This Machine Kills

We’re joined by Aaron Benanav to get into his magisterial essays laying out a vision of society beyond capitalism. In part 1 of our conversation, we lay out his incisive analysis of how capitalism is a powerful system built on the obsessive, relentless optimization of one criteria: production for profit maximization. All other criteria are subordinated to this logic to the detriment of all priorities, values, or goals that we could pursue. The failures of previous alternatives to capitalism can be traced to a failure to change the goals, not just the tools of the system. Any real alternative must go beyond simply swapping in new means — the ways we achieve the optimization of economic efficiency — while maintaining the same purpose. They must change the ends of the system: from one criterion to rule them all to the flourishing of a multi-criterial economy. ••• Beyond Capitalism Part 1 & 2 | Aaron Benanav https://www.aaronbenanav.com/papers Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

We go through a number of moral panics about technology — vaping in schools,porn consumption online, social media use by teens — that are boiling over right now. In each of these cases, real problems have been identified and real policies have been implemented, while their real causes and concerns have been ignored. Instead, the critique of technology is used as a trojan horse for ramping up regressive forms of social paternalism and moral conservatism, which set strict boundaries and burdens on users, rather than producers. ••• Vaping Is ‘Everywhere’ in Schools—Sparking a Bathroom Surveillance Boom https://www.wired.com/story/vaping-surveillance-school-bathrooms/ ••• Half of the US Now Requires You to Upload Your ID or Scan Your Face to Watch Porn https://www.404media.co/missouri-age-verification-law-porn-id-check-vpns/ ••• Why Tech Moral Panic Matters https://www.hdavidsessions.com/p/why-tech-moral-panic-matters ••• Australia's social media ban for under-16s starts today. Here is what you should know https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/australias-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-starts-today/106119800 Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

After discussing the Council of Neo-Nicaea — but like, what if Jesus was an AI? — we then discuss an incredibly harrowing story of abusive practices at Alpha School, charter schools structured around AI authoritarianism where personalized learning software enact a cruel regimes of punishing metrics, where any humanity is replaced by the cold logic of optimization, where kids are indoctrinated early into the harsh reality of a control society. ••• Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out https://www.wired.com/story/ai-teacher-inside-alpha-school/ ••• Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

We dig into a new interview with Alex Karp as part of his ongoing Crash Out Tour and learn about the paranoid delusions of a man being sacrificed by the new pagans of a global woke religion — all while his own family won’t talk with him. If you spend enough time targeting individuals, eventually you too will become a targeted individual. ••• Alex Karp Goes to War https://www.wired.com/story/alex-karp-goes-to-war-palantir-big-interview/ ••• Moira Weigel — Palantir Goes to the Frankfurt School https://www.boundary2.org/2020/07/moira-weigel-palantir-goes-to-the-frankfurt-school/ ••• Michael Burry launches newsletter to lay out his AI bubble views after deregistering hedge fund https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/michael-burry-launches-newsletter-to-lay-out-his-ai-bubble-views-after-deregistering-hedge-fund.html Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

We chat with Becca Monteleone — author of The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority — about the critical intersection of disability and technology. Among many things, we get into the politics of how knowledge about the effects, experiences, and treatments for disability are produced, who has the authority to produce that knowledge, and who must be compliant to the power of that knowledge. ••• The Double Bind of Disability How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority | Rebecca Monteleone https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781517917685/the-double-bind-of-disability/ Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)