On the PetroState/ElectroState Global Cold War, the Darién Gap, OpenAI's addiction to wasting capital, the existential risk of deregulating sports betting, and the investment theory of politics
Tech Bubble Consumer Dispatch #9: What I've been reading (9/29/25)
Welcome back, valued Tech Bubble Consumers. This is a regular feature for paid subscribers, where I’ll be going through some of what I’ve been reading (or watching or listening to). If you enjoy my writing and would like to support me so I can make it financially feasible, then consider subscribing for $7 a month (how much a bathroom attendant will charge you for candy and cigarettes if you don’t have the sense to haggle) or $70 a year (the cost of ordering a single Snickers™ bar through DoorDash).
Next free essay
Another stab at contrasting the Silicon Valley Consensus to more narratives about the AI economy, this time focusing on a bit more on narratives that dismiss the financial risk of overbuilding AI infrastructure
What I’m working on
This week’s episode of This Machine Kills features a conversation with Thea Riofrancos, author of “Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism” as we talk about the political economy, material infrastructure, and extractive industries criss-crossing the planet as “green capitalism” roars to life.
I’m going to be in Ethiopia this week where I’m speaking at a pan-African biotechnology conference. I may edit and expand my speech into an essay for the paywall, but the thrust of it is that as firms and governments in the major blocs on either side of the US-China Cold War start sniffing around to bolster their tech and energy stacks, African countries should play both blocs against each other to get the best possible deal.
Additionally, I’ve been organizing more and more neo-Luddite events, primarily teach-ins and workshops—if you’re interested in having me or fellow tech critics come in and speak to your class or on your campus or your organization (especially if you’re part of a union), reach out here, over e-mail (edwardongwesojr@gmail.com), or on Signal (@bigblackjacobin.29).
This week, the recommendations include, but are not limited to
How American policy created the Darién Gap, why OpenAI needs a trillion dollars over the next four years, a tripartite book review examining chips and the wake of the US-China Cold War, the digital cloud’s externalities, an Andrew Ferguson interview on the ascendance of tech capital, the incestous financing of OpenAI-NVIDIA-Oracle, prediction markets disrupting gambling, a clear-eyed review of a new AI doomer book, and global realignment via electrostates vs petrostates.
Let’s get into it!