This week Daisy and Francis are joined by Mike Pepi to discuss his book Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia. They explore the definitions and implications of platforms in the digital age and the concept of techno-utopianism. Buy Mike's book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/761644/ Mike Pepi: https://www.mikepepi.com/writing 00:00:00 Introducing Mike Pepi and defining platforms 00:05:06 Techno-utopianism in the history of western tech 00:13:23 Platform equilibrium; no growth is death 00:21:45 Tech platforms are not a tool 00:26:09 The unintended consequences of the techno-fix 00:29:48 "You are the media now" 00:33:03 AI submission and the devaluation of labor 00:39:39 Daisy's experience bullying Chat-GPT 00:45:08 The post-human vision of the 22nd century 00:47:59 The beauty in pluralism 00:52:20 The infinite treadmill of critique 00:54:30 When content is free, labor is free 00:57:37 Envisioning the future of new institutions