Technoprogressive Hub Podcast

Technoprogressive Hub

The Technoprogressive Hub is fighting for a high-tech and radically democratic future. Sponsored by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and hosted by J. Hughes. technoprogressives.substack.com

  1. Jul 18

    Technoprogressive Worldbuilding

    This summer Matteo MacDermant is teaching a course on Technoprogressive Worldbuilding for the IEET. We discuss the themes of the course, and some philosophical reflections about the technoprogressive project. * James Hughes and Matteo McDermant discuss their IEET “Technoprogressive Worldbuilding” summer course, tracing its intellectual roots from Enlightenment progress theory through Bogdanov’s proto-transhumanist “tectology” and the Bolshevik God Builders. * They debate biohacking and “right to try” ethics using Bryan Johnson as a case study, weighing bioliberal bodily autonomy against the FDA’s informed-consent rationale for regulation. * The conversation covers Sasha Costanza-Chuck’s Design Justice, examining how systems (subway elevators, dating-site dropdowns, census categories) encode assumptions about a “default” user and exclude marginalized groups. * They trace the historically constructed nature of racial/ethnic categories, using the U.S. census’s pre/post-2010 Hispanic classification and the “one drop rule” as examples of Foucauldian statistical governmentality. * Matteo explains his dissertation focus on tech worker organizing as a “socio-technical” labor movement, distinguishing it from the “click worker” and content-moderation labor performed largely in the Global South. * They discuss the class divides within tech labor (FTEs vs. TVCs/contractors) and how marginalized tech workers, not “class reductionist” purists, drove early solidarity with Silicon Valley service workers. * Automation’s limits are examined through Waymo remote operators and robot food-delivery services secretly controlled by workers in the Philippines and Colombia, tying this to John Scalzi’s Head On and a Tokyo robot café staffed by disabled teleoperators. * They contrast deterministic/accelerationist libertarian transhumanism with James’s “democratic transhumanism,” emphasizing epistemic humility, non-teleological history, and Bogdanov’s concept of “radical imminence.” * Drawing on Bogdanov’s “view from the peak” metaphor and standpoint epistemology, they argue technoprogressive knowledge requires actively incorporating diverse perspectives (race, gender, trans experience) to approach a more universal picture of reality. * The episode closes with reflections on constructed narratives (via the show Silo‘s memory-erasure plot and a Simone Weil quote on history), an invitation to join the course, and wry commentary on the surreal banality of Trump-era politics. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

    Technoprogressive Worldbuilding

  2. Jul 11

    The Best Way to Nationalize AI

    OpenAI is offering 5% equity to the US government. Trump has ordered the creation of a US sovereign wealth fund, received 10% government equity in Intel, and a “golden share” in US Steel. Now Bernie Sanders has proposed 50% nationalization of AI stocks, to be held in a sovereign wealth fund that will finance a UBI. Why is there a sudden convergence by Right and Left on nationalizing AI? Notes “The Case for Nationalizing Artificial Intelligence” Dustin Guastella https://jacobin.com/2026/07/ai-policy-nationalization-commons-work “The Sanders-Trump Plan for an AI Sovereign Wealth Fund: Don’t Buy It” Dean Baker https://cepr.net/publications/the-sanders-trump-plan-for-an-ai-sovereign-wealth-fund-dont-buy-it/ “The Bernie Sanders AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Proposal” Matt Bruenig https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2026/06/26/bernie-sanders-ai-swf/ “OpenAI Woos Trump Administration as Investor” Chad de Guzman https://time.com/article/2026/07/03/openai-invest-ai-trump-administration-sam-altman/ “Why Everyone Is Suddenly Talking About ‘Universal Basic Capital’” Rogé Karma https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/2026/07/universal-basic-capital-ai/687759/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

