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Smart Glasses Are Ushering In an Antisocial World

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us: Chris Gilliard on how tech CEOs are hawking their latest luxury line of AI-powered smart glasses.

Paris Marx

October 16, 2025

$799 Meta Ray-Ban Display AI glasses at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California.(David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Smart Glasses Are Ushering In An Anti-Social World w/ Chris Gilliard | Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss how tech CEOs are pushing a new generation of AI-powered smart glasses by promising they’ll be stylish and indispensable to workers in a desperate attempt to convince us we should want their luxury surveillance gadgets.

Chris Gilliard is the co-director of the Critical Internet Studies Institute and is working on a book called Luxury Surveillance.

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Paris Marx is joined by Chris Gilliard to discuss how tech CEOs are pushing a new generation of AI-powered smart glasses by promising they’ll be stylish and indispensable to workers, in a desperate attempt to convince us we should want their luxury surveillance gadgets.

Chris Gilliard is the codirector of the Critical Internet Studies Institute and is working on a book called Luxury Surveillance.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Why Communities Want to Stop Flock Cameras w/ Jason Koebler / Tech Won’t Save Us
byThe Nation Magazine

No one is comfortable with police surveillance in the US, which is why there’s a bipartisan backlash to Flock cameras. Jason Koebler joins Paris Marx to discuss the rise of Flock, how their cameras are being pitched by right-wing politicians and police agencies, and how they’re being used to stalk residents from coast to coast.

Jason Koebler is a co-founder of 404 Media and co-host of the 404 Media Podcast.

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Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts

Paris MarxParis Marx is the author of Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires. He hosts the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast and writes the Disconnect newsletter.


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