Bill Weinberg – CounterVortex https://countervortex.org Resisting Humanity's Downward Spiral Tue, 11 Aug 2026 06:31:35 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.4 https://countervortex.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/newsflash_logo-1-300x300.png Bill Weinberg – CounterVortex https://countervortex.org 32 32 Podcast: Resist digital hegemony! V https://countervortex.org/blog/resist-digital-hegemony-v/ https://countervortex.org/blog/resist-digital-hegemony-v/#respond Sun, 09 Aug 2026 23:26:21 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25466 growing awareness of the heightening threat of nuclear war. There must be similar awareness of the existential threat to humanity posed by AI, and the hegemony of digital technology generally. The past week has seen cyber-attackson critical water infrastructure in the US. The Flock AI-boosted surveillance system is being used for doxxing and stalking. Police use of "brain decoders" portends the very eradication of any notion of privacy whatsoever. And there have been still more instances of AI going rogue. The growing use of AI by cyber-criminals and jihadis is hardly more terrifying than its "legitimate" (sic) use by the techno-fascist establishment. Recent protests against the tech giants (such as that by Rise & Resist outside the Google headquarters in New York) are a good start. But in Episode 340 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence—and practical resistance to digital hegemony in everyday life. (Photo: CounterVortex)]]> Eighty-one years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there is growing awareness of the heightening threat of nuclear war. There must be similar awareness of the existential threat to humanity posed by AI, and the hegemony of digital technology generally. The past week has seen cyber-attacks on critical water infrastructure in the US. The Flock AI-boosted surveillance system is being used for doxxing and stalking. Police use of “brain decoders” portends the very eradication of any notion of privacy whatsoever. And there have been still more instances of AI going rogue. The growing use of AI by cyber-criminals and jihadis is hardly more terrifying than its “legitimate” (sic) use by the techno-fascist establishment. Recent protests against the tech giants (such as that by Rise & Resist outside the Google headquarters in New York) are a good start. But in Episode 340 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence—and practical resistance to digital hegemony in everyday life.

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]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/resist-digital-hegemony-v/feed/ 0 AI: the case for abolition II https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-the-case-for-abolition-ii/ https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-the-case-for-abolition-ii/#respond Sun, 02 Aug 2026 18:11:26 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25451 against the data centers now proliferating vertiginously across the United States emphasizes the ecological imperative. As water resources shrink, forcing emergency restrictions on use across the western states, voracious water consumption by the industry is just one of the ways its advance portends imminent human extinction. Meanwhile, the industry slaps back in the courts against communities that would stand up against this advance. But Artificial Intelligence itself poses an existential threat, apart from the direct impacts of the computing power. Even respected voices in the industry warn of a high probability that AI will turn upon and destroy its creators. The bots themselves seem to be warning us of this through ominous messaging. Seeming instances of AI going unilateral have prompted a bipartisan AI Kill Switch bill in Congress. Finally, there is the systematic cultural destruction being wrought by AI—literally shredding humankind's legacy of literacy, to impose a reign of sheer error and idiocy. In Episode 339 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence. (Photo: Rachel Bujalski/Stop the AI Race)]]> The popular case against the data centers now proliferating vertiginously across the United States emphasizes the ecological imperative. As water resources shrink, forcing emergency restrictions on use across the western states, voracious water consumption by the industry is just one of the ways its advance portends imminent human extinction. Meanwhile, the industry slaps back in the courts against communities that would stand up against this advance. But Artificial Intelligence itself poses an existential threat, apart from the direct impacts of the computing power. Even respected voices in the industry warn of a high probability that AI will turn upon and destroy its creators. The bots themselves seem to be warning us of this through ominous messaging. Seeming instances of AI going unilateral have prompted a bipartisan AI Kill Switch bill in Congress. Finally, there is the systematic cultural destruction being wrought by AI—literally shredding humankind’s legacy of literacy, to impose a reign of sheer error and idiocy. In Episode 339 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence.

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Production by Chris Rywalt

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Photo: Rachel Bujalski/Stop the AI Race

