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Jathan Sadowski
@jathansadowski.com
7.6K followers 270 following 470 posts
ARC Future Fellow – Monash University /// co-host – This Machine Kills /// critical insurance tech + climate risk governance /// political economy of technology and capitalism: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite
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jathansadowski.com
Jathan Sadowski @jathansadowski.com · Jan 5
Thrilled to announce the official publication of my new book — The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism

Grab my book to go beyond the vaporous hype and get the real material analysis of technological capitalism that we all need! www.ucpress.edu/books/the-me...
Photo of a white man's hand holding a book titled THE MECHANIC AND THE LUDDITE. subtitled A RUTHLESS CRITICISM of TECHNOLOGY and CAPITALISM. author JATHAN SADOWSKI. The cover is a mottled red and orange with an image of a circular toothed gear with a crossed wrench and hammer inside. The title is rockered over the top of the gear and the subtitle is rockered below the gear. Back cover of THE MECHANIC AND THE LUDDITE book. DEMYSTIFIES HOW TWO SYSTEMS — TECHNOLOGY AND CAPITALISM — WORK TOGETHER AND EQUIPS US WITH TOOLS TO BUILD A BETTER WORLD Our society is constantly serving the needs of technology and capitalism. Neither system exists outside humans, but both are treated as above and beyond us. The Mechanic and the Luddite provides the critical tools we need to deconstruct these systems-how they work and what work they do in our lives. But It's not enough to know how the machinery of capitalism and technology operate; we also need to know whom the machines serve in order to decide whether they should be taken apart, rebuilt, or destroyed for good. With signature style, Jathan Sadowski gives readers a provocative and handy manual for understand- ing the power of technology and capitalism and, crucially, the power we must take back. "Jathan Sadowski is one of the most incisive and important thinkers on technology and capitalism today. This urgent book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the deeper political economy that shapes the digital domain and, by extension, every facet of modern life -ASTRA TAYLOR, author of The Age of Security: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart "Smart, urgent, and bluntly powerful, this book is required reading for anyone who seeks to understand how technology gets made — and whom it's made to serve. The time for a thunderous new Luddite politics is now and Sadowski's accessible manifesto delivers" -BRIAN MERCHANT, author of flood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech Sadowski's crisp and active prose generously illuminates technology's relationship to flows of money and power and the whims of those who wield them." MEREDITH WHITTAKER, Chief Advisor and Cofounder, Al Now Institute JATHAN SADOWSKI is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. He is author of Too Smart and host of the podcast This Machine Kills
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
parismarx.com
Great to have @jathansadowski.com and @bcmerchant.bsky.social back on the show to break down the year in tech with me!

The conversation also veered into other areas… like Scooby Doo 😅
techwontsave.us Tech Won’t Save Us @techwontsave.us · 2d
2025 is coming to a close — and that means it’s time to wrap up the biggest stories and worst people in tech!

This week @jathansadowski.com and @bcmerchant.bsky.social join @parismarx.com to give their insights on the past year.

Full ep: techwontsave.us/episode/308_...
December 24, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
charleswlogan.bsky.social
Closing out my 2025 reading with a bang(er) from @jathansadowski.com
A photograph of my hand holding the book “The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism” by Jathan Sadowski.
December 24, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, we're joined by @abenanav.bsky.social for a deep dive into his essays laying out a detailed vision for a world beyond capitalism.

Sit back and enjoy — holiday listening doesn't get much better than this. Part 2 is out in a couple weeks. soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
437. Do Socialists Dream of Electric Institutions, Part 1 (ft. Aaron Benanav)
We’re joined by Aaron Benanav to get into his magisterial essays laying out a vision of society beyond capitalism. In part 1 of our conversation, we lay out his incisive analysis of how capitalism is
soundcloud.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:56 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, we're joined by @abenanav.bsky.social for a deep dive into his essays laying out a detailed vision for a world beyond capitalism.

