Jathan Sadowski
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jathansadowski.com
Jathan Sadowski
@jathansadowski.com
7.4K followers 270 following 460 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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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
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
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK Premium, we chat about the New Luddism Conference and Luddite Tribunal in NYC, plus get into the deeply sinophobic China envy that motivates the liberal abundance wonks and prevents them from embracing the light of Luddism.
full episode: www.patreon.com/posts/143964...
teaser:
Patreon Preview – 432. Shadowbanned From Candy Crush
Fresh off the New Luddism conference and Luddite Tribunal in New York City, we talk shit about gamerism and the tough solutions required, then get into the deeply sinophobic China envy that motivates
soundcloud.com
November 19, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
floreani.bsky.social
do you resent playing AI detective online??? does it make you so, so annoyed to spend time looking for generative AI red flags? me too!!! my latest piece for the guardian is for those of us who are fed! up!
Becoming an AI-detective is a job I never wanted and wish I could quit | Samantha Floreani
My social media feed is now a hellish stream of puerile AI slop. Am I stubborn to want to hang on to reality?
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:50 AM
jathansadowski.com
"In writing this article, I realized that I could endlessly tie much of our reporting on attacks on civil society and human knowledge to the force multiplier that is AI and the AI maximalist political and economic project." www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co
November 17, 2025 at 10:44 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, we chat with folks from Amazon Employees for Climate Justice about their campaign to build solidarity among workers, confront the impacts of AI, apply pressure on corporate leadership, and agitate for socio-environmental justice at Amazon and beyond. soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
431. How Amazon Workers are Organizing for Climate Justice (ft. Eliza Pan, Dawn)
[This episode was recorded before Amazon announced its massive layoffs.] We chat with Eliza and Dawn from the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice about their organizing campaigns and how they are hol
soundcloud.com
November 12, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
bcmerchant.bsky.social
NEW YORK CITY: I hear you're in a celebratory mood over there. Well how would you like to use some of that energy to help dismantle big tech?

Join me, @parismarx.com, @edwardongwesojr.com, @jathansadowski.com, @veenadubal.bsky.social, and special guests for the Second NYC Luddite Tribunal.
RSVP to THE LUDDITE TRIBUNAL | Partiful
It's time to put technology on trial, and to smash it if necessary. Join Paris Marx, Jathan Sadowski, Ed Ongweso Jr, Veena Dubal, Brian Merchant, and special guests for an evening of booze, discussion...
partiful.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:36 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK Premium, we discuss the massive layoffs at Amazon and Meta, and how tech companies are gutting their labor force to sustain (in the short term) their over-leveraged, over-investment into capital expenditure for AI infrastructure.

full episode: www.patreon.com/posts/142935...
teaser:
Patreon Preview – 430. Bring the Pain
We chat about some of our favorite rubes and dolts in tech media before then getting into the massive layoffs across Amazon and Meta, how the need to continue over-investing into AI capex is driving t
soundcloud.com
November 6, 2025 at 12:07 AM
jathansadowski.com
The fact that people still respond to Chotiner's requests for interviews is proof that the Dunning Kruger Effect is rampant in politics and beyond. Each person who says yes thinks they are special and will not be made a fool. Some people are correct, but many vastly overestimate their capability.
October 28, 2025 at 12:20 AM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, I chat with @alybatt.bsky.social about her excellent new book — Free Gifts: Capitalism and the Politics of Nature — and we get into capitalism’s strange relationship to the natural world: one defined by brutal extraction but also strategic neglect. www.patreon.com/posts/142206...
429. The Nature of Capital and Freedom (ft. Alyssa Battistoni) | This Machine Kills
Get more from This Machine Kills on Patreon
www.patreon.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
spavel.bsky.social
GenAI has never saved anyone any money, nor made them more productive. Companies like Klarna and Duolingo are hiring back the people they laid off in their AI fever; others are hiring expensive consultants to patch up AI botch jobs.

But sure, EA will be the first ever company to make it work.
September 30, 2025 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
jathansadowski.com
Melbourne folks! I'm going to be part of a Luddite Tribunal organised by the Brunswick Library — you gotta love public libraries and their critical workers — on November 27th at 6:30pm. I'll be joined by Lizzie O'Shea; it'll be a ton of fun! Free registration: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-luddit...
Luddite Tribunal! Featuring Lizzie O'Shea and Jathan Sadowski Technology is on trial, and you’re the jury. It’s hammer time! Welcome to the Luddite Tribunal where we channel the revolutionary spirit of the Luddites and critically examine the role of digital technologies in our day to day lives with panellists, Jathan Sadowski (host of This Machine Kills podcast) and Lizzie O’Shea (lawyer and digital rights activist). Bring along a piece of technology to be judged or participate as a jury member and help us decide whether an item is an “obnoxious machine” or socially beneficial. Thursday 27 November, 6.30pm Brunswick Library
October 23, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
emmaquilty.bsky.social
2(ish) weeks until the New York launch of Witch Power! So excited for this one!!

