Techtonic with Mark Hurst on WFMU

Brooklyn-based author Helen Phillips discusses her novel HUM, just released.

The page above lists examples of private family conversations that can be picked up by spy devices.

• The Afterlife of Data: What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care by Carl Öhman, published by the University of Chicago Press • Carl Öhman at Uppsala Unversity in Uppsala, Sweden • Wikipedia: The Postmodern Condition: A Report…

• Middle Tech: Software Work and Culture of Good Enough by Paula Bialski, published by Princeton University Press • paulabialski.com • Paula and Karol (Paula’s band) on Bandcamp

We’re throwing a party on Techtonic to celebrate the biggest tech news in over 20 years: the antitrust lawsuit has been decided, and Google is now officially an illegal monopoly.

• Stand By for Failure: A Documentary About Negativland (Sunday, August 11, 2024 – doors at 6:30pm, film at 7pm).

Techtonic listeners of a certain age may be in the “sandwich generation,” with responsibilities for aging parents while still raising kids.

Jason Koebler on how the spread of generative AI, and the absence of effective content moderation, are creating a “disastrous, zombified, cesspool” of an internet.

Revisiting Feb 12, 2024 with astronomer Sam Lawler: • Debris Found in North Carolina Came From SpaceX Dragon, NASA Says (gift link, NYT, July 1, 2024): “An object found on a hiking trail west of Asheville, N.C., had traveled to the International Space Sta…

• From carissaveliz.com: Carissa is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Institute for Ethics in AI at the University of Oxford. • Carissa’s first appearance on Techtonic was the Nov 7, 2022 show, talking about her book Privacy is P…

• Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State • Byron Tau at Notus, “a product of the Allbritton Journalism Institute”

Thanks to everyone who sent in questions!

Ultraprocessed foods are technologies designed to get us to eat more and more.

Microsoft’s launch of new spyware in Windows is a good reminder that Big Tech intends to exploit you via its computers and surveillance phones.

Google abandoned its slogan “Don’t be evil” years ago.

• Sam Altman wants to make AI like a 'super-competent colleague that knows absolutely everything' about your life (Insider, May 4, 2024) • Sam Altman Answers The Burning Questions About AI: Bias, Privacy, Etc.

Ulises Mejias and Nick Couldry discuss their new book “Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back • Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back, by Ulises Mejias and Nick Couldry • Microsoft to Invest $1.7 Billion

• Michael Shelley’s show: Saturdays 11am to 1pm Eastern, here on WFMU.

• Robots and the People Who Love Them: Holding on to Our Humanity in an Age of Social Robots , by Eve Herold • eveherold.com • Healthspan Action Coalition • Engineering household robots to have a little common sense, MIT News, March 25, 2024 • Tech exec p…

• The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist’s Companion for the 21st Century, by Richard Polt • typewriterrevolution.com, the book site • Richard’s blog, also called The Typewriter Revolution • Typewriting Behavior, by Dvorak keymap inventor August Dvorak et al…

Tech news from 2024 this time, I promise...

Better late than never...

Ian Johnson, author, "Sparks: China's Underground Historians and Their Battle for the Future" Thanks to everyone who made the WFMU marathon a success!

Above: Spameater, the 2024 Techtonic marathon premium.

Above: Spameater, the 2024 Techtonic marathon premium.

• Night of Ideas this Friday, March 1 in Jersey City: Damon Krukowski, Liz Pelly, and me: Event homepage and RSVP link is here and schedule.

• Fancy Bear Goes Phishing: The Dark History of the Information Age, in Five Extraordinary Hacks, by Scott Shapiro • Scott Shapiro at Yale Law • The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger (NYMag, Feb 15, 2024), by Charlotte Cowles, the

• Dr.

The launch of Apple’s Vision Pro face jail is an inescapable sign that Apple has finally transformed into the Orwellian giant that their famous Super Bowl commercial warned about in 1984.

The world seems to have chosen the path of maximal technology, no matter the cost.

Ashley Shew, author, “Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement” • About our guest: Ashley Shew is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech, and specializes in disability studies and technology ethics. • Ag…

• Abour our guest: Ben Grosser is an artist focused on the cultural, social, and political effects of software.

By Polish cartoonist Kasia Babis.

Photo by listener herb.nyc. • May 8, 2023 Techtonic with Nita Farahany, talking about her book The Battle for Your Brain: Defending the Right to Think Freely in the Age of Neurotechnology • Portable, non-invasive AI turns thoughts into text (Verdadeufo, D…

by John Atkinson Thanks to the listeners who sent in emails describing their favorite tech gift from holidays past!

Comic by Mattie Lubchansky • The Dark Cloud: The Hidden Costs of the Digital World, by Guillaume Pitron • Total Trust, documentary now playing at Film Forum (209 West Houston St in Manhattan) - through this Friday, Dec 15 • A.I.

Recent tech news has revealed what the tech companies tried - and failed - to keep hidden: deception, exploitation of workers and children, and lots and lots of surveillance.

• Low-tech Magazine, a solar-powered website • krisdedecker.org, Kris De Decker’s site • Human Power Plant • What If We Replace Guns and Bullets with Bows and Arrows?

• Same Bed Different Dreams, by Ed Park • Linktree for Ed Park • About Ed Park • Welcome to Ed Park’s Many-Layered World (Nov 2, 2023), New York Times review by Hamilton Cain • July 20, 2020 Techtonic, Ed’s first appearance on Techtonic – discussing readi…

It’s time to check in with a rogue’s gallery of tech bros: Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, Adam Neumann, and Sam Bankman-Fried.

• Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup’s Quest to End Privacy as We Know It, by Kashmir Hill, published by Random House • Kashmir Hill is a tech reporter at the New York Times. • Clearview AI, the company featured in Hill’s book • Your Face May So…

The Luddites were right.

Two Big Tech monopolies - Google and Amazon - are in a heap of trouble, each facing their own antitrust lawsuit from the U.S. government.