Jathan Sadowski
@jathansadowski.com
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
Pinned
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...
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...
As an academic I feel like that I'm living in that scene in The Big Short where they see all the empty houses and know it's a bubble, but for me it's hearing about all the innovation and growth in higher education, then teaching a class where only 8/250 students show up weekly
September 17, 2026 at 2:15 AM
As an academic I feel like that I'm living in that scene in The Big Short where they see all the empty houses and know it's a bubble, but for me it's hearing about all the innovation and growth in higher education, then teaching a class where only 8/250 students show up weekly
In the new TMK Premium, we get into two stories about the tech sector and speculative real estate booms. First, how Netflix promises to turn the Jersey Shore into “Hollywood East”. Second, how the data centre bonanza is stretching Wall Street beyond its limits.
www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
Premium – 474. Gym, Tan, Leverage | This Machine Kills
We bring together two different stories about the tech sector and speculative real estate booms. First, how Netflix promises to turn the Jer
www.patreon.com
September 11, 2026 at 3:59 AM
In the new TMK Premium, we get into two stories about the tech sector and speculative real estate booms. First, how Netflix promises to turn the Jersey Shore into “Hollywood East”. Second, how the data centre bonanza is stretching Wall Street beyond its limits.
www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
On the “weaknesses of policy frameworks that rely on companies to act responsibly and in good faith.”
www.wired.com/story/i-dema...
www.wired.com/story/i-dema...
I Asked 100 Companies for My Data. I Got Deletion Notices Instead
California residents have a legal right to access the data that companies collect about them. Actually exercising that right is a burdensome nightmare.
www.wired.com
September 4, 2026 at 8:38 PM
On the “weaknesses of policy frameworks that rely on companies to act responsibly and in good faith.”
www.wired.com/story/i-dema...
www.wired.com/story/i-dema...
In the new TMK, we chat with @js-tan.bsky.social and Clarissa Redwine, both veteran tech labor organizers, about their new book that chronicles the tech worker movement, while also offering invaluable perspective and advice on building worker power in tech.
free episode:
free episode:
473. Tech Workers of the World, Unite (ft. JS Tan, Clarissa Redwine)
[We had technical difficulties and had to use a backup recording, sorry!] We chat with JS Tan and Clarissa Redwin — both veteran tech workers and labor organizers — about their new book which chronicl
soundcloud.com
September 3, 2026 at 11:40 PM
In the new TMK, we chat with @js-tan.bsky.social and Clarissa Redwine, both veteran tech labor organizers, about their new book that chronicles the tech worker movement, while also offering invaluable perspective and advice on building worker power in tech.
free episode:
free episode:
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
New on The Dig: Insuring Catastrophe with @astra.bsky.social, @dwallacewells.bsky.social, Madison Condon, and Moira Birss
Ecological instability has arrived. Storms, floods and fires have become our new normal. Insurance companies are adapting.
pod.fo/e/5adbe8
Ecological instability has arrived. Storms, floods and fires have become our new normal. Insurance companies are adapting.
pod.fo/e/5adbe8
September 3, 2026 at 3:01 PM
New on The Dig: Insuring Catastrophe with @astra.bsky.social, @dwallacewells.bsky.social, Madison Condon, and Moira Birss
Ecological instability has arrived. Storms, floods and fires have become our new normal. Insurance companies are adapting.
pod.fo/e/5adbe8
Ecological instability has arrived. Storms, floods and fires have become our new normal. Insurance companies are adapting.
pod.fo/e/5adbe8
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
To kick off our book tour, we're bringing together labor leaders + tech critics to pack the jury in the trial of a tech oligarch. First up is Bezos, in NYC 9/10. This event will be a boisterous, cathartic celebration of working class solidarity and power!
RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-event...
RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-event...
September 1, 2026 at 3:34 PM
To kick off our book tour, we're bringing together labor leaders + tech critics to pack the jury in the trial of a tech oligarch. First up is Bezos, in NYC 9/10. This event will be a boisterous, cathartic celebration of working class solidarity and power!
RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-event...
RSVP: www.eventbrite.com/e/book-event...
In the new TMK Premium, we take a closer look at the new all-of-government strategy for *AI in Australia’s Interests.* Australia has plotted out a bold, progressive vision where AI enthusiasm is mandatory and the inability to say no is actually empowering.
full episode:
full episode:
Premium – 472. Australia’s AI Pitch Deck | This Machine Kills
We turn our sights down under by taking a closer look at the new all-of-government strategy for AI in Australia’s Interests. Australia has p
www.patreon.com
August 27, 2026 at 4:30 AM
In the new TMK Premium, we take a closer look at the new all-of-government strategy for *AI in Australia’s Interests.* Australia has plotted out a bold, progressive vision where AI enthusiasm is mandatory and the inability to say no is actually empowering.
full episode:
full episode:
You can just ban socially toxic technologies! They were socially banned like twelve years ago with Google Glasses, we can do it again in more formal ways with this latest attempt to push the Pervert's Delight™ onto society. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
Push for import ban on 'pervert' smart glasses amid privacy concerns
Support is growing for a ban on the import of so-called “smart glasses”, amid an influx of low-cost devices that are being used to film Australians without their consent.
www.abc.net.au
August 27, 2026 at 2:15 AM
You can just ban socially toxic technologies! They were socially banned like twelve years ago with Google Glasses, we can do it again in more formal ways with this latest attempt to push the Pervert's Delight™ onto society. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08...
