Current Affairs
Current Affairs
Categorias: Noticias y política
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Brian Merchant is the technology columnist for the Los Angeles Times and author of the new book Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. Brian's book takes us back to early 19th century England, and the birth of the "Luddite" movement. The Luddites famously smashed new machines that were expected to take away jobs in the textile industry. Brian argues that the Luddites are often misunderstood and misrepresented, and that by examining their uprising, we can better prepare ourselves to deal with the socially disruptive effects of new technology in our own time.
The Luddites, Brian shows, weren't anti-technology. In fact, they embraced new machines that helped them do their jobs better. They were against machines that destroyed workers' livelihoods and rendered their skills useless. The Luddites rejected technology when it was used to enrich capitalists at the expense of laborers. Their dispute is best understood not as being over "technology" but about who gets the benefit of new technologies and who decides what kinds of technologies will be implemented. Today, Brian joins to clear up misconceptions about the Luddites and show us what we can learn from them.
“If the Luddites have taught us anything, it’s that robots aren’t taking our jobs. Our bosses are. Robots are not sentient—they do not have the capacity to be coming for or stealing or killing or threatening to take away our jobs. Management does. Consulting firms and corporate leadership do. Gig company and tech executives do...If the machinery or the robots are simply “coming,” if they just show up and relieve a helpless lot of humans of their livelihoods, then no one is to blame for this independently arising phenomenon, and little is to be done about it beyond bracing for impact. It’s not the executives, swayed by consulting firms who insist the future is in AI text generation or customer service bots; or the tech titans, who use algorithmic platforms to displace traditional workers; or the managers, who see an opportunity to improve profit margins by adopting automated kiosks that edge out cashiers; or the shipping conglomerate bosses, who decide to try to replace dockworkers with a fleet of automated trucks.” - Brian Merchant, Blood in the Machine
The Current Affairs article "The Luddites Were Right" pairs well with this episode.
Episodios anteriores
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475 - Why The Luddites Were Right (w/ Brian Merchant) Mon, 29 Apr 2024
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474 - Why Students Are Rising Up for Gaza Fri, 26 Apr 2024
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473 - The Meaning of "Security" (w/ Astra Taylor) Fri, 26 Apr 2024
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472 - A Philosopher Explains Why It's Rational To Be Angry (w/ Myisha Cherry) Wed, 24 Apr 2024
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471 - How is Capitalism Like a Bad Relationship? (w/ Malaika Jabali) Mon, 22 Apr 2024
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470 - How to Spot Corporate Bullshit (w/ Nick Hanauer) Fri, 19 Apr 2024
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469 - Your Money or Your Life: A Physician on the Miseries of Medical Debt Wed, 17 Apr 2024
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468 - How Four Billionaires Are Creating A Horrible Future For All of Us (w/ Jonathan Taplin) Mon, 15 Apr 2024
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467 - The Rise and Fall of Crypto Lunacy (w/ Zeke Faux) Fri, 12 Apr 2024
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466 - How The Occupation Shapes Everything (w/ Nathan Thrall) Wed, 10 Apr 2024
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465 - The Current Israel-Palestine Crisis Was Entirely Avoidable (w/ Jerome Slater) Mon, 8 Apr 2024
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464 - Why Wars Happen (w/ Michael Mann) Fri, 5 Apr 2024
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463 - A McKinsey Whistleblower on Life Inside The Secretive Consulting Firm Wed, 3 Apr 2024
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462 - How Big Pharma Makes a Killing From Letting People Die (w/ Nick Dearden) Mon, 1 Apr 2024
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461 - What Makes For a "Strong Town"? (w/ Allison Lirish Dean) Fri, 29 Mar 2024
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460 - How White Supremacist Ideology Made Its Way Into Music Theory (w/ Philip Ewell) Wed, 27 Mar 2024
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459 - Gary Younge's 30-Year Panorama of the African Diaspora Mon, 25 Mar 2024
