How are the arts in the vaunted "age of tech" affected? And how do we study these effects with a materialist approach? To answer these questions I have with me Dwayne Monroe who is a technologist with decades of experience in the US and Europe. He intimately knows how technologies the media describes as ethereal really work, where they come from, and how they are used in the multinational corporations and governments dominating our lives. He applies what he calls a Noir Marxist lens (stylistically informed by the work of Raymond Chandler, analytically informed by Marxian materialism) to dissecting the tech industry.

We have a fantastic conversation covering everything from so called Artificial Intelligence, how the creative class is a deployment zone for tech industry shenanigans, the sordid history of camera technology within the world atomic bomb testing and military projects and what radicals need to consider when integrating tech in their lives and organizations. Its really an important convo and one of the first of many I plan to have with Dwayne.

For some links to Dwayne's work check it here:

My main blog, 'Computational Impacts' -

https://monroelab.com

Verdigris (the literary journal I started with a few friends, I typed the wrong URL in the label I used for the show) -

https://vdgasjournal.com

The film podcast, Film Conversations (we talk about films and the industry overall from a grounded perspective) -

https://open.spotify.com/show/3E5dPk4of0pFAVdcTjGbzy

And here is a link to the film we discussed in the episode:

https://youtu.be/XdrVWeXYUog?si=Kvh9ApjSzo90hSaw

Also two of Dwayne's recent appearances on MAKC:
https://www.youtube.com/live/TLue-ZDo04Y?si=vvF7gKK3NOjwOASN

https://www.youtube.com/live/OxQ_EWinHtA?si=ns-6ZXUpyTKC2r-G

To get a jump on the shows a few days early, bonus video episodes every month, deeper dives into text and works with revolutionary content and political art study groups check out Mtume's Patreon and become a subscriber!

Currently we are hosting a asynchronous study group talking about Ariel Dorfman & Armand Mattelart's classic text How to Read Donald Duck. We will going for the rest of the month so join up now!

Also check out my new colaboration The Imperial 80's co-hosted series beginning with Jared Ware of Millenials are Killing Capitalism.

We will be posting the audio recordings of the episode here but make sure to follow the channel if you want to catch the livestreams