    The Best Way to Nationalize AI

  3. Jun 29

    Age Verification Laws

    J Hughes, Sarah Shahed, Matteo MacDermant discuss Sarah’s editorial on age verification laws. We all want to protect children from harm, and age-gating social media websites has broad support. But mandating age-verification means identifying everyone, giving platforms much more information about consumers and putting the anonymity of journalists, activists and whistleblowers at risk. They also oblige defining what kinds of content are inappropriate for children. Is there a technofix for age-gating that preserves user anonymity? Links * Sarah’s essay: * The Win That Wasn’t: What New Mexico v. Meta Is Really About: * UK ban announcement (GOV.UK): https://www.gov.uk/government/news/social-media-to-be-banned-for-under-16s-in-landmark-government-move-to-givekids-their-childhood-back * TechPolicy.Press on UK ban and surveillance: https://www.techpolicy.press/could-a-uk-teen-social-media-ban-work-without-expanding-surveillance/ * House KIDS Act deal (this week): https://www.techtimes.com/articles/318896/20260623/house-kids-act-deal-drops-kosa-duty-care-adds-age-verification-all-users.htm * Texas app verification ruling:https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/28/texas-apple-google-app-store-age-verification/ * EFF on age verification dangers:https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/kids-act-would-require-age-checks-get-online This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

    Age Verification Laws

  4. May 9

    Transnational Queer Media

    Thomas Baudinette is Senior Lecturer in Global Cultures at Macquarie University in Australia, a cultural anthropologist whose work maps the role popular culture plays in shaping gender and sexuality across East and Southeast Asia. His first book, Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (University of Michigan Press, 2021), examined how commercial gay media and the bar culture of Shinjuku shapes gay male identity in Japan. His second book, Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2023), is the first book-length study of the Thai BL phenomenon, drawing on six years of ethnographic fieldwork documenting the shift of queer cultural production in Asia from Japan to Thailand. He also co-edited East Asian Pornographies and Online Porn Cultures (Routledge, 2023) and Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia. He is currently working on two new book projects: an edited collection titled Riding the Thai Wind: Globalising Thai Media, Transnational Fandom, and Soft Power, and a monograph titled Queer Fantasies of Asia: Japanese and Korean Media Fandom in the Philippines. Show Notes * Thomas Baudinette’s personal website thomasbaudinette.com * Academia.edu profile https://mq.academia.edu/ThomasBaudinette * Boys Love Media in Thailand (Bloomsbury, 2023) https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/boys-love-media-in-thailand-9781350330641/ * “Exploring the rise of activism for LGBTQ+ rights in contemporary Thailand within Boys Love idol culture” (Celebrity Studies, 2025) https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19392397.2025.2521219 * Queer Transfigurations: Boys Love Media in Asia (University of Michigan Press, 2022) https://www.press.umich.edu/12040318/queer_transfigurations * Marriage Equality, Thai BL Culture, and Queer Soft Power * The Untamed https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10554898/ * Khemjira https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33258229/ * The Paradise of Thorns https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32362515 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

  5. May 1

    Science Fiction and Artificial Wombs

    Today on Technoprogressive Hub I’m speaking with Dr. Evie Kendal, a bioethicist and public health scientist at Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology. She is the author of the provocative and influential monograph, Equal Opportunity and the Case for State Sponsored Ectogenesis, in which she argued that artificial wombs are a potential requirement for genuine social and gender equality. In her latest volume, Science Fiction and the Ethics of Artificial Wombs (Bloomsbury, 2025), Dr. Kendal pivots to the “imagination as a laboratory.” She critiques the traditional bioethical reliance on sterile clinical vignettes, arguing instead that the “thick” narratives found in science fiction—from the cautionary tales of Aldous Huxley to the liberating visions of Marge Piercy and Octavia Butler—provide a more robust framework for anticipating the social and political shocks of emerging biotechnologies. Show Notes Evie Kendal’s recent publications https://experts.swinburne.edu.au/6209-evie-kendal/publications Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9x0hed0AAAAJ&hl=en Equal Opportunity and the Case for State Sponsored Ectogenesis, Evie Kendalhttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137549877 Science Fiction and the Ethics of Artificial Wombs, Evie Kendalhttps://www.bloomsbury.com/us/science-fiction-and-the-ethics-of-artificial-wombs-9781350542990/ “Artificial Womb: A Short History,” J. Hughes https://philarchive.org/rec/HUGAWA This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

