Skip to content
435. Schoolwork Will Set You Free episode artwork

Dec 9, 2025 1 hr 26 min

435. Schoolwork Will Set You Free

from This Machine Kills Hosted by This Machine Kills

After discussing the Council of Neo-Nicaea — but like, what if Jesus was an AI? — we then discuss an incredibly harrowing story of abusive practices at Alpha School, charter schools structured around AI authoritarianism where personalized learning software enact a cruel regimes of punishing metrics, where any humanity is replaced by the cold logic of optimization, where kids are indoctrinated early into the harsh reality of a control society. ••• Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out https://www.wired.com/story/ai-teacher-inside-alpha-school/ ••• Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

Episode details come from the podcast's RSS feed.

Embed this episode

Ready to play

435. Schoolwork Will Set You Free

0:00 1:26:42

No transcript yet.

Requests help us decide what to transcribe next.

Frequently asked questions

How long is this episode of This Machine Kills?

This episode is 1 hour and 26 minutes long.

When was this This Machine Kills episode published?

This episode was published on December 9, 2025.

Can I download this This Machine Kills episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.