A vital part of developing a robust analysis is reading, listening to, and watching other people's ideas on techno-politics and political economy. Here is some of the stuff that we've been diving into and think is worth sharing.
You can also subscribe to our news feed with your RSS reader of choice so you don't have to remember to visit this page every day.
Much to their chagrin, Josh and Ray discover that Season 1 of Politechs wasn't sufficient to destroy AI. They conclude that the only thing to do is assemble a Luddite army and launch a new assault on HELLISH AI. Welcome to Season 2 of Politechs!
It's vital not to give in to the inevitability myth, and for me, seeing successful acts of resistance gives me an injection of energy and helps me to maintain the discipline of hope. According to Data Center Watch, an estimated $98 billion in projects were blocked or delayed in Q2 2025 alone!
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the site is still updated, but it's worth reading about the tactics used to block these new datacentre builds and incorporate them into your own organising. ✊🏻
If you have children in primary or secondary school, chances are that one of their teachers will be using ChatGPT in some way, shape or form. Many teachers use it for planning lessons, which is a shame, but at least doesn't directly violate children's privacy. However, once ChatGPT is used for grading or in student assignments, that data is no longer private, and is likely being used to train ChatGPT or similar Large Language Models.
Consider using this template (written by friend of the show Anthony Moser) to send an email to your children's teacher(s) to voice your concerns about using AI in the classroom.
One of the big takeaways from this talk is that hidden text can drive AI agent behaviour and I'm very much a fan of using this to (further) poison them.
If you want to provide your listeners / viewers with high-quality, ethically-made transcripts, I recommend the wonderful people over at Academic Audio Transcription! They employ full-time, professional staff with years of experience in research fields, and will work with customers to find a solution that fits their budget.
We know that when bosses justify layoffs by saying "we replaced X number of jobs with AI", it's bullshit; AI can't really do your job, either at all or not to the level of quality needed to sustain a serious operation. I had assumed that this line was just a weapon against labour, but the research this article covers suggests it may also be a signal to markets that these layoffs aren't due to incompetence, but rather enabled by exciting technology deployed by saavy, forward-thinking executives.
This piece asks what we'll do with all the excess computing infrastructure once the AI bubble finally bursts. There's an interesting quote in there from Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM: "It’s my view that there’s no way you’re going to get a return on that [infrastructure investment] because $8 trillion of CapEx means you need roughly $800 billion of profit just to pay for the interest."
A coalition of Spanish resistances, coordinated by Ecologistas en Acción Aragón will take Amazon's (AWS) PIGA (Plan of General Interest of Aragon) to court, with the support of environmental, regional, and academic organizations from around the world.
This action seeks to highlight the ecological, social, and economic impacts of large data infrastructures and to protect the Aragonese territory and environment. The legal action is part of a collective effort that combines legal defense with research and community activism, reaffirming the need for a public debate on the expansion of these technology projects in the region. This process joins another recently initiated in the municipality of Villanueva de Gállego, which is also taking the same plan, which supports the expansion of AWS, to court. The rejection in Aragon of legal instruments such as the PIGA (Integrated Plan for the Protection of the Aragonese Environment) demonstrates the problem of allowing tax exemptions and streamlined procedures that hinder civil society from submitting objections. By prioritizing speed over critical evaluation, these instruments can have catastrophic consequences, from ecosystem degradation to the violation of community rights.
Ecologists in Action Aragon has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Migranodearena.org to cover the costs of this legal process. Crowdfunding allows for the maintenance of an independent legal resource, ensuring that the defense of the territory does not depend solely on the will of corporations and political parties. Experiences in other countries such as Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, the United States, Brazil, France, and the Netherlands show that citizen mobilization is key to countering the influence of global corporations.
This initiative is part of a collective effort involving research, mobilization, communication, and legal action, undertaken by Ecologistas en Acción, Tu Nube Seca Mi Río, No Es Sequía es Saqueo, Observatori DESCA, the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Human Development, and other territorial groups. Far from assuming that confronting these corporations is impossible, it is essential to use all available mechanisms to demand greater accountability, strengthen regulatory frameworks, and guarantee that citizens fully exercise their right to participate and be heard in these processes that directly affect them.
More information in Spanish: https://tunubesecamirio.com/2026/01/21/necesitamos-tu-ayuda-crowdfunding-para-litigar-contra-los-centros-de-datos/.
Contacts:
The overall idea of being in the moment and giving yourself space to be with your thoughts isn't new, but I love the challenge to the tech narrative of removing friction as an unalloyed good. Friction and frustration build resilience, and without resilience, any of the myriad setbacks that life inevitably serves up becomes a major tragedy. Just like many of the tech narratives, removal of friction is seen as an end unto itself, and becomes this unchallenged dogma (like efficiency, growth, etc).
The overt actions of the Trump regime are making its authoritarian nature hard to deny. This is politechs in its rawest form.
Modern cars are rolling surveillance platforms, collecting data on the occupants of the vehicle and everything else within the range of their sensors. And wherever surveillance goes, advertising isn't far behind. 🤬
Oh, how much should I pretend to be surprised by this completely foreseeable consequence of how this technology is being deployed? 🙄
Meme courtesy of Rhionnan Kagoe on Bluesky.
This piece from Cory Doctorow (which is the script of a speech he recently gave) on understanding the AI bubble collects a bunch of ideas he's been developing in his blog and wraps them up in one great package. It's probably a 20 minute read, but worth every minute of that!
I'm a fan of Ta-Nehisi Coates, and "The Message" moved me. His writing and clarity is incredible. Enjoy.
I was looking for some creator that could explain AI and tech in simple ways so I can share with my non-tech friends and family, and I found this person. I shared this video with my brother (who is a marketing person, knows nothing how tech works, and was telling me he was excited about getting a new fridge with a screen on it) and he said it was very clear and easy to follow.
The Irish government's policy of courting Big Tech with tax incentives and lax enforcement of data privacy laws like the GDPR is coming home to roost in a big way. At least 22% of Ireland's electricity is consumed by datacentres, and to meet the increasing demand for power, the government has commissioned emergency gas generators at a cost of €1-2 billion to the Irish taxpayer and created a strategic gas emergency reserve for an additional upfront cost of €300-900 million. And the EU's AI Continent Action Plan proposes tripling datacentre capacity by 2030. 🤯
And speaking of bad political frames, "AI sovereignity". 🤮
![Screenshot of an email titled '[From AI, Public] Thank you for Go, Plan 9, UTF-8, and Decades of Unix Innovation'](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vsgr3rwyckhiavgqzdcuzm6i/bafkreifg5kvowgazg6uwqulfbdvxurqafbcescazwvgcl2catgvlrsc2fi@jpeg)
Continuing the trend of language creators hating on AI, Rob Pike (creator of the Go programming language) lets fly on Bluesky:
Friend of the show and upcoming guest Anthony Moser rejects the framing of AI as a technology that must be respected and straight up hates on it. He points to the insiduous effect of respectability politics and argues forcefully for meeting the unacceptable with rudeness.
By way of a palate cleanser, we fucking loved this one. It's a true 🎁 for a very Luddite 🎄!
Rich Hickey is not impressed by the slopmail he received thanking him for his creation of the Clojure programming language. As Clojurists ourselves, we've thought that LLM coding tools run counter to the central values of Clojure: simplicity and the importance of taking the time to think deeply about problems. It seems like Rich agrees.
