{"podcast":{"title":"The 404 Media Podcast","slug":"the-404-media-podcast-6582713","podcast_index_feed_id":6582713,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/TBIEA2761282490","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/the-404-media-podcast","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/0093ee4c-0bda-11ef-93ba-e39e76a9922d/image/377741829a069cbcd768a394f5c235f7.jpeg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"404 Media","episode_count":198,"summary":"Welcome to the podcast from 404 Media where Joseph, Sam, Emanuel, and Jason catch you up on the stories we published this week. 404 Media is a journalist-owned digital media company exploring the way technology is shaping–and is shaped by–our world. We bring you unparalleled access to hidden worlds both online and IRL through investigative reporting, smart blogging, and breaking news. At 404 Media you’ll read, and hear, stories you can’t find anywhere else written by journalists who are leading experts on their beats. Subscribe to 404 Media at 404media.co to gain access to an ad-free version of this podcast, as well as a bonus podcast episodes. Subscribers are the bedrock of building a sustainable business for our journalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-06T20:17:02.852713+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-404-media-podcast-6582713"},"episode":{"title":"The New Luddites: Why People Are Destroying Surveillance and AI Infrastructure","slug":"the-new-luddites-why-people-are-destroying-surveillance-and-ai-infrastructure","published_at":"2026-05-04T15:52:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-404-media-podcast-6582713/the-new-luddites-why-people-are-destroying-surveillance-and-ai-infrastructure","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-404-media-podcast-6582713","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/clrtpod.com/m/pscrb.fm/rss/p/arttrk.com/p/2D5E6/mgln.ai/e/1246/tracking.swap.fm/track/AoSMVIl7piQbthzJoBqJ/traffic.megaphone.fm/TBIEA5902689055.mp3?updated=1777880767","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/clrtpod.com/m/pscrb.fm/rss/p/arttrk.com/p/2D5E6/mgln.ai/e/1246/tracking.swap.fm/track/AoSMVIl7piQbthzJoBqJ/traffic.megaphone.fm/TBIEA5902689055.mp3?updated=1777880767","summary":"This week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Brian puts this wave of attacks in the historical context of the Luddites, who are notoriously misunderstood and fought for worker protections against automation during the Industrial Revolution. Over the last few months, we have seen people in San Francisco and Los Angeles torch Waymos, bash delivery robots with baseball bats, destroy Flock cameras, and threaten AI data centers and the politicians championing them. This type of political violence doesn’t and cannot occur in a vacuum, it happens because people feel they are being taken advantage of and that their representatives aren’t listening to them. Given the current state of things, we can likely expect more of these sorts of attacks to occur. Blood In The Machine YouTube Version: https://youtu.be/1Z4k_vDovbY Go to ⁠surfshark.com/404Media⁠ to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN, plus there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee—or just use code 404MEDIA at checkout! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"This week, we talk to Brian Merchant, author of Blood in the Machine, about a rash of people physically destroying AI and surveillance infrastructure. Bri…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3159,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-404-media-podcast-6582713/episodes/the-new-luddites-why-people-are-destroying-surveillance-and-ai-infrastructure/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-404-media-podcast-6582713/the-new-luddites-why-people-are-destroying-surveillance-and-ai-infrastructure.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}