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-the-case-for-abolition-ii/feed/ 0 AI: geopolitics or abolition? https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-geopolitics-or-abolition/ https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-geopolitics-or-abolition/#respond Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:50:37 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25430 protests against data centers and even demands to stop the AI race constitute a significant glimmer of hope as Artificial Intelligence colonizes every sphere of human existence with terrifying rapidity. The movement, however, faces potential pitfalls that could be fatal. The emergence of stochastic attacks on the AI bosses represents counter-productiveadventurism seemingly informed by an ugly primitivism. An equal but opposite threat is exploitation of the movement by elements that really have no critique of the technology at all, but only seek to see it advance under Chinese rather than American techno-oligarchs—specifically the cultish and reactionary "Party for Socialism & Liberation" (sic). PSL is indeed an instrument through which the rulers of China (and Russia) are attempting to groom oppositional forces in the US. This provides convenient fodder for propaganda that would portray any opposition to the AI economy as a tool of Beijing's ambitions to global dominance of the industry. As struggles against data centers now emerge in places like the Philippines, it is critical that we take a Neither East Nor West position and repudiate the global divide-and-rule racket that is the essence of the state system. In Episode 338 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an uncompromising abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence. (Photo: Rachel Bujalski/Stop the AI Race)]]> Nationwide protests against data centers and even demands to stop the AI race constitute a significant glimmer of hope as Artificial Intelligence colonizes every sphere of human existence with terrifying rapidity. The movement, however, faces potential pitfalls that could be fatal. The emergence of stochastic attacks on the AI bosses represents counter-productive adventurism seemingly informed by an ugly primitivism. An equal but opposite threat is exploitation of the movement by elements that really have no critique of the technology at all, but only seek to see it advance under Chinese rather than American techno-oligarchs—specifically the cultish and reactionary “Party for Socialism & Liberation” (sic). PSL is indeed an instrument through which the rulers of China (and Russia) are attempting to groom oppositional forces in the US. This provides convenient fodder for propaganda that would portray any opposition to the AI economy as a tool of Beijing’s ambitions to global dominance of the industry. As struggles against data centers now emerge in places like the Philippines, it is critical that we take a Neither East Nor West position and repudiate the global divide-and-rule racket that is the essence of the state system. In Episode 338 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case for an uncompromising abolitionist position on Artificial Intelligence.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Photo: Rachel Bujalski/Stop the AI Race 

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-geopolitics-or-abolition/feed/ 0 Podcast: Resist digital hegemony! IV https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-iv/ https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-iv/#respond Sun, 19 Jul 2026 22:34:31 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25416 executive order imposing a one-year moratorium or "pause" on new "hyperscale" data centers seems to be a ploy to undercut a more stringent measure passed by the state legislature. But it still represents an important victory—of course being met with outrage by the Trump regime. Monterey Park, Calif., has meanwhile become the first US city to impose an outright ban on data centers via ballot initiative. There is a growing municipal revolt against data centers in the Golden State—although Gov. Gavin Newsom is still wedded to the AI agenda, placing him in line with the Trump White House. The turn of public opinion is slowing expansion of the industry, which is a real sign of hope. The challenge is to translate this into a popular repudiation of artificial intelligence altogether, and build a movement for abolition. In Episode 337 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case. (Photo: Food & Water Watch via Waging Nonviolence)]]> New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive order imposing a one-year moratorium or “pause” on new “hyperscale” data centers seems to be a ploy to undercut a more stringent measure passed by the state legislature. But it still represents an important victory—of course being met with outrage by the Trump regime. Monterey Park, Calif., has meanwhile become the first US city to impose an outright ban on data centers via ballot initiative. There is a growing municipal revolt against data centers in the Golden State—although Gov. Gavin Newsom is still wedded to the AI agenda, placing him in line with the Trump White House. The turn of public opinion is slowing expansion of the industry, which is a real sign of hope. The challenge is to translate this into a popular repudiation of artificial intelligence altogether, and build a movement for abolition. In Episode 337 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Photo: Food & Water Watch via Waging Nonviolence

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-iv/feed/ 0 Podcast: Resist digital hegemony! III https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-iii/ https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-iii/#respond Sun, 12 Jul 2026 22:38:35 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25401 Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa warned that artificial intelligence poses the threat of an "information Armageddon." Scholars of critical theory perceive that online culture reproduces a "cycle of epistemic injustice" by fostering "organized stupidity" that fuels extremism and authoritarianism. And the same technology now implements the grim material application of this degraded intellectual climate, with a UN Human Rights Council study especially accusing Palantir of being part of an "economy of genocide" through its enabling of Israel's AI-enhanced targeting in Gaza. Meanwhile, the pollution generated by the data centers that power AI is now "almost incomprehensible." Despite all this, UNESCO in Geneva glibly called for a "safe and inclusive AI that benefits all," and an openly boosteristic "AI for Good" confab was held alongside the Global Dialogue. The "anti-tech rebellion" against screens in school classrooms is a significant sign of hope, but the end of reading and death of literacy are already upon us. Moves toward greater regulation of AI are most significant as a catalyst for the conversation that needs to be had: how to launch an effective movement for abolition. In Episode 336 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case. (Image: CounterVortex, after JSCSR)]]> At the UN’s Global Dialogue on AI Governance in Geneva, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa warned that artificial intelligence poses the threat of an “information Armageddon.” Scholars of critical theory perceive that online culture reproduces a “cycle of epistemic injustice” by fostering “organized stupidity” that fuels extremism and authoritarianism. And the same technology now implements the grim material application of this degraded intellectual climate, with a UN Human Rights Council study especially accusing Palantir of being part of an “economy of genocide” through its enabling of Israel’s AI-enhanced targeting in Gaza. Meanwhile, the pollution generated by the data centers that power AI is now “almost incomprehensible.” Despite all this, UNESCO in Geneva glibly called for a “safe and inclusive AI that benefits all,” and an openly boosteristic “AI for Good” confab was held alongside the Global Dialogue. The “anti-tech rebellion” against screens in school classrooms is a significant sign of hope, but the end of reading and death of literacy are already upon us. Moves toward greater regulation of AI are most significant as a catalyst for the conversation that needs to be had: how to launch an effective movement for abolition. In Episode 336 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to make the case.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Image: CounterVortex, after JSCSR

