The Politics of Technology w/Joe Costello
Evgenia and I talk to Joe Costello about the politics of technology — nuclear energy, the internet, Wall Street, the New Deal, cars, American democracy, the Romans, the need for new ways to organize society… As Joe points out, technology is not just gadgets but also social constructs: things like finance, debt, money, corporations, political institutions. The politics of these technologies are always hard to think about because “technology destroys history.” When a new one comes along it changes everything, yet it makes people think that this changed environment is how things have always been.
Joe Costello is a personal friend of ours. He’s been working in American politics and energy for decades — including on Jerry Brown and Howard Dean’s presidential campaigns. So he’s got firsthand knowledge about how rotten everything is here.
We highly recommend his new newsletter — Life in the 21st Century — where he writes about many of the things we talk about in this ep. Check it out and subscribe! Joe’s one of a kind.
—Yasha
PS: Forgot to mention that Joe also has a book — a collection of essays: Of, By, For: The New Politics of Money, Debt & Democracy. He also has a great standalone essay from a few years ago: The Politics of Technology.
Want to know more? Check out previous episodes of The Russians.
The Politics of Technology w/Joe Costello
I ran out of "amens" and "halelujas" listening to this. Great show and great conversation with Costello. So many important points made and great questions asked. This was theraputic to listen to, along with your conversation with Galluzzo.
No one in the USA wants to think too hard about what to do with their lives other than buying McCrap and stuffing it in a McHouse like a giant McToybox. It's not like people are hypnotized with some magic mind trick, they've just had so many decades of living in this advertising-fueled existence they're subconsciously terrified of stepping outside of it. No one here likes talking about this. Rich, poor, middle class. No one wants to discuss what's outside the bubbles we live in, until they get popped by reality (war, disaster, disease, death).
Great, great show. Looking forward to more.
Great episode. I didn’t know that Joe sounds like Jimmy McGill.