Computer Says Maybe

Alix Dunn

Technology is changing fast. And it's changing our world even faster. Host Alix Dunn interviews visionaries, researchers, and technologists working in the public interest to help you keep up. Step outside the hype and explore the possibilities, problems, and politics of technology. We publish weekly.

  1. Gotcha! Enshittification w/ Cory Doctorow (replay)

    2D AGO

    Gotcha! Enshittification w/ Cory Doctorow (replay)

    Welcome to the final boss of scams in the age of technology: Enshittification More like this: Nodestar: The Eternal September w/ Mike Masnick We’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy! Is platformisation essentially just an industrial level scam? We will deep-dive the enshittification playbook to understand how companies lock users into decaying platforms, and get away with it. Cory shares ideas on what we can do differently to turn tide. Listen to learn what a ‘chickenised reverse centaur’ is… Further reading & resources: Buy Enshittifcation now from Verso Books!Picks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowOn The Media series on EnshittificationPluralistic — Daily Links and essays by Cory DoctorowConservatism Considered as a Movement of Bitter Rubes — Cory on why conservatism creates a friendly environment for scamsHow I Got Scammed — Cory on his personal experiences of being scammedAll of Cory’s booksAll (Antitrust) Politics Are Local — the entry to Pluralistic that Cory wrote on the day of recording**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    57 min
  2. Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David Seligman (replay)

    6D AGO

    Worker Power & Big Tech Bossmen w/ David Seligman (replay)

    Litigator David Seligman describes how big tech companies act brazenly as legal bullies to extract wealth and power from the working class in the US. More like this: The Human in the Loop: The AI Supply Chain We’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy! Alix and David talk about legal devices such as forced arbitration and monopolistic practices like algorithmic price fixing and wage suppression — and the cases that David’s team are bringing to fight these practices Further reading & resources Seligman for Attorney General ColoradoTowards Justice California drivers lawsuitEichman in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banal State of Evil by Hannah ArendtThe Dual State by Ernst FraenkelProhibiting Surveillance Prices and Wages by Towards JusticeGill VS Uber — class action led by Towards Justice**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!** Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    47 min
  3. Reporting on AI’s climate injustices w/ Karen Hao (replay)

    12/30/2025

    Reporting on AI’s climate injustices w/ Karen Hao (replay)

    Reporting on the tech industry proves a huge challenge due to how opaque it all is — Empire of AI author Karen Hao talks us through her investigative methods in a conversation from November 2024. More like this: Net 0++ AI Thirst in a Water-Scarce World w/ Julie McCarthy We’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy! AI companies are flagrantly obstructive when it comes to sharing information about their infrastructure — this makes reporting on the climate injustices of AI really hard. Karen shares the tactics that these companies use, and the challenges that she has faced in her investigative reporting. Further reading: Buy Empire of AI by Karen HaoMicrosoft’s Hypocrisy on AI by Karen HaoAI is Taking Water from the Desert by Karen HaoPost Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    27 min
  4. How to (Actually) Keep Kids Safe Online w/ Kate Sim (replay)

    12/26/2025

    How to (Actually) Keep Kids Safe Online w/ Kate Sim (replay)