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
I have just started reading this! The Left Book Club version:
August 24, 2026 at 2:08 PM
I have just started reading this! The Left Book Club version:
In the new TMK, we take a deep dive into New York’s police-surveillance infrastructure, a sprawling leviathan that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was outspoken against during his campaign, but has now inherited and is even warming up to as his administration settles into power.
Fee episode:
Fee episode:
471. Breaking the Leviathan | This Machine Kills
We take a deep dive into New York’s police-surveillance infrastructure, a sprawling leviathan that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was outspoken agains
www.patreon.com
August 22, 2026 at 12:28 AM
In the new TMK, we take a deep dive into New York’s police-surveillance infrastructure, a sprawling leviathan that Mayor Zohran Mamdani was outspoken against during his campaign, but has now inherited and is even warming up to as his administration settles into power.
Fee episode:
Fee episode:
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
My husband Drew wrote this at breakneck speed while moving cross-country and caring for an 8 month old, bc he felt it was necessary, ethically and politically, to correct the record. If you read Tyler Austin Harper's piece, I hope you'll read this.
Andrew Baker was also a “token black professor” at Bates College. But his perspective on the events Tyler Austin Harper recounts in his Atlantic cover story is very different. Read Baker’s side of the story online today.
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/racism-and...
newsletter.thedriftmag.com/p/racism-and...
Racism and labor at Bates: the other side of the story
Andrew Baker responds to Tyler Austin Harper
newsletter.thedriftmag.com
August 20, 2026 at 12:32 AM
My husband Drew wrote this at breakneck speed while moving cross-country and caring for an 8 month old, bc he felt it was necessary, ethically and politically, to correct the record. If you read Tyler Austin Harper's piece, I hope you'll read this.
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
Yessss! It’s out! An essay I wrote using Zachtronics/ @matthewseiji.com’s Eliza, @jathansadowski.com’s The Mechanic and the Luddite, and Calvin Kasulke’s Several People are Typing to examine… well, the present moment.
Games and books in conversation with one another ✌🏻
Games and books in conversation with one another ✌🏻
"Sometimes you cannot fix the machine and the harm it does. Sometimes you must break it."
An essay by game writer @hannahnicklin.bsky.social on Eliza's AI therapist, Luddites, and Slack ghosts.
www.jank.cool/desire-withi...
An essay by game writer @hannahnicklin.bsky.social on Eliza's AI therapist, Luddites, and Slack ghosts.
www.jank.cool/desire-withi...
Desire within the Miasma
An essay on Eliza, Luddites, and the ghosts in the company Slack
www.jank.cool
August 17, 2026 at 8:29 AM
Yessss! It’s out! An essay I wrote using Zachtronics/ @matthewseiji.com’s Eliza, @jathansadowski.com’s The Mechanic and the Luddite, and Calvin Kasulke’s Several People are Typing to examine… well, the present moment.
Games and books in conversation with one another ✌🏻
Games and books in conversation with one another ✌🏻
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
My book AGAINST TECH OLIGARCHY, out Sept 15, is available for pre-order at againsttecholigarchy.com. It chronicles the rise of tech workers' activism, how they courageously came together to challenge the industry's most powerful bosses, and how their movement changed Silicon Valley forever. 1/
August 17, 2026 at 1:50 PM
My book AGAINST TECH OLIGARCHY, out Sept 15, is available for pre-order at againsttecholigarchy.com. It chronicles the rise of tech workers' activism, how they courageously came together to challenge the industry's most powerful bosses, and how their movement changed Silicon Valley forever. 1/
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
Last week's This Machine Kills episode is all about business execs in the grip of AI mania and how their employees and business partners are dealing with it. An infuriating listen (but also surprisingly reassuring). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... @jathansadowski.com
469. The Maniacs are Running the Asylum (ft. Nikhil Suresh)
Podcast Episode · This Machine Kills · August 6 · 1h 40m
podcasts.apple.com
August 14, 2026 at 12:29 PM
Last week's This Machine Kills episode is all about business execs in the grip of AI mania and how their employees and business partners are dealing with it. An infuriating listen (but also surprisingly reassuring). podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... @jathansadowski.com
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣
✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....
✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....
August 13, 2026 at 11:26 AM
🔇 🔇 🔇 My book, Deep Unlearning, is now available for preorders! I don't know how people write so many books because this one took a lot out of me. It turns out, I had a lot to say 😂, with editors cutting out 50k of my words 🫣
✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....
✴️ You can now preorder it at www.simonandschuster.com/books/Deep-U....
