Mark Hurst
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markhurst.bsky.social
Mark Hurst
@markhurst.bsky.social
2.5K followers 320 following 930 posts
Writer and radio host in NYC.

- Host, Techtonic on WFMU: https://techtonic.fm

- Tech criticism: https://creativegood.com/blog

- Newsletter: https://creativegood.com/newsletter

Encouraging better tech, and resisting Big Tech.
Posts Replies Media Videos
markhurst.bsky.social
New on Techtonic: @lorak.bsky.social from CNBC about Grok and sexualized images on Twitter/X.

This is a barnburner.

Episode page with lots of links, news, and resources:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
January 13, 2026 at 4:03 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
New Techtonic: talking about the year ahead with @wfmu.bsky.social station manager Ken Freedman.

Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...

More episodes: techtonic.fm
January 6, 2026 at 8:30 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Tim Wu explains that our tools can't be trusted, and they're driving us crazy. From the new Techtonic, where I interview Tim about his excellent new book "The Age of Extraction."

Full episode: techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 30, 2025 at 6:11 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Thanks to @stuhorvath.com and @saraclemens.com for guest-hosting Techtonic yesterday! Their interview guest was author/illustrator Adam Allsuch Boardman.

Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 23, 2025 at 8:31 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Had some fun on the new Techtonic, giving out the first annual Creepy Award, "to the most creeptastic tech oligarch." You'll never guess who won.

Episode page with lots of links:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 16, 2025 at 3:19 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
On the new Techtonic I speak w/Noah McCormack from @thebaffler.com about his essay "We used to read things in this country."

In the clip below Noah reveals one possible outcome of the AI bubble.

Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 9, 2025 at 3:22 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Amateur radio, aka ham radio, is like a superpower - especially during a disaster.

From the newest Techtonic, my interview with Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL) and how he survived Hurricane Helene. Fascinating.

Full episode: techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
December 2, 2025 at 5:59 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
New Techtonic: Citizens are being forced to pay for Big Tech data centers.

Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
November 25, 2025 at 7:15 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
This seems fine.

By 2028, a projected 6.7% to 12.0% of ALL electricity in the U.S. will go to data centers.

Source: the 2024 United States Data Center Energy Usage Report. escholarship.org/uc/item/32d6...
Figure ES-1. Total U.S. data center electricity use from 2014 through 2028. The end of the graph at 2028, shows a projected range of 6.7% to 12.0% of all electricity in the U.S. going to data centers.
November 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Below: my comments on Techtonic about Tesla and its Grok chatbot that, as reported by the CBC, made sexual comments to a 12-year-old boy.

Episode page with links to the story:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
November 18, 2025 at 4:03 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Really enjoyed speaking w/ @paulmozur.bsky.social, global tech correspondent for the NYT, about the water & power draw of data centers worldwide.

Full episode:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
November 11, 2025 at 6:36 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
2/ Chris suggests books for further reading:
The warped psychology of El Presidente Trump is captured by Miguel Ángel Asturias in his novel “El Señor Presidente,” inspired by the dictatorship of Manuel Estrada Cabrera who ruled Guatemala for 22 years; Gabriel García Márquez’s “The Autumn of the Patriarch,” Julia Alvarez’s “In the Time of the Butterflies” and Mario Vargas Llosa’s “The Feast of the Goat” and “Conversation in the Cathedral.” These novels offer better insight into where we are headed than most tomes on U.S. politics.
November 10, 2025 at 2:02 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Topical to my "Feudal America" essay below: this, from @brockm.bsky.social today -
Silicon Valley, which once styled itself as building the future, now funds the return of feudalism. Not accidentally or through incompetence, but deliberately and with philosophical justification. The people with the most resources to shape the future are explicitly working to eliminate democratic governance and restore hierarchy.
November 7, 2025 at 6:11 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
From my interview with @aramsinn.bsky.social - a bit of good news in the techno-surveillance state.

Full episode: techtonic.fm/episodes/202...
November 4, 2025 at 5:55 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
NEW Techtonic episode: widening inequality, due in part to the use of Big Tech surveillance (and pricing). We discuss how Disney World designs for inequality.

Also mention @greenwell.bsky.social's book.

Full ep:
techtonic.fm/episodes/202...

As a podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
October 28, 2025 at 7:20 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Insane image. "Model of the distribution of space debris around Earth." Read the key: 2,000 billion objects under 0.1 mm.

(from the @esa.int report: www.esa.int/Space_Safety... )
What appears to be a thick cloud of dust surrounds a circle in the center of the image. The key says that there are 2,000 billion objects in orbit that are less than 0.1 mm.
October 22, 2025 at 3:53 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
New Techtonic: Amanda Hanna-McLeer is making a film about the Luddite Club. Conversation included admiring mentions of @bcmerchant.bsky.social & @jennitaur.bsky.social .

Full episode as a podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Ep page:
www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
October 21, 2025 at 7:44 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Here's what I just saw at No Kings New York, walking through Times Square.
In a large crowd, a person holds up a sign saying, "Rejecting: kings since 1776, racists since 1865, fascists since 1945" In a large crowd for No Kings in Times Square, a sign reads: "Imagine being afraid of diversity but not dictatorship"
October 18, 2025 at 6:33 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Excited to share this field recording of the "SHITPHONE" protest in Manhattan, which I aired on Techtonic.

Full episode: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Thanks to @bcmerchant.bsky.social for tipping me off to the event.
October 14, 2025 at 2:34 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
I'll see your creepy robot-hugging pillow and raise you a surveillance tribble.
"Moflin: always by your side." A young woman takes a selfie while holding a furry surveillance device. "Your Smart AI companion: A calming presence. A quiet reassurance."
October 8, 2025 at 8:33 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
New techtonic.fm episode: AI and surveillance infrastructure keeps spreading. Stories about data centers, chatbots having dumb conversations, and the "Friend" surveillance device.

Podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Excerpt below:
October 7, 2025 at 4:36 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Annie Lennox in the NYT Book Review:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/b...
Q - Eurythmics scored the soundtrack for a film version of “1984.” Do you remember the first time you read the book? A - I imagine it was sometime in the 1970s, when “1984” always seemed so far into the future. The thing that strikes me now is just how Orwell’s dystopian vision has actually come to fruition. The issues of constant surveillance, authoritarian military regimes, censorship, paranoia, harsh penal systems. The removal of human rights, control and dominance of entire populations, thought control, etc. We think we have freedom and independence, but I’m afraid we don’t realize how we depend on a system that doesn’t really care about the welfare and well-being of the average man or woman.
October 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
I spoke w/ @greenwell.bsky.social on techtonic.fm about "Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream."

LISTEN (click "pop-up player"):
www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...

Podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Below, how hospitals have been taken over by private equity:
September 30, 2025 at 6:06 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
New techtonic.fm interview with Glenn Adamson, author of “A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present.”

Good reminder that the future didn't always look so depressing.

To listen, click "Pop-up player":
www.wfmu.org/playlists/sh...
September 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM
markhurst.bsky.social
Spotted over at Mastodon, shared by user katalyst:
09/16/25: 3 squared, 4 squared, 5 squared
September 16, 2025 at 10:29 PM