Bungacast

On whether new tech can help build decentralised socialism.

Reading Club episodes are for $10+ patrons. Sign up: patreon.com/bungacast

We discuss Evgeny Morozov's New Left Review essay, Digital Socialism? The Calculation Debate in the Age of Big Data. A useful companion to this (mentioned by George in the episode) is a lecture given by Morozov, that can be found at the bottom of this page.

Thanks for all the questions, they are addressed in the last third of the episode. 

• Virus lays bare the frailty of the social contract, Editorial, FT
• Herd Immunity is Epidemiological Neoliberalism, The Quarantimes
• We’re on the Brink of Cyberpunk, Kelsey D. Atherton, Slate

On freedom in coronavirus times.

John McAfee joins us to address the lockdown, privacy and armed insurrection. Plus: why he prefers Fidel to Che, and how it came to be that his US presidential campaign HQ is in Havana, Cuba.

Subscribe: patreon.com/bungacast

In the first of an occasional series of episodes on the US presidential election and the Left, we talk to Nick Frayn, a volunteer with the Bernie Sanders campaign in New England. How have things gone on the campaign trail? What is next for the Democratic primaries delayed by the corona outbreak? Can Bernie regain ground in the primaries against Joe Biden? How will the corona crisis impact the Democratic primaries?

Readings:

• How the coronavirus pandemic is disrupting the US Democratic primary calendar, FT
• Biden Wins Coronavirus Primary, The Atlantic
• Joe Biden sweeps key primaries and moves closer to nomination, The Guardian