Tech Won't Save Us - Celebrating Three Years of Tech Won’t Save Us!

Episode Date: April 1, 2023

Tech Won’t Save Us is turning three years old, so Paris recorded a quick update on the show and announced plans for a new Elon Musk series if the show gets 200 new Patreon supporters in April.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. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Support the show

Hello, everyone, and welcome to this Tech Won't Save Us update. I don't have a regular interview for you today, but I did want to record a special short little episode because this month in April of 2023, the podcast is turning three years old. And so, you know, I just wanted to give a little update on how things are going, but also to let you know something very exciting that we have planned because this is the big birthday month. The show, as I said, is three years old. It's hard to believe that this podcast I started in April of 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic, while lockdowns were still kind of going on, you know, has not only lasted this long,

but has continued to grow and get even more popular. You know, it's had 1.8 million downloads over more than 160 episodes that we have now and nearly as many guests. And those guests have come on to inform us about so many different aspects of the tech industry, to give us their expertise and to let us know critical insights that we need to understand these technologies and these tech companies and these powerful people who shape not only this industry, but so much of the world and have effects on the lives of billions of people

around the world. One of the reasons I keep doing this show is because I do feel like it has an impact, right? Not only because we're informing people about the tech industry and about all of these technologies, giving people a perspective that they otherwise might not get through other sources, but also because I have so many people who reach out and say that it made a difference to them, right? That it helped give them a different perspective on these things. And hopefully those perspectives then filter into their actions, right? Hopefully there's some kind of concrete difference just beyond education that comes out of this too. And really, all of this is possible because of people like you, right? People who listen to this show, people who feel like they

learn from it and then share it on social media, share it with their friends and colleagues. All of that is essential to growing the listenership of the show, but also to those of you who support the show through patreon.com. Because really, it wouldn't be possible without that financial support either, so that I can do the research that's necessary to know what to ask these experts when they come on the show, so that we can have really informed conversations that give you the information you need to actually understand all of these different kind of sectors of the tech industry and all of the things that they're up to. But also so that I can pay Eric to put the show together every week, so that I can pay Bridget so that she can do the transcripts for the show.

And we now have 40 transcripts on the website that makes the show even more accessible. And we're hoping to do more with those into the future. And this month, since it's the podcast's third birthday, we're making a goal of getting 200 new supporters through patreon.com slash techwontsaveus so that we can make the show even more sustainable and we can keep doing this work. And I'm hoping that since you enjoy the show, that you listen to it frequently,

that you learn from it, that you might consider signing up and becoming a supporter as well. Five bucks a month, US, that you listen to it frequently, that you learn from it, that you might consider signing up and becoming a supporter as well. Five bucks a month US, that's like, what, a latte? Ten bucks, that's two. I think that's worth a show that gives you all of these great perspectives, you know, if you want to help us to continue doing this. And when we hit that goal of 200 new supporters, I'm going to start working on a new series that I think you're going to be very excited about. Obviously, Elon Musk is someone we all know about, and we all know that the impact that he has had not only on the world around us, but also on so many people's ideas of technology

and of the future. And especially in this moment when he seems to be on a downward slope, when people seem to be realizing that what they thought they knew about this man is not actually the reality, is not actually the truth, that the myth that was built around him for so long was not an accurate reflection of his actions and his impact. I think this is the moment to really do an in-depth series that looks at his history, that looks at how this myth was constructed, and that really unmasks the man who is Elon Musk and shows us who he is, what his impact has been, and why we can't let him continue to have this role and this influence over us and our society. And this won't just be done through a series of interviews like we

usually do where, you know, we talk to somebody for an hour and that kind of fills you in. My goal with this series is to fill you in on a lot of information, but also to do interviews with a number of different experts and then kind of intersperse their insights and their knowledge into this show in more of a radio documentary form, which is quite different from what we usually do. And so it's going to take some extra work, some extra research, you know, some extra work by Eric to kind of put it all together in a way that is going to give you the information you need to understand Elon Musk and hopefully to get some new insights on him

that maybe you don't have already. And that I think will further dispel this idea that he's building the future and that we really need to put our faith in him. So I think that this is an exciting moment for the podcast, turning three years old, continuing to grow, continuing to share more critical perspectives with you. But also if we can hit our new goal of 200 new supporters on Patreon, we'll do an Elon Musk series to give you the information you need, the perspectives you need to really understand this man, the impact that he's had, and why he can't shape our future, because that would be an absolutely terrible thing. So if you want to make sure that we can make that Elon Musk series, but you also want to support the work that goes into

just making this show every single week to give you these critical perspectives on so many different aspects of the tech industry, I would say as a birthday gift to Tech Won't Save Us, consider going to patreon.com slash tech won't save us, becoming a supporter, supporting this work, and ensuring that we can keep delivering it to you every single week. Thank you so much for your support. And you'll hear me again in your feed on Thursday with a brand new episode with more great critical perspectives that you've come to expect from Tech Won't Save Us. Thanks so much.