We’re joined by Alyssa Battistoni — author of Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature — to discuss her new book which is really just Marxist political theory at its finest. We get into capitalism’s relationship to nature, the ways in which capital absorbs and subsumes so much of our world into its systems, restructuring and controlling so many social/natural processes through its logics. But also even more importantly, the great many ways that capital engages in withdrawal and retreat from the natural world; strategically neglecting to value nature, taking advantage of its “free gifts,” while also abdicating any responsibility for the vast world outside of capital’s confines. We then ask (and answer) the question: why is existentialism necessary for thinking about climate change?
••• Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature | Alyssa Battistoni https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691263465/free-gifts
••• Luddite Tribunal | November 27th, 6:30pm | Brunswick Library, Melbourne https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-luddite-tribunal-tickets-1836438871099
Standing Plugs:
••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble
••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)
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We’re joined by Alyssa Battistoni — author of Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature — to discuss her new book which is really just Marxist political theory at its finest. We get into capitalism’s relationship to nature, the ways in which capital absorbs and subsumes so much of our world into its systems, restructuring and controlling so many social/natural processes through its logics. But also even more importantly, the great many ways that capital engages in withdrawal and retreat from the natural world; strategically neglecting to value nature, taking advantage of its “free gifts,” while also abdicating any responsibility for the vast world outside of capital’s confines. We then ask (and answer) the question: why is existentialism necessary for thinking about climate change?
••• Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature | Alyssa Battistoni https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691263465/free-gifts
••• Luddite Tribunal | November 27th, 6:30pm | Brunswick Library, Melbourne https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-luddite-tribunal-tickets-1836438871099
Standing Plugs:
••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble
••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)
413. ScamGPT – How AI Supercharges Fraud (ft. Alice Marwick)
This Machine Kills
1 hour 24 minutes 21 seconds
3 months ago
413. ScamGPT – How AI Supercharges Fraud (ft. Alice Marwick)
We chat with Alice Marwick — director of research at Data & Society — about a new report she co-authored on how generative AI is now unleashing a new world of scams and fraud. AI is supercharging the business of scamming by making it easier and cheaper than ever to deploy sophisticated scams at scale. Scams are now automated, ubiquitous, and dynamic. The victims of AI-fuelled fraud are not just traditional demographics like older people. We get into types of fraud like pig butchering and harpoon whaling, and what we can do to defend against the automation of fraud. Then we discuss how these technical infrastructures are compounded by social conditions (and societal crises) that are making more people vulnerable to scams—but also to high risk behaviors like gambling, forms of financial exploitation like multi-level marketing, and misinformation like conspiracy theories.
••• Data & Society | Research https://datasociety.net/research/
••• Scam GPT: GenAI and the Automation of Fraud https://datasociety.net/library/scam-gpt/
••• The Future of Conspiracy Theory Scholarship https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19331681.2025.2491687
••• Mountains of Evidence: Processual “Redpilling” as a Socio-Technical Effect of Disinformation https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21934
Standing Plugs:
••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble
••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)
This Machine Kills
We’re joined by Alyssa Battistoni — author of Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature — to discuss her new book which is really just Marxist political theory at its finest. We get into capitalism’s relationship to nature, the ways in which capital absorbs and subsumes so much of our world into its systems, restructuring and controlling so many social/natural processes through its logics. But also even more importantly, the great many ways that capital engages in withdrawal and retreat from the natural world; strategically neglecting to value nature, taking advantage of its “free gifts,” while also abdicating any responsibility for the vast world outside of capital’s confines. We then ask (and answer) the question: why is existentialism necessary for thinking about climate change?
••• Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature | Alyssa Battistoni https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691263465/free-gifts
••• Luddite Tribunal | November 27th, 6:30pm | Brunswick Library, Melbourne https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-luddite-tribunal-tickets-1836438871099
Standing Plugs:
••• Order Jathan’s new book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble
••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills
Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)
