Episode 11: Reverse Centaurs and AI, with Cory Doctorow

Episode 11: Reverse Centaurs and AI, with Cory Doctorow

This week, Adam talks with Cory Doctorow, author, blogger, and tech policy advocate. Cory explains why your boss wants to replace you with an AI, why that won't work, and why they're trying to do it anyhow -- and what you can do about it. Cory and Adam also talk about the AI bubble and how its myth of perpetual growth is fed by greed, along with some terrible misunderstandings of science fiction.  Cory's new book, The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI [https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-reverse-centaur-s-guide-to-life-after-ai-how-to-think-about-artificial-intelligence-before-it-s-too-late-cory-doctorow/ac86987834ee96c2], is out TODAY Messages:   • Support the show at patreon.com/DreamingAgainstTheMachine [https://www.patreon.com/cw/DreamingAgainstTheMachine]   • Follow us on Bluesky [http://datmpodcast.bsky.social/]and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/datmpod]   • Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts!   • Check out other great podcasts from Multitude like Tiny Matters [https://www.multitudeshows.com/tiny-matters] About the show: Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future. Each week, the show’s host, journalist and astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker, will have an earnest (and entertaining!) conversation with a guest about possible futures, seen through the lenses of history, science, and culture. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the terms of the public conversation about what our world can and should be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Episode 10: Better Off Regulated, with Ed Zitron

This week's guest is tech critic, podcaster, and professionally angry dude Ed Zitron [https://www.youtube.com/@BetterOfflinePod]. Adam asks Ed [https://www.wheresyoured.at/] what things would have to happen for him to be less angry (mostly, regulating the tech industry). Along the way they also discuss the SpaceX IPO and why it's a scam, the absolute folly of data centers in space, and the bizarre financial vortex of Coreweave. Messages:   • Support the show at patreon.com/DreamingAgainstTheMachine [https://www.patreon.com/cw/DreamingAgainstTheMachine]   • Follow us on Bluesky [http://datmpodcast.bsky.social/]and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/datmpod]   • Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts!   • Check out other great podcasts from Multitude like This Guy Sucked [https://www.thisguysucked.com/] About the show: Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future. Each week, the show’s host, journalist and astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker, will have an earnest (and entertaining!) conversation with a guest about possible futures, seen through the lenses of history, science, and culture. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the terms of the public conversation about what our world can and should be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Episode 9: Algorithmic Bias, with Safiya Noble

This week, Adam talks with Safiya Noble [https://safiyaunoble.com/], professor of social science at UCLA and author of Algorithms of Oppression. They talk about how algorithms reinscribe systemic biases, what a better tech industry might look like, and how we might get there. Messages:   • Support the show at patreon.com/DreamingAgainstTheMachine [https://www.patreon.com/cw/DreamingAgainstTheMachine]   • Follow us on Bluesky [http://datmpodcast.bsky.social/]and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/datmpod]   • Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts!   • Check out other great podcasts from Multitude like Simple and Clean [https://www.multitudeshows.com/simple-and-clean] About the show: Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future. Each week, the show’s host, journalist and astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker, will have an earnest (and entertaining!) conversation with a guest about possible futures, seen through the lenses of history, science, and culture. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the terms of the public conversation about what our world can and should be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Episode 8: Horrible Little Guys, with Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling

This week is a ✨Very Special Episode✨, a crossover with the hosts of our fellow Multitude show Wow if True! Isabel J. Kim is an award-winning science fiction author, Amanda Silberling is a journalist at TechCrunch, and this week they're talking with Adam about horrible little guys on the internet and how they've seeped out into the real world. You can listen to Wow if True [https://www.multitudeshows.com/wow-if-true] anywhere you get your podcasts. And please buy Isabel's debut novel Sublimation [https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f], which is out today! Messages:   • Support the show at patreon.com/DreamingAgainstTheMachine [https://www.patreon.com/cw/DreamingAgainstTheMachine]   • Follow us on Bluesky [http://datmpodcast.bsky.social/]and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/datmpod]   • Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts!   • Check out other great podcasts from Multitude like Spirits [https://www.multitudeshows.com/spirits] About the show: Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future. Each week, the show’s host, journalist and astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker, will have an earnest (and entertaining!) conversation with a guest about possible futures, seen through the lenses of history, science, and culture. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the terms of the public conversation about what our world can and should be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

Episode 7: The History (and Future) of Technology, with Susannah Glickman

This week, Adam talks with historian Susannah Glickman about the recent history of how we think about the future of technology, and why we have more power over that future than we might think. Along the way, they talk about AI, Moore's Law, quantum computers, a rocket-ships-and-chrome vision of the future, the problems with the "Great Man" theory of history, the most important physicist you've never heard of, and many, many other things — more than usual, even for this show. It's a wild ride this week! Messages:   • Support the show at patreon.com/DreamingAgainstTheMachine [https://www.patreon.com/cw/DreamingAgainstTheMachine]   • Follow us on Bluesky [http://datmpodcast.bsky.social/]and Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/datmpod]   • Subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts!   • Check out other great podcasts from Multitude like American Medieval [https://www.multitudeshows.com/american-medieval] About the show: Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future. Each week, the show’s host, journalist and astrophysicist Dr. Adam Becker, will have an earnest (and entertaining!) conversation with a guest about possible futures, seen through the lenses of history, science, and culture. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the terms of the public conversation about what our world can and should be. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].