10 episodes
The Santiago Boys Chora
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- History
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4.9 • 33 Ratings
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The Santiago Boys is a nine-part podcast about a group of radical utopians around Salvador Allende, Chile's socialist president. Undeterred by the Cold War and machinations of their enemies and aided by an eccentric British consultant, they try to wrestle control over technology from multinationals and intelligence agencies and use it to create a more egalitarian economy. As their dream gets crushed by Pinochet's bloody coup, the Santiago Boys find an unexpected afterlife - and in Silicon Valley of all places.
The series is written and presented by Evgeny Morozov, a leading technology critic.
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Ep 9: Cybersyn in Silicon Valley
As Fernando conquers Silicon Valley, Stafford seeks refuge in the tranquil Welsh wilderness. Ironically, Pinochet's journey to the origins of Cybersyn culminates in his arrest. With the dawn of democracy in Chile, vestiges of the past persist. But what has happened to Cybersyn's Ops Room?
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Ep 8: Of condors and caravans
Fernando defies Pinochet's labor camps, resurfacing in sunny California. In a stunning twist, Stafford mingles with rockstars. In Chile, Pinochet's spymaster weaves a nefarious plot, the rhythm of his ambition matched only by the hum of computers and telexes.
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Ep 7: A room of one's own
The day of reckoning arrives with a rain of missiles on La Moneda, spelling a tragic end for Allende's revolution. With Fernando arrested and others in exile, Cybersyn's future hangs in balance. A world away, a distraught Stafford Beer races against time to aid his imperiled Chilean comrades.
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Ep 6: The geopolitics of empanadas
Allende's troubles escalate: miners down tools and disgruntled soldiers mount an unsuccessful coup attempt. A wave of unrelenting terrorist attacks keeps Santiago on edge. Stafford, fed up with bureaucracy, retreats to the seaside, while Fernando learns of a cunning plot.
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Ep 5: The super-technocrat of them all
Stafford Beer suddenly faces stinging accusations from radical British leftists. Is he engineering a cybernetic Big Brother? Meanwhile, Allende battles a political whirlwind, abandoned by the Kremlin and unable to fully overcome Washington's invisible blockade.
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Ep 4: The cybernetic jacket
Allende stares down the barrel of his gravest crisis yet, as middle classes desert him. As cybernetic strategies bring a glimmer of hope, Fernando Flores is thrust into the limelight. Meanwhile, Stafford walks a perilous line, his reputation now tied to Allende's.
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Customer Reviews
Absolutely riveting
An incredible telling of a geopolitical macrocosm through a microcosm of details about a utopian cybernetic project. The details are what make this story so compelling, situated in a well-researched history of Chile before, during, and after the Allende presidency.
Full Spectrum Context
Although telling the stories of the individual people involved with the project and the political situation and the technological details may seem overkill, the series does an excellent job of weaving them together so you get a full understanding of what Cybersin meant to the various factions; nothing exists in a vacuum. Also, kudos for an in-depth explanation of the treacherous subject of Chilean politics of the time which most histories slant to make a point rather than provide knowledge.
He speaks English 🙄
I disagree with the other (and currently only) written review complaining that the narrator’s accent is too thick to understand. Yes he has an accent, and perhaps that’s challenging if English isn’t your native language. I suggest you slow down the listening speed in that case. Otherwise, great podcast production and very interesting story that I don’t think many people know much about even if they’re familiar with the broader story of the coup and Cold War shenanigans.