Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will

This week we are joined by Paris Marx, host of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us and a tech critic, journalist, author, and international speaker. We talked about Silicon Valley's changing influence in politics, climate policy, and about reasons for optimism as we think about how to confront Musk and Co. in the political arena. This is somewhat of a sister episode to our conversation last week with Jacob Silverman about the tech right that explores the political ideologies of the tech billionaires shaping our country, including within the Democratic Party. To support us on Patreon (and get bonus eps plus a download of our intro song) go here:  patreon.com/DystopiaNow Please note we generally record these episodes a few days before publishing so Tesla story was still evolving.  Further reading: https://parismarx.com/ https://www.disconnect.blog/ https://www.npr.org/2024/07/12/g-s1-9545/ai-brings-soaring-emissions-for-google-and-microsoft-a-major-contributor-to-climate-change https://www.wired.com/story/true-cost-generative-ai-data-centers-energy/ https://theconversation.com/data-centre-emissions-are-soaring-its-ai-or-the-climate-240137 https://www.versobooks.com/products/2795-road-to-nowhere?srsltid=AfmBOor_bXPpd8aqF9_mHCdTCfJsbfp-V1qFE-ERNFyRVF2RVRfYj365 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvze9dzq8vo https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-violence-protests-vandalism.html