What defines each era? Historians often lean on terms that point to technology: bronze, steam, carbon, silicon. So is technology a fundamental aspect of being human? On this wide-ranging Trip, the gang take on one of their biggest topics yet.
Starting from the basis that technology is an application of knowledge for a practical purpose, Jeremy Gilbert, Nadia Idle and Keir Milburn propose the washing machine as the most important invention of the 20th century, theorize a fully automated luxury Keynesianism, and consider what motivates the left's apparent technophobia.
They also discuss techno-adjacent political formations, from Luddites to Accelerationists to cyborg feminists, and return to a classic ACFM conversation about technologies of the self.
Expect techno music, obviously, plus songs from Kraftwerk, Phuture and Laurie Anderson. An ever-expanding playlist of all the music discussed on the show can be found on Spotify.
Books & articles: Katrine Marçal - Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men / JM Keynes - The Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren / EP Thompson - The Making of the English Working Class / Joseph Schumpter/ Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy / Donna Haraway - A Cyborg Manifesto / Helen Hester - Xenofeminism / Foucault - Technologies of the Self / Nick Srnicek & Alex Williams - Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work / David Stubbs - Future Days / Andy Beckett - Promised You a Miracle
Music: Pink Floyd - 'Welcome to the Machine' / Kraftwerk - 'The Robots' / Model 500 - 'No UFO's' / Horrible Histories - 'The Luddites Song' / Phuture - 'Acid Trax' / Laurie Anderson - 'O Superman' / Disco Inferno - 'Even The Sea Sides Against Us' / The Houghton Weavers - 'The Song of the Weavers'
Produced and edited by Matt Huxley and Chal Ravens. PRS Licence Number: LE-0016481