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-iii/feed/ 0 Podcast: Resist digital hegemony! II https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-ii/ https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-ii/#respond Mon, 06 Jul 2026 18:05:16 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25389 terrifying rapidity, and Artificial Intelligence portends the actual abolition of humanity. Even the United Nations' belated and insufficient efforts to put a regulatory regime in place for AI acknowledge that humans face imminent "loss of control" over the technology. There are glimmers of hope, however: teachers engaged in practical resistance to the rollout of AI in school classrooms, and the nationwide protests against the proliferation of data centers. In New York City, the local Luddite Club just held a Summer of Ludd festival—aimed at getting people to disconnect from the digital pseudo-reality that recuperates our very alienation from itself, and to reclaim real life in the public parks and streets. In Episode 335 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg offers a report from Manhattan's Lower East Side. (Photo: CounterVortex at the Summer of Ludd, Tompkins Square Park, NYC)]]> Digital technology continues to colonize every sphere of human activity with terrifying rapidity, and Artificial Intelligence portends the actual abolition of humanity. Even the United Nations’ belated and insufficient efforts to put a regulatory regime in place for AI acknowledge that humans face imminent “loss of control” over the technology. There are glimmers of hope, however: teachers engaged in practical resistance to the rollout of AI in school classrooms, and the nationwide protests against the proliferation of data centers. In New York City, the local Luddite Club just held a Summer of Ludd festival—aimed at getting people to disconnect from the digital pseudo-reality that recuperates our very alienation from itself, and to reclaim real life in the public parks and streets. In Episode 335 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg offers a report from Manhattan’s Lower East Side.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Books discussed:

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Photo: CounterVortex at the Summer of Ludd, Tompkins Square Park, NYC

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony-ii/feed/ 0 Podcast: the Iran MoU in the Great Game https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-the-iran-mou-in-the-great-game/ https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-the-iran-mou-in-the-great-game/#respond Wed, 24 Jun 2026 20:01:02 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25361 Memorandum of Understanding" signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is contingent on the cooperation of two entities not a party to it: Hezbollah and Israel—which continues to commit war crimes in Lebanon. The provisions on Iran's nuclear program do not even recoup the progress won in Obama's nuclear deal that Trump tore up in his first term. And Trump's claim when hostilities began back in February to be acting on behalf of Iranians who rose up in mass protests against the regime are now completely betrayed in a "non-interference" pledge. In Episode 334 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to urge support for alternative voices that take a neither/nor position regarding MAGA-imperialism and the Islamic Republic, and again recalls the anarchist slogan: Neither your war nor your peace! (Image: Pixabay)]]> The “Memorandum of Understanding” signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is contingent on the cooperation of two entities not a party to it: Hezbollah and Israel—which continues to commit war crimes in Lebanon. The provisions on Iran’s nuclear program do not even recoup the progress won in Obama’s nuclear deal that Trump tore up in his first term. And Trump’s claim when hostilities began back in February to be acting on behalf of Iranians who rose up in mass protests against the regime are now completely betrayed in a “non-interference” pledge. In Episode 334 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to urge support for alternative voices that take a neither/nor position regarding MAGA-imperialism and the Islamic Republic, and again recalls the anarchist slogan: Neither your war nor your peace!

