Today in class I mentioned this list of tech podcasts I have on my Culture & Technology course website and I thought I’d share them here too. To be clear, this list is by no means comprehensive nor does it attempt to be. There are tons of current and former podcasts that are either specifically devoted to technology or prominently feature different aspects of the tech world, broadly speaking – especially if one is interested in tech products and reviews (devices, gadgets, services, etc.). However, there are far fewer podcasts devoted to looking critically at technology and the tech industry in a substantive way. Here’s a good list:
- 404 Media Podcast – a journalist-founded digital media company exploring the ways technology is shaping – and is shaped by – our world.
- 99% Invisible – a sound-rich, narrative podcast about the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world.
- Better Offline – a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society.
- Endless Scroll A podcast about internet culture, music, and the music industry.
- Endless Thread – a podcast that digs into the internet’s vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.
- Reply All – a show about the internet that started in 2014 and is now downloaded by 5 million times per month.
- Tech Won’t Save Us – a podcast that dissects the tech industry, the powerful people at its helm, and the products and services it unleashes on the world. This is your professor’s favorite, for what it’s worth. Highly recommended!
- This Machine Kills – a podcast about technology and political economy / Agitprop against innovation and capital.
- Trashfuture – a comedy podcast about politics, technology and the future.