Silicon Valley is Reshaping US Democracy w/ Jacob Silverman
10/31/24 • 61 min
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Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss all the money Elon Musk is pouring into the US election and what Silicon Valley’s political influence will mean regardless of who becomes president.
Jacob Silverman is the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, coming in September 2025 from Bloomsbury. His book Easy Money is now available in paperback.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
Also mentioned in this episode:
- The New York Times reported on Elon Musk’s efforts to get Trump elected in the final two weeks of the campaign.
- The Pennsylvania district attorney sued Elon Musk’s PAC to stop his $1 million giveaways.
- Marc Andreessen wrote the Techno-Optimist Manifesto and the Little Tech Agenda.
- FTX was up to way more shady things that didn’t make it into the first trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. The second didn’t go ahead after he was found guilty in the first.
- The canvassing operation for Trump by Elon Musk's PAC has been flagged as potentially fraudulent.
- The US Supreme Court’s Chevron decision will have significant consequences for federal regulators.
Paris Marx is joined by Jacob Silverman to discuss all the money Elon Musk is pouring into the US election and what Silicon Valley’s political influence will mean regardless of who becomes president.
Jacob Silverman is the author of Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley, coming in September 2025 from Bloomsbury. His book Easy Money is now available in paperback.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
Also mentioned in this episode:
- The New York Times reported on Elon Musk’s efforts to get Trump elected in the final two weeks of the campaign.
- The Pennsylvania district attorney sued Elon Musk’s PAC to stop his $1 million giveaways.
- Marc Andreessen wrote the Techno-Optimist Manifesto and the Little Tech Agenda.
- FTX was up to way more shady things that didn’t make it into the first trial of Sam Bankman-Fried. The second didn’t go ahead after he was found guilty in the first.
- The canvassing operation for Trump by Elon Musk's PAC has been flagged as potentially fraudulent.
- The US Supreme Court’s Chevron decision will have significant consequences for federal regulators.
Previous Episode
Data Vampires: Fighting for Control (Episode 4)
Tech billionaires are embracing extreme right-wing politics. It’s not just to enhance their power, but to try to realize a harmful vision for humanity’s future that could see humans merging with machines and possibly even living in computer simulations. Will we allow them to put our collective resources behind their science fiction dreams, or fight for a better future and a different kind of technology to go along with it? This is episode 4 of Data Vampires, a special four-part series from Tech Won’t Save Us.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
The show is hosted by Paris Marx. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
Also mentioned in this episode:
- Postdoctoral candidate at Case Western Reserve University Émile P. Torres, features reporter at The Information Julia Black, Goldsmiths University lecturer Dan McQuillan, and former head of the Center for Applied Data Ethics Ali Alkhatib were interviewed for this episode.
- Pieces by Sam Altman, Marc Andreessen, and an interview with Elon Musk were cited.
Next Episode
The Corruption of Open Source w/ tante
Paris Marx is joined by tante to discuss troubling developments in the open source world as Wordpress goes to war with WP Engine and a new definition of open source AI doesn’t require being open about training data.
tante is a sociotechnologist, writer, speaker, and Luddite working on tech and its social impact.
Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.
The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.
Also mentioned in this episode:
- tante wrote about the problem with the Open Source Initiative’s definition of open source AI.
- Check out this link for the full breakdown on the Wordpress drama.
- Wordpress changed its trademark guidelines on September 19 regarding the use of the WP abbreviation.
- Tumblr and Wordpress started selling user data for AI training earlier this year.
- A lot of the controversy around Richard Stallman started blowing up in 2019.
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