Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast.

Robber barons of the original Gilded Age told themselves stories about how they were ushering in progress for all, which is why they argued.

They shouldn't be constrained by things like safety regulations or worker unions, impoverishing millions while

injuring and killing thousands in the process. It took a stock market crash, the Great Depression,

World War II, and the New Deal to finally wrench the power away and redistributed it

for the sake of building a middle class that could work in relative safety

in the U.S.

Today's robber barons, ushering in techno-futalism under the banner of AI for all, are no different,

but with even higher stakes in the balance.

For those looking for a quick overview, the sources providing our top takes in about

55 minutes today includes Today Explained,

here and now anytime, last week tonight, the briefing, more perfect union, Adam Walker's

close reading poetry, and the DSR network. Then, in the additional deeper dives half of the show,

there will be more in four sections. Section A, AI Slop, followed by

Section B, Social Aspects, Section C, Labor and Education, and Section D, Data Centers. But first,

a reminder to check out our new show solved on the Best of Left YouTube channel. We're really

proud of the show we're making and know you'll get real value out of it. And you checking it out actually helps us find new viewers on YouTube.

So thanks in advance for all of your views, likes, subscribes, and comments.

That's all on the Best of Left YouTube channel linked in the show notes.

And now, on to the show.

Slop. To me, AI Slop.

To me, AI Slop, the way I define it is just any form of AI-generated content that's designed to keep you scrolling and keep you consuming and coming back for more.

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