    Science Fiction and Artificial Wombs

  6. Apr 25

    Technoprogressive Politicians Emerge

    As anxiety about data centers, AI-driven precarity, and tech oligarch authoritarianism mount, progressives have mostly responded with proposals to slow down AI. Bernie in particular has been channeling some of the existential risk concerns of Eliezer Yudkowsky, Geoffrey Hinton and Max Tegmark, and with Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, promoting regulation of data center construction. On the other hand, California Congressman and US Presidential aspirant Ro Khanna, Congressional candidate Alex Bores, and Massachusetts state legislature candidate Jason Poulos have emerged with technoprogressive policy proposals, universal basic income and services, progressive taxation and sovereign wealth funds. Some Big Tech firms, like OpenAI, are also now pushing for UBI and technoprogressive policies, while others like Palantir have fully embraced a techno-libertarian/authoritarian policy agenda. Show Notes IEET Summer Course on Technoprogressive Worldbuilding - June 20-August 20, 2026 - Online The Technoprogressive Opportunity - Sept 19-20, 2026 - London UK https://www.meetup.com/london-futurists/events/314148857/ Ro Khanna’s “AI for the People” agenda https://www.thenation.com/article/society/ro-khanna-ai-democracy-blueprint/ Alex Bores’ AI Dividend https://www.axios.com/2026/04/20/alex-bores-ai-dividend-plan-wealth Alex Bores’ AI Policy Framework https://www.alexbores.nyc/files/Bores_AI_Framework.pdf Jason Poulos, MA-4 Dem candidate platform https://poulos.house/ OpenAI’s Proposed Industrial Policy https://openai.com/index/industrial-policy-for-the-intelligence-age/ Alex Karp/Palantir’s mini-manifesto https://www.businessinsider.com/palantir-manifesto-alex-karp-technological-republic-summary-2026-4 Technoprogressive Hub is an IEET-sponsored podcast/vlog produced by J. Hughes. Also check out Bread and Robots, an IEET-sponsored podcast/vlog produced by Matteo McDermant. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

    Technoprogressive Politicians Emerge

  7. Apr 13

    Aleksandra Przegalińska on the Future of Work

    Today on Technoprogressive Hub we’re speaking with Aleksandra Przegalińska, a philosopher and social scientist of AI. Dr. Przegalińska is Vice Rector and the head of the Human-Machine Interaction Research Center at Kozminski University in Poland. Currently she is Senior Research Associate at the Center for Labour and Just Economy at Harvard University. She works on the future of work, humanoid and social robots, and wearable technologies. She is co-author of the book Collaborative Society and Debating Universal Basic Income. Links Collaborative Society (MIT Press), Aleksandra Przegalińska and Dariusz Jemielniak Debating Universal Basic Income: Pros, Cons, and Alternatives, Aleksandra Przegalińska and Robert Wright Aleksandra Przegalińska on Google Scholar Aleksandra Przegalińska on Researchgate This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

  8. Apr 10

    How Technoprogressive is Bernie/AOC's AI Data Center Proposal?

    This week on Technoprogressive Hub, Eli, Matteo and J discuss the legislation proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders to restrict the building of AI data centers. “Opposing AI’ is Luddite, not technoprogressive, but the sentiment against oligarchs, AI and data centers is so strong now that we may need to accept some Luddite positioning to get the Left to promote desirable AI safety and regulation. Links “Seizing the Data Center Buildout for Grid Modernization” by Jane Flagal https://www.searchlightinstitute.org/research/seizing-the-data-center-buildout-for-grid-modernization/ “AI data center fight blurs political lines” Axios https://www.axios.com/2026/01/16/ai-data-center-fight-blurs-political-lines “New Bernie Sanders AI Safety Bill Would Halt Data Center Construction” WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/new-bernie-sanders-ai-safety-bill-would-halt-data-center-construction/ “AI & robotics briefing: Data centres’ huge ‘water footprint’ becomes clear amid AI boom” by Katrina Krämer https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03768-y “AI Data Centers: Big Tech’s Impact on Electric Bills, Water, and More” by Nicole Greenfield https://www.consumerreports.org/data-centers/ai-data-centers-impact-on-electric-bills-water-and-more-a1040338678/ “AI data center” Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AI_data_center&oldid=1346973952 “AI, Data Centers, and the U.S. Electric Grid: A Watershed Moment” by Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs https://www.belfercenter.org/research-analysis/ai-data-centers-us-electric-grid “Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez push bill to impose AI data center moratorium” by Matthew Daly https://apnews.com/article/data-centers-ai-electricity-sanders-aoc-65651bd28c3d911d18eeb46cd54f4c75 “Why is Everyone So Wrong About AI Water Use?” by Hank Green This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit technoprogressives.substack.com

See All (17)

About

The Technoprogressive Hub is fighting for a high-tech and radically democratic future. Sponsored by the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and hosted by J. Hughes. technoprogressives.substack.com

Information