Here's the link to register: www.eventbrite.com/e/witch-powe...
October 23, 2025 at 4:02 AM
jathansadowski.com
Melbourne folks! I'm going to be part of a Luddite Tribunal organised by the Brunswick Library — you gotta love public libraries and their critical workers — on November 27th at 6:30pm. I'll be joined by Lizzie O'Shea; it'll be a ton of fun! Free registration: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-luddit...
Luddite Tribunal! Featuring Lizzie O'Shea and Jathan Sadowski Technology is on trial, and you’re the jury. It’s hammer time! Welcome to the Luddite Tribunal where we channel the revolutionary spirit of the Luddites and critically examine the role of digital technologies in our day to day lives with panellists, Jathan Sadowski (host of This Machine Kills podcast) and Lizzie O’Shea (lawyer and digital rights activist). Bring along a piece of technology to be judged or participate as a jury member and help us decide whether an item is an “obnoxious machine” or socially beneficial. Thursday 27 November, 6.30pm Brunswick Library
October 23, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
jebr.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
tamigraph.bsky.social
Just in time for Halloween, our @asapjournal.bsky.social cluster on Algorithms and the Occult is out! 👻

Featuring @emmaquilty.bsky.social, @aketchum22.bsky.social, @xrw.bsky.social, @drs.bsky.social, @serife.bsky.social, @thechristinet.bsky.social, @jessrauchberg.bsky.social, and more!
Algorithms and the Occult - ASAP/Review
asapjournal.com
October 21, 2025 at 4:14 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK Premium, we engage in an exegesis of Peter Thiel’s deeply scholastic interpretation of the biblical revelations contained within One Piece—plus some choice bits from his Antichrist lecture series.
• teaser: soundcloud.com/thismachinek...
• full episode: www.patreon.com/posts/141761...
428. Premium – Antichrist Superstartup | This Machine Kills
Get more from This Machine Kills on Patreon
www.patreon.com
October 22, 2025 at 12:19 AM
jathansadowski.com
Oh damn, Kohei Saito has entered into the techno-feudalism debate and his argument aligns with what me and @bigblackjacobin have been saying for a long time: Stop saying techno-feudalism, this is called rentier capitalism, and it's the basis for techno-fascism. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Rentier capitalism, technofascism and the destruction of the common by Kohei Saito and Ryuji Sasaki This paper critically examines the emerging discourse on technofeudalism. While mainstream narratives celebrate technological advancement driven by American tech giants, proponents of the technofeudalism thesis argue that a new ruling class – ‘cloudalists’ – has supplanted traditional capitalists, extracting data and rent in ways reminiscent of feudal relations. However, this discourse fails to account for the ongoing dynamism of capitalist investment and competition. In contrast, this paper advances the concept of rentier capitalism by revisiting Marx’s analysis in Capital, with particular attention to his often-overlooked theory of ground rent in Volume III. Drawing on Marx’s notebooks published for the first time in the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA), the paper argues that rentier capitalism constitutes the most advanced and contradictory form of contemporary capitalism, which accelerates the destruction of the common and undermines the conditions necessary for working-class solidarity. As the dual crisis of capital accumulation and anti-systemic movements intensifies socio-economic and political instability, the threat of an authoritarian turn towards technofascism becomes increasingly imminent.
October 21, 2025 at 11:32 PM
jathansadowski.com
This is a disingenuous / bad faith or stupid / bullshit claim not a serious position. There are experts across Silicon Valley and Wall Street—the two places that “rock star” economist Justin Wolfers respects—who are very skeptical of AI and critical of the obviously ouroboros-like bubble.
Bluesky post from Justin Wolfers There are basically only two positions in the debate about Al. 1. I've barely invested any time in learning how to use it effectively. Al sucks. 2. I've invested in learning how to use this tool. Holy cow, it's transformational. Position #1 has lower barriers to entry.
October 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
jathansadowski.com
@jacobsilverman.com spotted at the State Library of Victoria bookshop in Melbourne!
Picture of the book Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley by Jacob Silverman
October 16, 2025 at 7:15 AM
jathansadowski.com
Brooklyn folks! Come to the launch at Hive Mind Books in Bushwick on November 7th for my lovely wife @emmaquilty.bsky.social's new book WITCH POWER.

Emma is a feminist anthropologist whose book offers a captivating, critical, and deeply personal analysis of the witch as a cultural figure.
Witch Power: A Journey Into Contemporary Witchcraft with Emma Quilty Emma Quilty - Friday November 7th at 7pm - Hive Mind Books, 219 Irving Ave, Bushwick
October 14, 2025 at 10:55 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
samleecole.bsky.social
Sora flopping, bleeding cash on pro subscriptions, lawsuits left and right accusing the company of inventing the emotional torment nexus, age verification lobby with a stranglehold on the adult internet... pivoting to porn is masterful gambit www.404media.co/chatgpt-erot...
ChatGPT’s Hail Mary: Chatbots You Can Fuck
As recent reports show OpenAI bleeding cash, and on the heels of accusations that ChatGPT caused teens and adults alike to harm themselves and others, CEO Sam Altman announced that you can soon fuck t...
www.404media.co
October 14, 2025 at 9:24 PM
jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK, I'm joined by @lalehkhalili.bsky.social to discuss her new book, Extractive Capitalism, about the great many foot soldiers, systems and circuits of extraction that are essential to capitalism—from sand smugglers to management consultants, and much more www.patreon.com/posts/141154...
427. Many Worlds of Extraction (ft. Laleh Khalili) | This Machine Kills
Get more from This Machine Kills on Patreon
www.patreon.com
October 13, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
alicebennett.bsky.social
one thing LLMs have revealed is that the belief that there is a magical incantation that will give you what you want is not just confined to pick-up artists and freemen on the land
desfitzgerald.bsky.social Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · Oct 13
Seeing people nonchalantly post stuff like makes me feel like I'm going crazy honestly.
A post from an academic on blue sky that says: "I'm learning about "prompt engineering" when asking LLMs to extract data. I now add this to all instructions: Style Be concise, analytic, and specific (cite page/figure if provided). If essential info is missing, keep going but flag Unclear and exact data needed. Never invent data. #academicsky"
October 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM