For Tech’s Sake

We’re back with another Halloween-themed episode, this time sharing stories of the tech that scares us, like the terror of going viral, the shock of Sims making WooHoo on your family computer, the horror of talking dolls, the creep of cognitive outsourcing and goosebump-inducing trypophobia.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Donate to Connie’s GCN fundraiser
>> Have a go at getting the least common answers on Krillion.io and Boreen.ie
>> Join us at the Who Do They Think You Are? data privacy table quiz
>> Check out BetaFestival.ie for details on our upcoming live podcast

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Elaine went to a week of AI summits and events and found the best conversations were happening outside of the sanitised headline event in Dublin, which felt like a day-long ad with little space given to critical thinking on the topics and issues which abound in the AI sector. She reflects on the whole experience with Kelly, marvelling at a mixed-up Irish music medley and a round stage for static speakers, among what felt like doublespeak and gaslighting.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Check out the techbro parody in Visions at the Abbey Theatre, running up to 14 November
>> Have a hopeful read of Mark Little’s book, The Last Good Day on the Internet
>> Consider joining the Digital and Techworker Alliance (DATA) from the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU)

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The modern-day panopticon is not a circular prison with a central guard tower, it’s a network of connected devices capturing and tracking our every waking minute and collecting copious amounts of data to share with the highest bidders – or the most fascistic authorities. In this episode, Kelly and Elaine weigh up the psychological effects of a culture where you can never dance like no one is watching.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Slow down and watch the world go by (literally) with Ambient Earth
>> Read Kelly’s piece on The Journal all about this topic
>> And Patrick Freyne’s article on the normalisation of location tracking among family and friends
>> Listen back to our episode where we asked a search technologies expert if phones are really listening to you (even though we are not even sure any more)
>> And one of our very earliest episodes, which looked at tech-facilitated abuse

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are data centres central to the Irish economy? Or is that just some inflated bluster from the government on behalf of Big Tech? A recent report from Maynooth University has debunked some of the government’s claims around the benefits we reap from being Europe’s data centre dumping ground, so we asked two of its co-authors, Patrick Bresnihan and Patrick Brodie, to talk to us about Ireland’s data centre dependency, and the motivating factors behind it.

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Read the report, How We All Pay for Big Tech: The social, economic, and environmental costs costs of data centres in Ireland
>> Check out the programme for Beta Festival 2026
>> Pick up a copy of the two Patricks’ book, From the Bog to the Cloud
>> Check out the Workers’ AI Counter Summit in Dublin this weekend

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Kelly and Elaine are talking about the emergence of the ‘AI shelf’, where products are marketed specifically at large language models (LLMs) so that they are recommended by chatbots and even purchased by automated ‘agents’. And their question is: Can you trust automated purchase decisions in a broken content ecosystem?

*** Good things we recommend ***
>> Learn more about AI manipulation tactics from ‘the Sophie Morris of chatbots’, WetClaude (AKA Deana Burke), on TikTok and Instagram
>> And check our her newsletter
>> Celebrate ICCL’s recent win against Big Tech
>> Listen back to our episodes on trend simulation and online shopping scams

*** More from us ***
Kelly’s Substack: kellysrubbish.substack.com
FTS blog: for-techs-sake.ghost.io
FTS TikTok: fortechssakepod
FTS Instagram: fortechssakepod
FTS Bluesky: fortechssakepod.bsky.social
FTS UpScrolled: fortechssakepod
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.