The Privatized Internet Has Failed Us
The early promises about the utopia that the internet would bring us have proven wrong. The internet can never deliver on all it’s capable of when it’s run for profit — we need a publicly owned internet.
38 Articles by: Paris Marx
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Paris Marx is the host of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast and author of Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong about the Future of Transportation, coming in July from Verso Books.
The Hyperloop Can’t Save Us
Despite wild proposals from Uber and Elon Musk to build “the transportation of the future,” we’re not going anywhere with billionaires steering the ship.
Crypto’s Hype and Promises Were Based on Lies From the Very Beginning
As usual with the tech industry, cryptocurrencies weren’t just sold as a risky investment — they were framed as a social good. Now that the crash has ruined lives, those who promised societal transformation through crypto should be held accountable.
Billionaires Like Elon Musk Don’t Know the First Thing About Democracy
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has bought Twitter. Musk says he’s trying to safeguard democracy and promote free speech — but what does a megabillionaire with a history of silencing critics and retaliating against workers know about democracy?
We Don’t Need Billionaires Like Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter in the name of free speech is the latest example of his hubris. It’s not just that Elon Musk shouldn’t own Twitter — billionaires shouldn’t even exist.
What Happened to the Friendly Neighborhood (Working-Class) Spider-Man?
Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy introduced us to a working-class kid from Queens struggling to both save his city and pay the rent. But now under Disney, the Peter Parker of Spider-Man: No Way Home has wealthy new benefactors rewriting just what it means to be a superhero.
Facebook’s “Metaverse” Must Be Stopped
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse is no utopian vision — it’s another opportunity for Big Tech to colonize our lives in the name of profit.
Don’t Give in to the Culture Industry’s Appeals to Nostalgia
The culture industry keeps churning out reboots and remakes, hoping to exploit a popular sense of nostalgia for gentler times. But tapping into nostalgia is a fundamentally conservative project, designed to arrest the future that we still desperately need to construct.
Peter Thiel Embodies Silicon Valley’s Conservative Past and Dystopian Future
Peter Thiel’s right-wing provocations lead many to conclude that he’s an outlier in supposedly liberal Silicon Valley. In fact, as an open advocate for a world where technology supplants democracy, he’s the industry’s fullest embodiment.
Leave the Billionaires in Space
The space race playing out among billionaires like Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk has little to do with science — it’s a PR-driven spectacle designed to distract us from the disasters capitalism is causing here on Earth.
Big Tech Is Killing Movies
Amazon’s buyout of MGM is the latest example of the culture industry’s transformation into a Big Tech monopoly. Artists, workers, and the film-watching public suffer the consequences.
Apple Is Not Your Friend
Major corporations like Apple want us to believe they care about the planet and are addressing their unsustainable practices. Surprise, surprise — they don’t and they aren’t.
Nomads in Search of a Villain
The new film Nomadland is a heartfelt look at the lives of itinerant Americans cast aside by the Great Recession. But it ignores how employers like Amazon are raking in profits off this new class of worker.
Jeff Bezos: Your Legacy Is Exploitation
Jeff Bezos is stepping aside as Amazon’s CEO having made a fortune of almost $200 billion. It’s an attempt at reputation rehabilitation — but he can’t escape the legacy of exploitation he leaves behind.
After Prop 22, Expect Uber to Escalate Its War on Workers’ Rights
Companies like Uber had a massive victory in November, when their $200 million propaganda blitz convinced voters in California to pass Proposition 22, excluding platform workers from labor protections. Their plan to entrench contractor status for workers nationwide is clear, but stopping them is still an option — and a necessity.
When Automation Meets a Draconian Border Regime
As tech companies tighten their grip on power, sci-fi visions of the future are proliferating. In Alex Rivera’s film Sleep Dealer, automation meets the hyper-militarization of borders, only increasing exploitation. It’s a techno-dystopia alarmingly imaginable today.
Only Class War Can Stop Climate Change
A new report shows that the world’s top 1 percent is responsible for double the emissions of the entire bottom half of the planet. The message is clear: to fight climate change, we have to fight the ruling class.
Don’t Blame Social Media. Blame Capitalism.
A new Netflix film, The Social Dilemma, would have us believe that increasing social division and polarized political rhetoric is the product of Facebook and Twitter, and not the fact that income inequality has returned to pre–Great Depression levels.
Big Tech Can’t Save Journalism. Democratic Socialism Can.
We need a plan for public funding of the media that can revive the ability to do more in-depth investigative reporting, hold power to account, and prioritize local journalism. Socialists have solutions.
Scott Morrison’s Grudge Against China Is About Capitalist Competition
After riding the coattails of China’s boom for decades, Australian conservatives are now railing against China. They’re not just following a lead from Washington — the Liberal Party’s corporate backers are anxious to maintain Australian dominance in the South Pacific.