Sit back and enjoy — holiday listening doesn't get much better than this. Part 2 is out in a couple weeks. soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
437. Do Socialists Dream of Electric Institutions, Part 1 (ft. Aaron Benanav)
We’re joined by Aaron Benanav to get into his magisterial essays laying out a vision of society beyond capitalism. In part 1 of our conversation, we lay out his incisive analysis of how capitalism is
soundcloud.com
December 23, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
justinhendrix.bsky.social
15. @jathansadowski.com is a senior lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia; co-host of This Machine Kills, a weekly podcast on technology and political economy; and author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism.
The Dangerous Combination of Technology and Capitalism | TechPolicy.Press
A conversation with Jathan Sadowski, author of The Mechanic and the Luddite: a Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism.
www.techpolicy.press
December 22, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
justinhendrix.bsky.social
For many, the end of the year is an opportunity to catch up on reading or to purchase books as gifts. In 2025, a number of authors joined the Tech Policy Press podcast, providing fresh insights into how technology interacts with people, politics, and power. Check out the list:
Tech Policy Press: The Year in Books 2025 | TechPolicy.Press
In 2025, a number of authors joined the Tech Policy Press podcast, providing fresh insights into how technology interacts with people, politics, and power.
www.techpolicy.press
December 22, 2025 at 6:31 PM
jathansadowski.com
Great, long article in Zeit about Neo-Luddism and our Luddite Tribunal in Brooklyn last month. This piece really sets the scene and includes some choice quotes from me and @bcmerchant.bsky.social. Love to see such a sympathetic discussion of Luddism in a major newspaper. www.zeit.de/kultur/2025-...
Neo-Ludditen: Rage Against the Machine
In den USA sind die Maschinenstürmer zurück. Die Bewegung demoliert auch mal iPhones, will aber vor allem das Silicon Valley regulieren. Peter Thiel bekommt schon Angst.
www.zeit.de
December 19, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
techwontsave.us
It’s been a wild year — and we need to break it down!

Join @parismarx.com, @jathansadowski.com, @bcmerchant.bsky.social, and @edwardongwesojr.com tomorrow at 3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm GMT for a livestream to wrap up the year in tech.

Become a Patreon supporter to join us: patreon.com/techwontsaveus
The Year in Tech with Paris Marx, Jathan Sadowski, Brian Merchant, and Ed Ongweso Jr. December 29 at 3pm PT, 6pm ET, 11pm GMT
December 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK Premium, we go through a number of moral panics about technology — vaping in schools, porn consumption online, social media use by teens — and break down how all the panic-induced reactions ignore the real problems at hand.

full episode: www.patreon.com/posts/146101...
teaser:
Patreon Preview – 436. Panic! Attack the User
We go through a number of moral panics about technology — vaping in schools,porn consumption online, social media use by teens — that are boiling over right now. In each of these cases, real problems
soundcloud.com
December 17, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
jathansadowski.com
I wrote about Kalshi, prediction markets, and the vision of total financialization by turning every opinion into a tradable assets www.fastcompany.com/91457404/kal...
The Kalshi-fication of everything
The predictions platform is revealing what a world of total financialization will look like.
www.fastcompany.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:05 PM
jathansadowski.com
I wrote about Kalshi, prediction markets, and the vision of total financialization by turning every opinion into a tradable assets www.fastcompany.com/91457404/kal...
The Kalshi-fication of everything
The predictions platform is revealing what a world of total financialization will look like.
www.fastcompany.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:05 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, we discus the Council of Neo-Nicaea and then get into an incredibly harrowing story of abusive practices at Alpha School, charter schools structured around a personalized form of AI authoritarianism. soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
435. Schoolwork Will Set You Free
After discussing the Council of Neo-Nicaea — but like, what if Jesus was an AI? — we then discuss an incredibly harrowing story of abusive practices at Alpha School, charter schools structured around
soundcloud.com
December 9, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
jjvincent.bsky.social
can't stop watching this clip of a tesla Optimus teleoperator taking his headset off before properly logging out the robot
December 8, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
jeremyfarr.bsky.social
I've been thinking about disability and vulnerability in urban food systems recently and just caught up with this gem.

For what is a very rich discussion this was also a fantastic primer for anyone thinking about disability.

