CounterVortex [14] editor and ranter Bill Weinberg [15] faces imminent cancelation of his landline and DSL service [16] by corporate oppressor [17] Verizon. As fiber-optic is not available in his building, this makes cable the only alternative—which means drilling through exterior walls, threatening the structural integrity [18] of the 19th century tenement. This as the CounterVortex website remains debilitated [19] following an attack by Chinese state-sponsored hackers. With this admittedly marginal dissident voice now in danger of being silenced, the system of corporate rule is increasingly replaced by worse-still actual robot rule. Trump and the fascist tech bros [34] are putting in place [20] the architecture [21] for direct robot control [35] over the military-security apparatus [22], and even of imperial decision-making [23]. Robo-propaganda has already thoroughly colonized [24] the political process, both in the US and elsewhere [25]. All this as the ecological impacts of the technology continue to propel the apocalypse [26]. In Episode 348 [27] of the CounterVortex podcast [28], Weinberg looks for glimmers of hope in municipal pushback [29], and popular refusal [30] of aritifical intelligence [31] and the entire digital leviathan [32].
Listen on SoundCloud [27] or via Patreon [36].
Books discussed:
The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy [37] by Gil Durán, Simon & Schuster, 2026
On the Eve of the Cybercultural Revolution: Black Power and Capitalism in the 1960s [38] by Brian Bartell, University of Minnesota Press, 2025
Production by Chris Rywalt [39]
We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon [40] or PayPal [41].
