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The 404 Media Podcast

The New Luddites: Why People Are Destroying Surveillance and AI Infrastructure

5/4/202653 min

This week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Brian puts this wave of attacks in the historical context of the Luddites, who are notoriously misunderstood and fought for worker protections against automation during the Industrial Revolution. Over the last few months, we have seen people in San Francisco and Los Angeles torch Waymos, bash delivery robots with baseball bats, destroy Flock cameras, and threaten AI data centers and the politicians championing them. This type of political violence doesn’t and cannot occur in a vacuum, it happens because people feel they are being taken advantage of and that their representatives aren’t listening to them. Given the current state of things, we can likely expect more of these sorts of attacks to occur. Blood In The Machine YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/1Z4k_vDovbY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clips

They Didn’t Win Consent
Waymos Methodically Torched
Were Luddites Successful?
No Social Contract Negotiated
AI CEOs Cast As Villains
Data Centers Become Political
Inequality And A Two-Word Verdict
Flock Unites Creep-Out
Violence Signals A New Phase
Apps For The Coddled

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Brian Merchant· Guest0:00

    They didn't win the public's trust. They didn't win the public's support. They said, "We're gonna do this anyways." There was never a real negotiation of the social contract. It was tech companies chipping away at all these things, and nobody ever really got a serious vote.

  2. Jason Cavallaro· Host0:14

    [upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to the 404 Media podcast. As a reminder, 404 Media is a journalist-owned company and needs your support. Subscribers get bonus episodes, bonus segments, and early access to interview episodes like this one. To subscribe, go to fourohfourmedia.co. Our guest today for this interview episode is Brian Merchant, uh, my dear friend. So maybe this will be a little bit looser since, uh, Brian is my friend and mentor, and I owe, I owe it all to him. [laughs] Brian is the author of Blood in the Machine, which is a history of the Luddites and the Luddite movement. Your book is excellent. People should go read it. He's also got the Blood in the Machine newsletter and website, which continues that sort of work.

  3. Brian Merchant· Guest1:04

    Thank you for that, uh, illustrious, uh, introduction, Jason. I, I have to say that I'm, uh, I'm... How long has the 404 podcast been going at this point?

  4. Jason Cavallaro· Host1:13

    Since we launched, so August 2023, so two, two and a half years.

  5. Brian Merchant· Guest1:17

    Wow. So how should I feel that this is my, my first appearance?

  6. Jason Cavallaro· Host1:21

    [laughs] You finally scored an invite, uh, at long last.

  7. Brian Merchant· Guest1:24

    I got, I got the invite.

  8. Jason Cavallaro· Host1:25

    You got the invite while we watched the basketball game last night.

  9. Brian Merchant· Guest1:28

    [laughs] Yeah. No,

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