Highly recommend.
jathansadowski.com Jathan Sadowski @jathansadowski.com · Nov 25
In the new TMK, we chat with @beccamonteleone.bsky.social about her new book—the Double Bind of Disability—on the politics of disability, technology, and the production of knowledge/power over people's bodies. Becca lays out how to think (critically) about disability. soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
433. How to Think About Disability (ft. Becca Monteleone)
We chat with Becca Monteleone — author of The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority — about the critical intersection of disability and technology. Among many thing
soundcloud.com
December 6, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
hypervisible.blacksky.app
In terms of what’s understood to be socially acceptable behavior, normalizing the filming/taking pictures of people in public who are minding their own business (and putting it online) is one of the worst developments of the past 15 years.
Woman Hailed as Hero for Smashing Man's Meta Smart Glasses on Subway
A New York subway rider has accused a woman of breaking his Meta smart glasses. She was later hailed as a hero.
futurism.com
December 5, 2025 at 9:52 PM
jathansadowski.com
"blicked by a cutie patootie" is a new contender for most beautiful phrase in English
left: picture of a woman wearing a sweater and skirt right: same woman pulling down her skirt to reveal a hidden handgun in a holster caption: "imagine getting blicked by a cutie patootie. Bet not run up on Emily at Barnes & Nobles she got sum for ya"
December 4, 2025 at 4:47 AM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK Premium, we learn about the paranoid delusions of a man, Alex Karp, being sacrificed by the new pagans of a global woke religion. If you spend enough time targeting individuals, eventually you too will become a targeted individual.
full episode: www.patreon.com/posts/144931...
teaser:
Patreon Preview – 434. Gang Stalking Palantir
We dig into a new interview with Alex Karp as part of his ongoing Crash Out Tour and learn about the paranoid delusions of a man being sacrificed by the new pagans of a global woke religion — all whil
soundcloud.com
December 2, 2025 at 10:45 PM
jathansadowski.com
Yet another prime case of Potemkin AI. I hate seeing an “AI notetaker” in a zoom call recording everything. In some cases, these notetakers were literally just a guy writing everything down. We too often see vaporous hype leading to the credulous embrace of fraudulent systems.
Sam Udotong in - 1st Co-founder & CTO at Fireflies.ai 10h • ••• We charged $100/month for an Al that was really just two guys surviving on pizza. We scaled Fireflies to a $1B valuation after 6 failures from our original crypto food delivery idea. Nothing motivates you more than the pressure of living month to month with no safety net. Before I explain how 2 broke guys validated a $1B idea, you need to understand we were couch surfing while desperately chasing our entrepreneurial dreams. An Al notetaker was our last hope after 6 ideas our friends claimed were "genius". The best way to validate your business idea is by becoming the product yourself. We told our customers there's an "Al that'll join a meeting." In reality it was just me and my co-founder calling in to the meeting sitting there silently and taking notes by hand. When customers scheduled a meeting, we'd manually dial in as "Fred from Fireflies.ai" We'd sit there silently, take detailed notes, and send them 10 minutes later. After taking notes for 100+ meetings (and falling asleep in many), we were finally able to make enough money to pay the $750/month rent for a tiny SF living room. That was the point when we said let's stop and automate everything. The best prototype was 2 guys surviving on pizza. Validation before automation saved us from our 7th failure.
November 29, 2025 at 8:09 PM
jathansadowski.com
Yet another prime case of Potemkin AI. I hate seeing an “AI notetaker” in a zoom call recording everything. In some cases, these notetakers were literally just a guy writing everything down. We too often see vaporous hype leading to the credulous embrace of fraudulent systems.
Sam Udotong in - 1st Co-founder & CTO at Fireflies.ai 10h • ••• We charged $100/month for an Al that was really just two guys surviving on pizza. We scaled Fireflies to a $1B valuation after 6 failures from our original crypto food delivery idea. Nothing motivates you more than the pressure of living month to month with no safety net. Before I explain how 2 broke guys validated a $1B idea, you need to understand we were couch surfing while desperately chasing our entrepreneurial dreams. An Al notetaker was our last hope after 6 ideas our friends claimed were "genius". The best way to validate your business idea is by becoming the product yourself. We told our customers there's an "Al that'll join a meeting." In reality it was just me and my co-founder calling in to the meeting sitting there silently and taking notes by hand. When customers scheduled a meeting, we'd manually dial in as "Fred from Fireflies.ai" We'd sit there silently, take detailed notes, and send them 10 minutes later. After taking notes for 100+ meetings (and falling asleep in many), we were finally able to make enough money to pay the $750/month rent for a tiny SF living room. That was the point when we said let's stop and automate everything. The best prototype was 2 guys surviving on pizza. Validation before automation saved us from our 7th failure.
November 29, 2025 at 8:08 PM
jathansadowski.com
Last night I took part in yet another excellent Luddite Tribunal, this time organized by librarians at a public library, where we put technologies on trial with a very fun, engaged crowd.

Today It’s my birthday, so please go smash an infernal machine in my honor. 🛠️
November 27, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
floreani.bsky.social
Three years ago I emailed Jathan in response to a PhD call-out. Now I’m two years in (to a different project because I waited too long and missed the opportunity - don’t be like me! send the email!) and it’s been great. Jathan is a wonderful supervisor and this project is both cool and important
jathansadowski.com Jathan Sadowski @jathansadowski.com · Nov 25
Call for PhD Student!

