CounterVortex Podcast

Bill Weinberg
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  1. 1d ago

    Resist digital hegemony! III

    At the UN's Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa warned that artificial intelligence poses the threat of an "information Armageddon." Scholars of critical theory perceive that online culture reproduces a "cycle of epistemic injustice" by fostering "organized stupidity" that fuels extremism and authoritarianism. And the same technology now implements the grim material application of this degraded intellectual climate, with a UN Human Rights Council study especially accusing Palantir of being part of an "economy of genocide" through its enabling of Israel's AI-enhanced targeting in Gaza. Meanwhile, the pollution generated by the data centers that power AI is now "almost incomprehensible." Despite all this, UNESCO in Geneva glibly called for a "safe and inclusive AI that benefits all," and an openly boosteristic "AI for Good" confab was held alongside the Global Dialogue. The "anti-tech rebellion" against screens in school classrooms is a significant sign of hope, but the end of reading and death of literacy are already upon us. Moves toward greater regulation of AI are most significant as a catalyst for the conversation that needs to be had: how to launch an effective movement for abolition. In Episode 336 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

    Resist digital hegemony! III

  2. Jul 6

    Resist digital hegemony! II

    Digital technology continues to colonize every sphere of human activity with terrifying rapidity, and Artificial Intelligence portends the actual abolition of humanity. Even the United Nations' belated and insufficient efforts to put a regulatory regime in place for AI acknowledge that humans face imminent "loss of control" over the technology. There are glimmers of hope, however: teachers engaged in practical resistance to the rollout of AI in school classrooms, and the nationwide protests against the proliferation of data centers. In New York City, the local Luddite Club just held a Summer of Ludd festival—aimed at getting people to disconnect from the digital pseudo-reality that recuperates our very alienation from itself, and to reclaim real life in the public parks and streets. In Episode 335 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg offers a report from Manhattan's Lower East Side. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

  3. Jun 24

    The Iran MoU in the Great Game

    The "Memorandum of Understanding" signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is contingent on the cooperation of two entities not a party to it: Hezbollah and Israel—which continues to commit war crimes in Lebanon. The provisions on Iran's nuclear program do not even recoup the progress won in Obama's nuclear deal that Trump tore up in his first term. And Trump's claim when hostilities began back in February to be acting on behalf of Iranians who rose up in mass protests against the regime are now completely betrayed in a "non-interference" pledge. In Episode 334 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to urge support for alternative voices that take a neither/nor position regading MAGA-imperialism and the Islamic Republic, and again recalls the anarchist slogan: Neither your war nor your peace! Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 61 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 62!

  4. Jun 21

    Resist digital hegemony!

    Voices from within the academy are now raising the alarm about the decline of literacy under the relentless assault of totalized digital immersion—finally catching up to what CounterVortex blogger and ranter Bill Weinberg has been saying for years (although sneering denialism about the problem remains fashionable). Worldwide, the humanities are being abandoned in favor of STEM, while social media overtakes "legacy media" as a source of "news"—or (as is more often the case) sinister propaganda. In Episode 333 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill takes stock of this grave and still under-appreciated threat to the survival of democracy and humanity itself—and looks for signs of practical resistance. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

  5. Jun 14

    The Space Trilogy revisited

    CS Lewis is mainly seen as either a purveyor of goopy children's literature or a Christian moralist fuddy-duddy. But Lewis' Space Trilogy—fantastic literature for adults, or "philosophical science fiction"—also reveals him as a dystopian prophet in the tradition of Orwell. The first two books in the series, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, are a critique of space imperialism that anticipated the Avatar movies. But the final one, That Hideous Strength, is particularly relevant for our historical moment, as it anticipated rule by fascist tech bros with hubristic visions of remaking (or abolishing) humanity. In Episode 332 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case that Lewis offered a vital critique of technocracy and "transhumanism" that is now urgently needed, as humanity stands at the cusp of his worst nightmares. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

  6. Jun 7

    AI: the case for abolition

    Trump's executive order purporting to establish a regulation regime for artificial intelligence actually serves the aim of a government partnership with the AI industry to advance the police state. Ironically, it is AI company Anthropic that calls for a moratorium on development of the technology until its threats are assessed. Pope Leo XIV's encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence," raises critical points but still echoes the illusion that this technology, now threatening to develop its own powers of "recursive self-improvement," can be effectively regulated. There are encouraging signs of worker pushback against replacement by AI, and an emerging anarchist critique of the technology. Of course the Trump regime is targeting critics for repression as "anti-tech extremists." In Episode 331 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again calls for total abolition of AI, citing unacceptable threats to humanity on ecological, epistemological and eschatological grounds. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

  7. May 31

    Hasan Piker & the pro-fascist pseudo-left

    The administrative subpoenas issued for Hasan Piker and Medea Benjamin over their participation in the Cuba caravan are to be opposed—in part because the subpoenas will only give their sinister politics greater cachet among neophyte activists! Piker's shameless shilling for the dictatorships of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin invisibilizes the victims of their ethno-supremacist detention states—such as the Uyghurs of Xinjiang and the Crimean Tatars. This more ciritcal point is obscured in the endless outrage over his supposed anti-Semitism. And with Xi and Putin joining with Trump to build a fascist world order, Piker's brand of campist pseudo-opposition (however overheated) is compromised from the start, mirroring what it ostensibly opposes—subpoenas notwithstanding. In Episode 330 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg breaks it down in his typically unsparing manner. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

  8. May 24

    MAGA-fascism and anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism III

    The Justice Department "Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism" has announced a national propaganda tour—as the DoJ is explicitly targeting anti-fascists for prosecution. The tour also comes as the question of Israel has emerged as the critical issue in the split within MAGA—with elements of the breakaway populist wing virtually gloating that the Israel Lobby's support for the Trump-loyal pro-war wing will result in a backlash against Jews. Both wings of MAGA are equally reactionary, yet elements of the supposed "left" are already in a dangerous flirtation with the populist wing—and it is a Democratic congressional hopeful, Maureen Galindo of Texas, who is openly calling for mass detention of "Zionists" in repurposed ICE camps. An incipient Red-Brown alliance can be seen, fueled by the Trump regime's ultra-cynical anti-Semitic pseudo-anti-anti-Semitism. In Episode 329 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes an unsparing look. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special offer! We now have 60 subscribers. If you appreciate our work, please become Number 61!

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4.6
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About

Support my work on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/countervortex

Information

  • Creator
    Bill Weinberg
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    336
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    CounterVortex Podcast

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