Friday, June 7, 2024

Episode 244: Adam Smith's Invisible Handjob

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All political philosophy is propaganda, an attempt to describe both the way things are and proscribe the way things should be. Let me give you an example written over a quarter of a millennia ago in this Episode 244: Adam Smith's Invisible Handjob.

In this episode, I read from: David Graeber's book, Debt: The First 5,000 Years; from Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments; from Brian Merchant's Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech; and from my quickie dictionary.

I play: a new intro featuring Douglas Rushkoff in the opening, noting that tech giants of every age do not do the things they do in a complete vacuum devoid of other people, backed as usual by KMFDM. I close the show with Julie & Rolf and the Campfire Gang doing "Over the Rainbow".

(Also, I played but neglected to mention two audio snippets, the first from the short-lived television cartoon Dilbert; and the second from then Senator Ted Stevens "describing" the inter-tubes. I also neglected Podington Bear's musical backing provided by a tune called "Quatrefoil". I forgot to mention those bits in the audio credits. Oops. Sorry.)

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