I think we're actually in a more like kind of moment than we were a few years ago.

Popular sentiment about technology in general, about Silicon Valley and particular social media,

has really turned.

Hello and welcome to Tech Won't Save Us.

I'm your host, Paris Marks, and this week my guest is Gavin Mueller.

Gavin is the author of a new book from Verso called Breaking Things at Work.

The Luddites are right about why you hate your job.

He's also a lecturer in media studies at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the editorial collective of Viewpoint Magazine.

In this episode, we talk about Gavin's new book and how it presents a different kind of

politics of technology that is very much in line with the goals and the politics of this show.

Gavin explains who the Luddites were and why they weren't just the anti-technology workers that is often associated with

that word today. They saw how technology was changing their communities and the way that they

worked in a way that diminished their skills, reduce their incomes, and changed their

lives for the worse. And they didn't just start by smashing this technology. They tried other

means to avoid what was happening, but got no response. So naturally, they smashed the machines.

And Gavin explains how this wasn't just some event in the 1800s, but there have

been similar movements and approaches to technology before and certainly far after them.

And that if we want to think about how technology can serve the public good and create a better

society for the working class, not just the billionaire class,

then Luddite politics can provide a really important way of thinking about this.

I say this to Gavin at the end of the interview, but I think our previous episodes with

Aaron Bannonov and Thea Rio Francos fit really well if you're looking for more episodes

...