In the new TMK Premium, we breakdown new reporting which shows the sheer scale of fossil-fuelled data center development in the United States. We’re talking more than 120 GIGAWATTS of new gas-burning power plants coming online just to electrify data centers.
full episode:
full episode:
Premium – 470. Choking on Data Exhaust
We chat about Ed’s engagement with communities pushing back against data center development in Tulsa, plus some major reporting showing the sheer scale of fossil-fuelled data center development in the
soundcloud.com
August 12, 2026 at 9:47 AM
In the new TMK Premium, we breakdown new reporting which shows the sheer scale of fossil-fuelled data center development in the United States. We’re talking more than 120 GIGAWATTS of new gas-burning power plants coming online just to electrify data centers.
full episode:
full episode:
I'm giving a short talk – Making Markets for Climate Science – as part of this symposium on August 20th at the Royal Society of Victoria in Melbourne. I'll be talking about the political economy of climate risk analytics.
Registration is free and recommended: events.humanitix.com/the-power-of...
Registration is free and recommended: events.humanitix.com/the-power-of...
August 10, 2026 at 10:51 PM
I'm giving a short talk – Making Markets for Climate Science – as part of this symposium on August 20th at the Royal Society of Victoria in Melbourne. I'll be talking about the political economy of climate risk analytics.
Registration is free and recommended: events.humanitix.com/the-power-of...
Registration is free and recommended: events.humanitix.com/the-power-of...
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
Oh I love a good AI/new digital tech reading list! TY! Our Summer Reading List for Minneapolis therebuild.ghost.io/a-summer-rea... is more broad but has a tech section. I'm a fan of The Mechanic and the Luddite by @jathansadowski.com
A Summer Reading List for Minneapolis 2026
We have found success in action here in Minneapolis—but, as ever, greater knowledge, initiative, wisdom, and imagination will serve us in ongoing and future struggles.
therebuild.ghost.io
August 7, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Oh I love a good AI/new digital tech reading list! TY! Our Summer Reading List for Minneapolis therebuild.ghost.io/a-summer-rea... is more broad but has a tech section. I'm a fan of The Mechanic and the Luddite by @jathansadowski.com
In the new TMK Premium – from the frontlines of AI mania, we discuss the bizarre pathology that has seemingly possessed every manager in every institution in every sector. The maniacs are in charge, the heretics are shot, nobody is safe.
full free episode: www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
full free episode: www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
469. The Maniacs are Running the Asylum (ft. Nikhil Suresh) | This Machine Kills
We’re joined by Nik Suresh, director of Hermit Tech and excellent blogger on the software industry. You might know Nik for an incredible ess
www.patreon.com
August 7, 2026 at 12:01 AM
In the new TMK Premium – from the frontlines of AI mania, we discuss the bizarre pathology that has seemingly possessed every manager in every institution in every sector. The maniacs are in charge, the heretics are shot, nobody is safe.
full free episode: www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
full free episode: www.patreon.com/thismachinek...
Very happy to see my new preprint included in @the-syllabus.bsky.social's Best of Technology for this week papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
August 4, 2026 at 2:10 AM
Very happy to see my new preprint included in @the-syllabus.bsky.social's Best of Technology for this week papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
@bcmerchant.bsky.social probably wrote the most important book to repopularize the and recontextualize the Luddite movement.
@jathansadowski.com takes it further with frameworks and analysis on the systems that produced the world we live in: tech and capital, and actions on how we can dismantle them
@jathansadowski.com takes it further with frameworks and analysis on the systems that produced the world we live in: tech and capital, and actions on how we can dismantle them
August 1, 2026 at 9:55 AM
@bcmerchant.bsky.social probably wrote the most important book to repopularize the and recontextualize the Luddite movement.
@jathansadowski.com takes it further with frameworks and analysis on the systems that produced the world we live in: tech and capital, and actions on how we can dismantle them
@jathansadowski.com takes it further with frameworks and analysis on the systems that produced the world we live in: tech and capital, and actions on how we can dismantle them
Reposted by Jathan Sadowski
Check out my new article, forthcoming in Critical AI, preprint available here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
July 30, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Check out my new article, forthcoming in Critical AI, preprint available here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
I'm giving a short talk – Making Markets for Climate Risk Knowledge – as part of this symposium on August 20th at the Royal Society of Victoria in Melbourne.
July 31, 2026 at 12:25 AM
I'm giving a short talk – Making Markets for Climate Risk Knowledge – as part of this symposium on August 20th at the Royal Society of Victoria in Melbourne.
In the new TMK Premium, we discuss a very circular ~$600 billion deal between Nvidia, OpenAI, and Softbank for a 10-gigawatt, natural gas powered, data center complex. Then we revisit the hysteria about organized retail theft that caused every CVS to turn into the Magneto prison.
Premium – 468. Vibes Make the World Go Round | This Machine Kills
First we get into a very circular (the strongest shape in nature) deal between Nvidia, OpenAI, and Softbank to finance a $250 billion 10-gig
www.patreon.com
July 30, 2026 at 10:57 PM
In the new TMK Premium, we discuss a very circular ~$600 billion deal between Nvidia, OpenAI, and Softbank for a 10-gigawatt, natural gas powered, data center complex. Then we revisit the hysteria about organized retail theft that caused every CVS to turn into the Magneto prison.
Check out my new article, forthcoming in Critical AI, preprint available here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
July 30, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Check out my new article, forthcoming in Critical AI, preprint available here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....