I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
A necessary analysis of polycrisis and its consequences must account for the industries, technologies, and policies that govern risks-and, crucially, how they engage in socio-technical processes of defining, predicting, and valuing risks. By synthesising the following objectives into a cohesive research program, this Future Fellowship aims to create essential empirical knowledge about urgent problems of insurability, which will inform new policy solutions and critical theories, all for the purpose of understanding and tackling the complex polycrisis at the nexus of insurance markets, risk technologies, and climate governance regimes. • Objective 1: Examine the design and construction of climate risk models by insurance industry and risk analytics firms to identify the assumptions, trade-offs, values, and goals built into these systems. • Objective 2: Engage directly with governments and communities at the frontlines of risk vulnerability to understand how abstract computational models and simulations connect to lived experiences and ground truth. • Objective 3: Develop new policies and frameworks for climate risk justice, which are informed by original empirical work and contribute to greater equity and security in risk governance. • Objective 4: Generate critical theoretical contributions that guide analytical and applied work about the techno-politics of risk governance in an age of global polycrisis. This fellowship advances our understanding of climate risk governance across three Workstreams. Workstream 1 will conduct ethnography at insurance industry conferences and with companies building climate risk models. Workstream 2 will engage in research with governments and communities who are managing the risks and realities of uninsurability from natural disasters. Workstream 3 will collaborate with a climate policy think tank to develop innovative policies grounded in original empirical research and conceptual analysis-that advance climate justice.
November 27, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
floreani.bsky.social
my number one piece of advice to people wanting to do a PhD is to pick a topic that makes you so. fucking. angry. truly incredible the level of motivation that unbridled rage can provide
October 28, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
annasaunders.bsky.social
terrific project (and great city) for PhD applicants in climate governance and political economy!
jathansadowski.com Jathan Sadowski @jathansadowski.com · Nov 25
Call for PhD Student!

I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
A necessary analysis of polycrisis and its consequences must account for the industries, technologies, and policies that govern risks-and, crucially, how they engage in socio-technical processes of defining, predicting, and valuing risks. By synthesising the following objectives into a cohesive research program, this Future Fellowship aims to create essential empirical knowledge about urgent problems of insurability, which will inform new policy solutions and critical theories, all for the purpose of understanding and tackling the complex polycrisis at the nexus of insurance markets, risk technologies, and climate governance regimes. • Objective 1: Examine the design and construction of climate risk models by insurance industry and risk analytics firms to identify the assumptions, trade-offs, values, and goals built into these systems. • Objective 2: Engage directly with governments and communities at the frontlines of risk vulnerability to understand how abstract computational models and simulations connect to lived experiences and ground truth. • Objective 3: Develop new policies and frameworks for climate risk justice, which are informed by original empirical work and contribute to greater equity and security in risk governance. • Objective 4: Generate critical theoretical contributions that guide analytical and applied work about the techno-politics of risk governance in an age of global polycrisis. This fellowship advances our understanding of climate risk governance across three Workstreams. Workstream 1 will conduct ethnography at insurance industry conferences and with companies building climate risk models. Workstream 2 will engage in research with governments and communities who are managing the risks and realities of uninsurability from natural disasters. Workstream 3 will collaborate with a climate policy think tank to develop innovative policies grounded in original empirical research and conceptual analysis-that advance climate justice.
November 26, 2025 at 1:25 AM
jathansadowski.com
Call for PhD Student!

I'm recruiting a PhD student to work with me on a project related to my Future Fellowship at Monash University on the political economy of insurance, risk technology, climate governance, and the crisis of uninsurability. Here's the overview of my fellowship.
A necessary analysis of polycrisis and its consequences must account for the industries, technologies, and policies that govern risks-and, crucially, how they engage in socio-technical processes of defining, predicting, and valuing risks. By synthesising the following objectives into a cohesive research program, this Future Fellowship aims to create essential empirical knowledge about urgent problems of insurability, which will inform new policy solutions and critical theories, all for the purpose of understanding and tackling the complex polycrisis at the nexus of insurance markets, risk technologies, and climate governance regimes. • Objective 1: Examine the design and construction of climate risk models by insurance industry and risk analytics firms to identify the assumptions, trade-offs, values, and goals built into these systems. • Objective 2: Engage directly with governments and communities at the frontlines of risk vulnerability to understand how abstract computational models and simulations connect to lived experiences and ground truth. • Objective 3: Develop new policies and frameworks for climate risk justice, which are informed by original empirical work and contribute to greater equity and security in risk governance. • Objective 4: Generate critical theoretical contributions that guide analytical and applied work about the techno-politics of risk governance in an age of global polycrisis. This fellowship advances our understanding of climate risk governance across three Workstreams. Workstream 1 will conduct ethnography at insurance industry conferences and with companies building climate risk models. Workstream 2 will engage in research with governments and communities who are managing the risks and realities of uninsurability from natural disasters. Workstream 3 will collaborate with a climate policy think tank to develop innovative policies grounded in original empirical research and conceptual analysis-that advance climate justice.
November 25, 2025 at 10:44 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, we chat with @beccamonteleone.bsky.social about her new book—the Double Bind of Disability—on the politics of disability, technology, and the production of knowledge/power over people's bodies. Becca lays out how to think (critically) about disability. soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
433. How to Think About Disability (ft. Becca Monteleone)
We chat with Becca Monteleone — author of The Double Bind of Disability: How Medical Technology Shapes Bodily Authority — about the critical intersection of disability and technology. Among many thing
soundcloud.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:25 PM