Techtonic with Mark Hurst on WFMU

AI voices are infiltrating more and more aspects of daily life.

Quantum computers, quantum AI, and applications like mind-reading helmets are all on the horizon, explains physicist Paul Davies in his book “Quantum 2.0: The Weird Physics Driving a New Revolution in Technology.” • Quantum 2.0: The Weird Physics Driving a

Artist Ben Grosser returns to Techtonic to discuss his “redaction poetry” - that is, poetry created by omitting words - from Mark Zuckerberg’s recent techno-manifesto.

Peter Thiel and other Silicon Valley oligarchs are working to destroy democracy while launching their own independent countries where they will rule as dictators.

Google paving over protected wetlands to build a data center.

Information overload has amplified the spread of conspiracy theories and other societal delusions, writes Judson Merrill in his novel "Paranoid Storytelling."

App companies like Uber, Doordash, and Grubhub have made billions by exploiting delivery workers: offering no benefits, stealing tips, and firing workers by algorithm.

In centuries past, predictions of the future came from oracles and seers.

As the surveillance state grows, police are gaining new kinds of power.

Chromebooks, iPads, and other Silicon Valley devices are infiltrating public school classrooms.

The “cloud” sounds lighter than air, but data centers have a huge environmental impact - starting with the wasteful mining of resources like lithium, copper, and water.

Unethical tech oligarchs are trying to force us into a distorted version of reality: treating people as robots, and robots as people; pretending that simulations are real, and vice-versa.

The growing anger against data centers could be a catalyst for huge changes in the tech industry.

Today’s AI algorithms promise to optimize every aspect of our lives.

“I bought this car before he went crazy,” say the Tesla bumper stickers.

Trillion-dollar companies are begging us to use their AI chatbots.

As Big Tech algorithms encourage kids and teens toward self-harm and suicide, Mothers Against Media Addiction is fighting back - raising awareness about the platforms' harms and advocating for stricter regulation.

Everything you do online is available to the police with a single warrant.

Artemis II was a success, but risks are rising in low-earth orbit.

Cindy Cohn has led the Electronic Frontier Foundation for over a decade, fighting against government and Big Tech surveillance.

Now that the Silicon Valley approach of moving fast and breaking things has demonstrated its moral bankruptcy, it’s time for a different approach: Evan Selinger and Albert Fox Cahn discuss their new book “Move Slow and Upgrade: The Power of Incremental In…

As our surveillance dystopia continues to spread, good news keeps popping up.

Techtonic’s signoff tells you to “get off Google,” and Janet Vertesi shows how it’s done.

Repair cafes, staffed by volunteer “repair coaches,” allow people to get free repairs for appliances and clothing items.

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When Techtonic began in the fall of 2017, many people still thought big tech companies were a force for good.

When the Amazon Ring commercial aired during the Super Bowl, many people were horrified to realize that Ring can spy on them and their neighbors.

Science historian Peter Dear joins Mark to discuss his book "The World As We Know It" - with stories of how we came to understand science.

As Big Tech continues to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into AI in a desperate attempt at growth, AI is causing widespread problems in classrooms, healthcare, and more.

Our attention is being exploited by predatory companies in Silicon Valley.

Novelist Paul Bradley Carr returns to Techtonic to discuss his new dystopian tale, starring an all-powerful AI that regrets its actions.

On Twitter/X, a new AI feature called “Edit Image” allows users to create, and then publicly post, sexualized images of women and children.

The Techtonic tradition continues, as WFMU station manager Ken Freedman and Mark Hurst kick off the new year with a look at some of the weirdest, most unsettling tech trends and news stories that will shape our near future. • ‘End-to-end encrypted’ smart…

The Big Tech monopolies have grown obscenely rich from extraction, the draining of value from people and communities.

The British tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas came about during the Victorian era's rapid industrialization and social change, a time that also saw the rise of Spiritualism, a religion organized around mediumship and contacting the dead.

Spying, sloppifying, and saying totally inappropriate things: Big Tech devices and AI platforms are reflections of the creepy personalities running the tech industry.

“Technology is changing us for the worse,” Noah McCormack writes in The Baffler, the online magazine where he works as publisher.

Amateur radio enthusiast Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL) tells the story of surviving Hurricane Helene in September 2024 when all power and phone access went down.

Pat Garofalo describes the millions – in some cases, the billions – of dollars that citizens are forced to pay Big Tech companies in order to build data centers nearby.

Under Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership, Facebook/Meta is making billions of dollars from knowingly promoting fraudulent material.

Big Tech is building giant data centers in place where water is already scarce, like Mexico and Chile.

The surveillance state is tracking you every day, everywhere you go.

A piece recently appeared in the New York Times about widening inequality, using Disney World as an example.

Amanda Hanna-McLeer discusses making a documentary about the growing ranks of young people who are giving up smartphones and other surveillance-addiction devices in favor of real life: social interaction, books, and general tech resistance.

A recent protest against smartphones took place in Manhattan - complete with signs, puppets, a live band, and (for some reason) gnome caps for the participants.

The outrageous headlines day to day can distract us from the spread of AI and surveillance infrastructure.

The concentrated power of tech and finance relies, in part, on private equity.

People in past eras have thought about the future in very different ways.

In 1976, an MIT computer science professor named Joseph Weizenbaum published a book warning against the manipulative powers of AI.