Edward Ongweso Jr

Amherst, New York

Finance Editor at Logic(s)

co-host // @machinekillspod senior researcher // @SecurityContext forever // @motherboard words in many places 🤫luddite & decel🤫

Articles

DNA's real value: advertising, authoritarianism, apartheid

2 weeks ago | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

Hey everyone, this week’s roundup got a little long so I’m breaking it up. Today’s essay is partly a primer on 23andMe and partly an argument the real value of popularizing the idea that “genetic data is valuable” traces back to advancing reactionary projects eager for apartheid and desperate to purge capitalism of recent civilizing reforms stretching back to the New Deal.
Does OpenAI's latest marketing stunt matter?

3 weeks ago | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

At the end of the day, OpenAI’s latest viral marketing stunt—a ChatGPT 4o update that allows users to generate images, including ones in a style that barely resemble’s that of animation company Studio Ghibli—is ultimately a distraction. Let me explain. Yes, this stuff is an “insult to art itself” as Brian Merchant points out in his invocation of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki’s earlier comments on early AI art tools (“I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself”).
Uber's Bastards II

4 weeks ago | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

Hello everyone! Today we are going to talk about my favorite subject: the impact of Uber and its bastard spawn. Last time we did this, we talked about the (im)moral economy of on-demand labor platforms and their transformation of care work via A Roosevelt Institute report by Katie J. Wells and Funda Ustek Spilda.
The Trans Cult Who Believes AI Will Either Save Us-or Kill Us All

1 month ago | thenation.com | Grace Byron |Edward Ongweso Jr

March 13, 2025 The Trans Cult Who Believes AI Will Either Save Us—or Kill Us AllWhat the Zizians, a trans vegan cult allegedly behind multiple murders, can teach us about radicalization and our tech-addled politics. Ad Policy The Zizians believe artificial intelligence will rule over humanity—but it could either be benevolent or evil. They believe their job is to ensure it’s the former.
A dance with death, science fiction I won't describe, a weird Welsh bookseller, techo-fascism, and a lot of jazz

1 month ago | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

Welcome, valued Consumer, to the Tech Bubble Dispatch #4! This week’s roundup is a short one as I’m trying to focus on finishing up the second half of my Silicon Valley Consensus essay. If you like my work and want to support me, consider becoming a paid subscriber for $7 a month (the price of a dozen eggs if you’re lucky) or $70 a year (the price of a few hardcover books you won’t read)! If you are a bit more well-off, take inspiration from Engels and become a Tech Bubble financier.
The Silicon Valley Consensus & AI Capex (Part 1)

1 month ago | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

Welcome back! First off, we hit 5,100 subscribers despite the episodic publishing schedule! Bear with me as I ramp it up, but thanks for joining and a special thanks to those of you who’ve become paid subscribers. To celebrate, there is a 25 percent sale for new paid subscriptions! Today’s essay is (one half of) Part Three of my series on “artificial intelligence” and the second half will be out by Friday. The Tech Bubble is a reader-supported publication on the political economy of technology.
Uber's Bastards

2 months ago | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

Hello everyone, I’ll keep this bit short this time! Thanks for all the emails with stories about your own experiences in Vegas, with gambling addiction, and with CES in response to my last piece, I read them all and responded to most except the ones pitching me Guaranteed Parlays That Will Hit! Thanks also for subscribing, we’ve jumped a bit and are just shy of 4,400 subscribers.
Trapped in the Maw of a Stillborn God (Pt. 1)

Jan 20, 2025 | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

I am back from Las Vegas, my second visit there but first time going to CES—an annual consumer electronics trade show (CES is NOT short for Consumer Electronics Show, or anything really) where companies and countries tease glimpses of the future of consumer electronics. It may be hard to believe, but my foray into CES suggests the tech sector is getting even more removed from reality than its temporary host city.
The phony comforts of useful idiots

Dec 8, 2024 | thetechbubble.substack.com | Edward Ongweso Jr

Hello everyone, this week will be a fun one because we've been flooded by such stupid developments. Today's essay is on the subject of AI skepticism and the shallow limits of our debates about AI. Some housekeeping: I've got a book review of AI Snake Oil out in the December issue of The New Republic and I've got an essay on Wall Street & AI in the Fall issue of Boston Review. We’ve also released three episodes of This Machine Kills since the last newsletter.
The Plot Against Finance

Dec 4, 2024 | bostonreview.net | Edward Ongweso Jr

Morozov’s paean to “ecological reason” is a breath of fresh air, demonstrating how the Cold War perverted not only AI development but our capacity to imagine alternatives—technological forms untethered to markets and the military. He lays special emphasis on the way AI today captures the ethos of neoliberalism; I’d like to expand on the way financialization helps it do so.

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Edward Ongweso Jr @bigblackjacobin

20 Apr 25

just imagining Adam walking among his 98 children muttering “family”

Alamo Drafthouse NYC @AlamoNYC

Scientists at Princeton University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Adam, the first human being created by God, might have looked https://t.co/lvnk5Pwn3P

Edward Ongweso Jr @bigblackjacobin

20 Apr 25

Where all my mercury slop guzzlers at? My opium heads? My witch hunters? Hermeticism & occultism believers?