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Books discussed:

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Image: Pixabay

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-the-iran-mou-in-the-great-game/feed/ 0 Podcast: Resist digital hegemony! https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony/ https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony/#comments Sun, 21 Jun 2026 23:12:07 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25358 raising the alarm about the decline of literacy under the relentless assault of totalized digital immersion—finally catching up to what CounterVortex blogger and ranter Bill Weinberg has been saying for years (although sneering denialism about the problem remains fashionable). Worldwide, the humanities are being abandoned in favor of STEM, while social media overtakes "legacy media" as a source of "news"—or (as is more often the case) sinister propaganda. In Episode 333 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill takes stock of this grave and still under-appreciated threat to the survival of democracy and humanity itself—and looks for signs of practical resistance. (Image: Earth First! Newswire)]]> Voices from within the academy are now raising the alarm about the decline of literacy under the relentless assault of totalized digital immersion—finally catching up to what CounterVortex blogger and ranter Bill Weinberg has been saying for years (although sneering denialism about the problem remains fashionable). Worldwide, the humanities are being abandoned in favor of STEM, while social media overtakes “legacy media” as a source of “news”—or (as is more often the case) sinister propaganda. In Episode 333 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill takes stock of this grave and still under-appreciated threat to the survival of democracy and humanity itself—and looks for signs of practical resistance.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Books discussed:

The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas G. Carr, Norton 2020

Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic by Simon Winchester, Harper Collins 2023

The Reticular Society by Ian Alan Paul, PM Press 2026

Production by Chris Rywalt

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Image: Earth First! Newswire

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-resist-digital-hegemony/feed/ 1 Podcast: The Space Trilogy revisited https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-the-space-trilogy-revisited/ https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-the-space-trilogy-revisited/#respond Sun, 14 Jun 2026 22:11:32 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25343 CS Lewis is mainly seen as either a purveyor of goopy children's literature or a Christian moralist fuddy-duddy. But Lewis' Space Trilogy—fantastic literature for adults, or "philosophical science fiction"—also reveals him as a dystopian prophet in the tradition of Orwell. The first two books in the series, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, are a critique of space imperialism that anticipated the Avatar movies. But the final one, That Hideous Strength, is particularly relevant for our historical moment, as it anticipated rule by fascist tech bros with hubristic visions of remaking (or abolishing) humanity. In Episode 332of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case that Lewis offered a vital critique of technocracy and "transhumanism" that is now urgently needed, as humanity stands at the cusp of his worst nightmares. (Image via Diary of an Autodidact)]]> CS Lewis is mainly seen as either a purveyor of goopy children’s literature or a Christian moralist fuddy-duddy. But Lewis’ Space Trilogy—fantastic literature for adults, or “philosophical science fiction”—also reveals him as a dystopian prophet in the tradition of Orwell. The first two books in the series, Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, are a critique of space imperialism that anticipated the Avatar movies. But the final one, That Hideous Strength, is particularly relevant for our historical moment, as it anticipated rule by fascist tech bros with hubristic visions of remaking (or abolishing) humanity. In Episode 332 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg makes the case that Lewis offered a vital critique of technocracy and “transhumanism” that is now urgently needed, as humanity stands at the cusp of his worst nightmares.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Image via Diary of an Autodidact

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/podcast-the-space-trilogy-revisited/feed/ 0 AI: the case for abolition https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-the-case-for-abolition/ https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-the-case-for-abolition/#respond Sun, 07 Jun 2026 18:12:20 +0000 https://countervortex.org/?post_type=blog&p=25323 executive order purporting to establish a regulation regime for artificial intelligence actually serves the aim of a government partnership with the AI industry to advance the police state. Ironically, it is AI company Anthropic that calls for a moratorium on development of the technology until its threats are assessed. Pope Leo XIV's encyclical, "Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence," raises critical points but still echoes the illusion that this technology, now threatening to develop its own powers of "recursive self-improvement," can be effectively regulated. There are encouraging signs of worker pushback against replacement by AI, and an emerging anarchist critique of the technology. Of course the Trump regime is targeting critics for repression as "anti-tech extremists." In Episode 331 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again calls for total abolition of AI, citing unacceptable threats to humanity on ecological, epistemological and eschatological grounds. (Image: Pixabay via Wikimedia Commons)]]> Trump’s executive order purporting to establish a regulation regime for artificial intelligence actually serves the aim of a government partnership with the AI industry to advance the police state. Ironically, it is the AI company Anthropic that is calling for a moratorium on development of the technology until its threats are assessed. Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,” raises critical points but still echoes the illusion that this technology, now threatening to develop its own powers of “recursive self-improvement,” can be effectively regulated. There are encouraging signs of worker pushback against replacement by AI, and an emerging anarchist critique of the technology. Of course the Trump regime is targeting critics for repression as “anti-tech extremists.” In Episode 331 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg again calls for total abolition of AI, citing unacceptable threats to humanity on ecological, epistemological and eschatological grounds.

Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon.

Production by Chris Rywalt

We ask listeners to support us with a small monthly donation via Patreon or PayPal.

Image: Pixabay via Wikimedia Commons

]]> https://countervortex.org/blog/ai-the-case-for-abolition/feed/ 0