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458 - Why The Cop City Indictment Threatens Everyone's Freedom (w/ Christopher Bruce) Fri, 22 Mar 2024
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457 - Why We Need Utopias (w/ Kristen Ghodsee) Wed, 20 Mar 2024
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456 - ZINNOPHOBIA - Why So Many Still Fear "A People's History of the United States" (w/ David Detmer) Tue, 19 Mar 2024
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455 - Why Do We Have Any Poverty In America When It's Such a Solvable Problem? (w/ Matt Desmond) Fri, 15 Mar 2024
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454 - Mini-Cast: Ending Period Poverty Through the "Menstrual Equity for All" Act (w/ Grace Meng) Wed, 13 Mar 2024
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453 - There Is No Alternative to Ending Fossil Fuel Use (w/ Lorne Stockman) Mon, 11 Mar 2024
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452 - Why "Climate Optimism" Is Irrational and What Global Climate Justice Requires (w/ Jag Bhalla) Fri, 8 Mar 2024
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451 - Is Being "Moderate" Actually How Democrats Win? (w/ Alex Bronzini-Vender) Wed, 6 Mar 2024
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450 - The Many Layers of Injustice in American Criminal Punishment (w/ Stephen Bright & James Kwak) Mon, 4 Mar 2024
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449 - Can The Concept of "Philanthropy" Be Saved? (w/ Amy Schiller) Wed, 28 Feb 2024
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448 - What Would It Take To Have a Democracy? (w/ Thom Hartmann) Mon, 26 Feb 2024
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447 - How Did the Idea of Being "Self-Made" Come About? (w/ Tara Isabella Burton) Fri, 23 Feb 2024
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446 - Our Plan to Make It Actually Enjoyable to Read The News Wed, 21 Feb 2024
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445 - The Role of Drugs in American Life (w/ Benjamin Fong) Mon, 19 Feb 2024
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444 - The History of Arab-Jews Can Change Our Understanding of The World (w/ Avi Shlaim) Fri, 16 Feb 2024
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443 - A HEATED Encounter with Chris Rufo: Critical Race Theory, The Left, and American History Wed, 14 Feb 2024
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442 - The Dark Side of Fashion (w/ Alyssa Hardy) Mon, 12 Feb 2024
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441 - How To Make Schools That Children Actually Enjoy Going To (w/ Lauren Fadiman) Fri, 9 Feb 2024
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440 - How Rupert Murdoch Killed The Only Good Social Media Platform (w/ Michael Tedder) Wed, 7 Feb 2024
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439 - How Labor Can Drive a Hard Bargain (w/ Jane McAlevey and Abby Lawlor) Mon, 5 Feb 2024
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438 - Learning From Neglected Novels By 1900s Radicals (w/ the Rickard Sisters) Fri, 2 Feb 2024
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437 - Why Minimalism? (w/ Kyle Chayka) Wed, 31 Jan 2024
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436 - Is U.S. Democracy Just Going To Be Dysfunctional Forever? (w/ Benjamin Studebaker) Mon, 29 Jan 2024
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435 - What Happens to the Disappointed When Social Movements Fail? (w/ Sara Marcus) Fri, 26 Jan 2024
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434 - The Disaster of Privatizing Everything (w/ Donald Cohen) Wed, 24 Jan 2024
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433 - The Process of Leaving Jordan Peterson Behind (w/ Benjamin Howard) Mon, 22 Jan 2024
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432 - How The Super-Rich Really Live (w/ Michael Mechanic) Fri, 19 Jan 2024
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431 - How to Explain Socialism To People Who Aren't Socialists (w/ Danny Katch) Wed, 17 Jan 2024
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430 - Exposing the Spurious Anti-Semitism Accusations That Helped Bring Down Corbyn (w/ Asa Winstanley) Mon, 15 Jan 2024
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429 - Dreaming of a World Without Wells Fargo (w/ Terri Friedline) Fri, 12 Jan 2024
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428 - How "Influencing" Became an Industry (w/ Emily Hund) Wed, 10 Jan 2024
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427 - Why Americans Don't See Or Talk About Their Wars (w/ Norman Solomon) Mon, 8 Jan 2024
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426 - What "Economic Freedom" Would Look Like (w/ Mark Paul) Fri, 5 Jan 2024