This episode of The Dig is brought to you by our supporters on Patreon and by Verso Books,

which has loads of great left-wing titles, perfect for dig listeners like you.

One that you might like is radical technologies, the design

of everyday life by Adam Greenfield. Everywhere return a startling new device promises to transfigure our lives.

But at what cost?

In this urgent and irrevelatory excavation of our information age, leading technology thinker Adam Greenfield forces us to reconsider

our relationship with the networked objects, services, and spaces that define us.

It is time to re-evaluate the Silicon Valley consensus

determining the future. We already depend on the smartphone to navigate every

aspect of our existence. We're told that innovations from augmented reality interfaces and

virtual assistance to autonomous delivery drones and self-driving cars will make life

easier, more convenient, and more productive.

3D printing promises unprecedented control

over the form and distribution of matter,

while the blockchain stands to revolutionize everything from the recording and

exchange of value to the way we organize the mundane realities of the day-to-day.

And all the while, fiendishly complex algorithms are operating quietly in the background, reshaping the economy, transforming the fundamental terms of our politics, and even redefining what it means to be human.

Having successfully colonized everyday life,

these radical technologies are now conditioning the choices available to us

in the years to come.

How do they work? What challenges do they present to us as

individuals and societies? Who benefits from their adoption? In answering these

...