Show Notes
Greetings from Read Max HQ! Today, the first in what I hope will be a regular series with my old friend Sam Biddle, senior technology reporter at the Intercept and a former writer for Gawker and Valleywag, in which we discuss tech-industry news and b******t that otherwise wouldn’t make it into the newsletter. In this episode we’re talking: * A.G.I., A.I., and why we hate the term; * Sarah Wynn-Williams’ new book on Facebook and Facebook’s bizarre reaction to it; and * our favorite files from the J.F.K. release (Longtime subscribers will remember Sam as the author of the guest post “True Life: For reasons I don't fully understand I bought hundreds of Cold War-era military slides on eBay” and the source of the legendary post “Why is this cyber-education nonprofit selling a $13,000 occult artifact on eBay?”) Links to some of what we discuss in this podcast: * “The Government Knows A.G.I. Is Coming,” by Ezra Klein * “Powerful A.I. Is Coming. We’re Not Ready,” by Kevin Roose * “Should A.G.I. preppers embrace D.O.G.E.?” by Henry Farrell * “People Are Using AI to Create Influencers With Down Syndrome Who Sell Nudes,” by Emanuel Maiberg * The Cut’s “Book Gossip” newsletter on Careless People * “CIA, Walter Elder ‘Family Jewels’ memorandum for William E. Colby, ‘Special Activities,’ Secret/Sensitive/Eyes Only, June 1, 1973, 7 pp.”
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More from Read Max
Greetings from Read Max HQ! For this week’s edition of my intermittment podcast with John Ganz (author of When the Clock Broke and proprietor of the Unpopular Front Substack) we were pleased to host Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff, authors of the new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed, an exploration of Elon Musk’s ideology (such as it is) and power through the system of production and accumulation he seems intent on inaugurating. I highly recommend the book, which you can purchase here; we also discussed, among other things: * this excellent essay on Muskism and Fordism from Quinn and Ben at the Law and Political Economy blog; * Musk’s relationship to apartheid South Africa; * some interesting objections to the Muskism thesis; * how Neon Genesis: Evangelion can help us explain and understand Elon Musk. This one is free for all to listen--enjoy!--but if you find it enlightening or entertaining, please consider paying to subscribe. Only with the support of paying subscribers can I put in all the work it takes to be an independent critic and journalist--to read, research, write, edit, record, etc. etc. If you value that work, consider paying about the price of one beer a month ($5) to help it continue.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit maxread.substack.com
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit maxread.substack.com
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit maxread.substack.com
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit maxread.substack.com