    A replay of our conversation with Kate Sim, on the state of child safety online. More like this: Dogwhistles: Networked Transphobia Online We’re replaying five deep conversations over the Christmas period for you to listen to on your travels and downtime — please enjoy! Child safety is a fuzzy catch-all concept for our broader social anxieties that seems to be everywhere in our conversations about the internet. But child safety isn’t a new concept, and the way our politics focuses on the spectacle isn’t new either. To help us unpack this is Kate Sim, who has over a decade of experience in sexual violence prevention and response and is currently the Director of the Children’s Online Safety and Privacy Research (COSPR) program at the University of Western Australia’s Tech & Policy Lab. We discuss the growth of ‘child safety’ regulation around the world, and how it often conflates multiple topics: age-gating adult content, explicit attempts to harm children, national security, and even ‘family values’. Further reading & resources: On COSPRs forthcoming paper on the CSAM detection ecosystem. Here is a fact sheet with ecosystem map based on it: https://bit.ly/cospr-collateralOn CSAM bottleneck problem: https://doi.org/10.25740/pr592kc5483IBCK episode on the Anxious Generation: https://pod.link/1651876897/episode/47a8aa95c83be96b044dcb3f4e43d158Child psychology expert Candace Odgers debunking Jonathan Haidt’s claims in real-time here: https://tyde.virginia.edu/event/haidt-odgers/)A primer on client-side scanning and CSAM from Mitali Thakor: https://mit-serc.pubpub.org/pub/701yvdbh/release/2On effective CSA prevention and scalability: https://www.prevention.global/resources/read-full-scalability-report**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!**Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    50 min
  5. Digitisation, Privatisation, and Human Centipedes: Our Learnings from 2025

    12/19/2025

    Digitisation, Privatisation, and Human Centipedes: Our Learnings from 2025

    Before we break for the year we wanted to reflect on what the podcast brought us in 2025, and what we want to see for 2026 This week Alix is joined by two members of The Maybe team: Prathm Juneja and Georgia Iacovou. We discuss our favourite episodes from the year while making it clear we love all episodes equally. And also this is not your standard clip show. We ask ourselves what we learned, why it was important to us, and what we are hungry for in 2026. Featured episodes: Is Digitisation Killing Democracy? w/ Marietje SchaakeNodestar: Building Blacksky w/ Rudy FraserRegulating Privacy in an AI Era w/ Carly KindTo be Seen and Not Watched w/ Tawana PettyThe Taiwan Bottleneck w/ Brian ChenGotcha! How MLMs Ate the Economy w/ Bridget ReadAlso mentioned in this episode: AI in Gaza Live from Mexico City**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!** Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    53 min
  6. Ben Collins: Computer Says MozFest

    12/18/2025

    Ben Collins: Computer Says MozFest

    The Onion CEO Ben Collins has successfully turned political satire into a sustainable business. He explains why humorous messaging is important to understand times like these — and why he’s dead serious about buying Infowars. Head to our feed for more conversations from MozFest with Abeba Birhane, Audrey Tang, and Luisa Franco Machado. Further reading & resources: Read The Onion, America’s finest news source, if you don’t already…The Onion to buy Infowars**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!** Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    11 min
  7. Audrey Tang: Computer Says MozFest

    12/17/2025

    Audrey Tang: Computer Says MozFest

    Audrey Tang has some big ideas on how we can use collective needs to shape AI systems — and avoid a future where human life is seen as an obstacle to paper clip production. She also shares what might be the first actual good use-case for AI agents… Further reading & resources: 6-Pack of Care — a research project by Audrey Tang and Caroline Green as part of the Institute for Ethics in AIMore about Kami — the Japanese local spirits Audrey mentions throughout the conversationThe Oxford Institute for Ethics in AI**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!** Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    23 min
  8. Luisa Franco Machado: Computer Says MozFest

    12/16/2025

    Luisa Franco Machado: Computer Says MozFest

    You can’t build a digital rights movement if you don’t know what you’re fighting for. Luisa says that we’re in a crisis of imagination, and that participation — the non-performative kind — is one big way out of this. Further reading & resources: Learn more about EquilabsFollow Luisa on Instagram — sorry, email is too ‘analog’Check out her Linktree**Subscribe to our newsletter to get more stuff than just a podcast — we run events and do other work that you will definitely be interested in!** Post Production by Sarah Myles | Pre Production by Georgia Iacovou

    21 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Technology is changing fast. And it's changing our world even faster. Host Alix Dunn interviews visionaries, researchers, and technologists working in the public interest to help you keep up. Step outside the hype and explore the possibilities, problems, and politics of technology. We publish weekly.

Information

  • Creator
    Alix Dunn
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    96
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Computer Says Maybe

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