, community, video games, and whatever else is next.
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October 16, 2023: Brian Merchant, author, "Blood in the Machine" – about the Luddites
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Today: Brian Merchant, author, "Blood in the Machine" – about the Luddites
The Luddites were right. Brian Merchant’s new book “Blood in the Machine” tells the story of the Luddites, textile workers in early 19th century England who destroyed factory machines of automation. In our interview, Merchant describes the striking similarities between the Luddites’ time and our current Big Tech-dominated economy.
• Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech, by Brian Merchant. Published Sep 26, 2023 by Little Brown and Company.
• Brian Merchant is the technology columnist at the L.A. Times.
• I’ve always loved tech. Now, I’m a Luddite. You should be one, too. (by Brian Merchant in the Washington Post, Sep 18, 2023): “The Luddites’ plight is as relevant as ever. The parallels to the modern day are everywhere.” Merchant also writes:
The original Luddites did not hate technology. Most were skilled machine operators. In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, what they objected to were the specific ways that tech was being used to undermine their status, upend their communities and destroy their livelihoods. So they took sledgehammers to the mechanized looms used to exploit them.• I’m a Luddite (and So Can You!) (The Nib, July 17, 2023) – an informative and readable graphic-novel history of the Luddites, and how they’re relevant to today’s AI-driven economy.
It is that spirit that I’ve come to appreciate in the age of tech monopolies and generative artificial intelligence. The kind of visionaries we need now are those who see precisely how certain technologies are causing harm and who resist them when necessary.
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| Brian Merchant, author, "Blood in the Machine" – about the Luddites | ||||||||||
| Tomaš Dvořák |
Game Boy Tune
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| Si-Mark and Scott-Funkel |
The Sounds of Surveillance
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Listener comments!
ultradamno:
Bas NL:
David (in London):
uuklyph:
Triple G:
chresti:
Webhamster Henry:
ultradamno:
MarciB:
tim:
Ciggy:
I just escaped from a YouTube rabbit hole.
Threemoons 🌛🌕🌜:
StringOFperils:
ultradamno:
StringOFperils:
ultradamno:
cobradan:
Dean:
"In this chapter, we want to consider the meaning and significance of Luddism. It is an issue that we took up in the 1980s, when we wrote a book on information technology with the subtitle ‘A Luddite Analysis’. Reacting to the reflex dismissal of the Luddites, we urged that they be approached with more understanding, and that there should be a more historically grounded awareness of the particular circumstances to which they were responding."
Threemoons 🌛🌕🌜:
Threemoons:
StringOFperils:
P-90:
StringOFperils:
ultradamno:
Mark Hurst:
P-90:
ultradamno:
Ciggy:
Off tangent, I just know the song, "God Save Us" by the Jacobites. Constantly heard it on WFDU-fm circa '88. On the Shaoe of Things to Come with Bob Westphal
Mike Sin:
Dean:
Mark Hurst:
Mike Sin:
Threemoons 🌛🌕🌜:
tom tom the pipers son:
StringOFperils:
Mark Hurst:
tim:
I know someone in the professional capacity whose job (read between the lines here) is to help students and scholars find accurate and verifiable information has enthusiastically embraced AI. When I’ve pointed out how terribly inaccurate AI information can be. Their response was “It’s so fun though”. I was blown away. It seems like this person should know better.
StringOFperils:
Mark Hurst:
tim:
cbunny:
Mark Hurst:
Ciggy:
www.nytimes.com...
Mark Hurst:
cbunny:
Ringolevio: A Life Played For Keeps by EG is a fun read.
David (in London):
chresti:
ultradamno:
Mark Hurst:
P-90:
MarciB:
Jim the Poet:
P-90:
tim:
Mike Sin:
MarciB:
cbunny:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers
tim:
David (in London):
StringOFperils:
tim:
cbunny:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers_(theater)
chresti:
Will thee Sound Guy:
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tim:
Jim the Poet:
listener 126464:
tim:
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Mark Hurst:
Bas NL: