Digital technology continues to colonize every sphere of human activity with terrifying rapidity [10], and Artificial Intelligence portends the actual abolition of humanity [11]. Even the United Nations' belated and insufficient efforts [12] to put a regulatory regime [13] in place for AI acknowledge that humans face imminent "loss of control [20]" over the technology. There are glimmers of hope, however: teachers engaged in practical resistance [14] to the rollout of AI in school classrooms, and the nationwide protests [15] against the proliferation of data centers [21]. In New York City, the local Luddite Club [16] just held a Summer of Ludd [16] festival—aimed at getting people to disconnect from the digital pseudo-reality that recuperates our very alienation from itself, and to reclaim real life in the public parks and streets. In Episode 335 [17] of the CounterVortex [18] podcast, Bill Weinberg offers a report from Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Listen on SoundCloud [17] or via Patreon [22].
Books discussed:
Production by Chris Rywalt [23]
We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon [24] or PayPal [25].
