EducationSociety & CultureTechnology

The Data Fix

Mél Hogan

Hi everyone, my name is Mél Hogan and I’m a critical media studies scholar based in Canada. I’m working on a project called The Data Fix through a series of conversations with scholars, thinkers, and feelers. Together we explore the significance of living in a world of data, and especially the growing trend of “digital humans” in the form of chatbots, holograms, deepfakes, ai images and videos, and even tech that revives the dead. The conversations are minimally edited, and serve as an archive of the collective thinking and feeling that is going into the Data Fix project. Please see thedatafix.net for more details and show notes. Thank you so much for listening.

Cover art by Oona Ode.

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#89
Monday · 59 min
Rogue, with Eryk Salvaggio
When is AI 'going rogue' and when is it just sloppy oversight by the companies designing the models? The answer won't surprise you -- probably -- but in this episode we discuss why we can both not believe the doom-hype marketing hype of AI companies and still be a bit worried about where this is all taking us. Erik Salvaggio unpacks and explains all of this better than anyone I know. Recorded Aug 27, 2026. Released Aug 31, 2026. Eryk Salvaggio’s website cyberneticforests.com Linked In: Eryk Salvaggio’s Post https://www.linkedin.com/posts/eryk-salvaggio_when-you-see-a-headline-claiming-that-ai-activity-7485551550107656192-d-tq The System From Nowhere https://mail.cyberneticforests.com/the-system-from-nowhere/ On Stochastic Flocks & The Critical Problem of Useful AI https://www.techpolicy.press/stochastic-flocks-and-the-critical-problem-of-useful-ai/ On RLVR (the verifiable rewards bit) - "It's Not X, It's Y" https://mail.cyberneticforests.com/its-not-just-data-its-post-training/ The Data Fix: Soulless, with Eryk Salvaggio https://shows.acast.com/the-data-fix/episodes/639d6648b0a821001040e0e2 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#88
August 10 · 1 hr 16 min
Plausible, with Tracy Valcourt
Tracy Valcourt and I discuss this strange new AI phenomenon of using ads to sell both conservative veering on fascist ideology and AI production in itself, as a package. We meander through the strange worlds of advertising and AI and (re)consider the plausible. Recorded July 30, 2026. Released August 10, 2026. That white guy who can’t get a job at Tim Hortons? He’s AI | Visual investigations -- CBC 2025 No Camera. No Crew. Just AI | Toyota Tundra Commercial Being a Luddite Is Fun Again -- Janus Rose,Jul 27, 2026, 404 New Yorkers Are Defacing This AI Startup’s Million-Dollar Ad Campaign -- Rae Witte, Sep 30, 2025, Futurism Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#87
July 27 · 57 min
Coalition, with Kris Akin and Matthew Shaw
The Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development co-released the Data Center Opposition Report in April 2026, which we discuss in this episode with Kris Akin and Matthew Shaw. Recorded June 23, 2026. Released July 27, 2026. Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development Our Research — Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development Data Center Opposition Report — Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development Map of Community Organizations Focusing on Data Centers — Coalition for Responsible Data Center Development Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#86
July 13 · 1 hr 19 min
Whispers, with Nicole Sugarman, Shawmar Pitts, Steph Jordan, Livia Garofalo, Cella Sum, and Linda Huber
This episode was a recap of an event called How to Stop a Data Center that took place at Swathmore College in April 2026. I was able to listen via Zoom and then later asked available panelists to come on the podcast to discuss community-based activism against AI data centers. Recorded June 17, 2026. Released July 13, 2026. Fight Data Centers https://www.kairosfellows.org/fightdatacenters For more info on Stop the Data Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan: Stop the Data Center Campaign link tree https://linktr.ee/stopthedata Stop the Data Center substack for major updates and calls to action https://stopthedatacenter.substack.com/ How to Stop a Data Center https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/04/10/how-to-stop-a-data-center/ For more info on Steph Jordan https://stephaniebethjordan.com/ 'PENNSYLVANIA IS PERFECT' https://newint.org/science-and-technology/2026/pennsylvania-perfect PENNSYLVANIA’S POWER Why Local Authority Is the Key to AI Infrastructure Decisions https://datasociety.net/library/pennsylvanias-power/ DATA AS DESTINY IN THE STEEL CITY How Pittsburgh’s Industrial Past Is Being Leveraged for an AI Future https://datasociety.net/points/data-as-destiny-in-the-steel-city/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#85
June 29 · 1 hr 24 min
Monstrosities, with Rania Masri, Simon Enoch, Adam Wilkins, Lauren Stephens Smith, Sophie Toupin, Vijay Kolinjivadi, and Christiane Bailey
This episode is a recording of an event that took place at Concordia University: So an AI Data Centre is coming to your community? Don't panic! A roundtable on strategies for building community power. We discuss tactics and strategies for pushing back against Big Tech and their AI data centers -- seen as monstrosities by those who know how much humanity stands to lose by and through AI logics and their instantiations in infrastructure. Recorded June 12, 2026. Released June 29, 2026. Featuring: Adam Wilkins and Lauren Stephens Smith (Save Lorneville), Rania Masri (NC Environmental Justice Center), Simon Enoch (Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). Hosted by the Social Justice Centre. So you’re getting a data centre! Here’s what to know https://www.policyalternatives.ca/news-research/so-youre-getting-a-data-centre-heres-what-to-know/ In New Brunswick, residents battle the government over a planned AI data centre https://thenarwhal.ca/lorneville-ai-data-centre/ Dr. Rania Masri https://ncejn.org/staff/dr-rania-masri/ Event Sponsors: Social Justice Centre (Concordia), SCPA Student Association (SCPSA), School for Community and Public Affairs (Concordia), Climate Justice Montreal, Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Time, Technology, and Capitalism (Concordia), Confronting Emergent Dystopia Working Group (Concordia). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#84
June 15 · 1 hr 6 min
Fiction, with Teresa Heffernan
This episode covers the role of fiction -- literal readings and total misreadings of sci-fi -- in how they shape tech CEOs ideas about the future. Teresa Hefffernan is incredible at communicating the problems with AI today. Please listen to the podcast/lecture linked below, too, for more. Recorded June 10, 2026. Released June 15, 2026. CBC Ideas Literature Versus the AI Industry https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-23-ideas/clip/16208906-literature-versus-ai-industry The 2026 Wiegand Lecture featuring Teresa Heffernan — Literature Versus the AI Industry https://youtu.be/hPV-Ql_KGzM?si=XperXIzFO5ydcStU Teresa Hefffernan website https://www.socialrobotfutures.com/publicationsmedia/publications/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#83
May 25 · 59 min
Rage, with Valerie Veatch
This episode is with the amazing Valerie Veatch, director of Ghost in the Machine -- a documentary that serves as a critical takedown of "AI". It's the best argument against "AI" that I've seen, highlighting the voices of scholars across various academic disciplines. You can watch the film via the link below and listen to the director explain her process and ideas for continuing the conversation... as a trilogy. Recorded May 12, 2026. Released May 25, 2026. Ghost in the Machine 2026 • 1h 30m • Documentary • Valerie Veatch (dir) https://kinema.com/films/ghost-in-the-machine-pvxg4p Not AI https://notaidoc.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#82
May 11 · 56 min
Strategies, with Sonja Solomun
In this episode, in front of a live audience at Carleton University for their "The Ends of AI: A symposium on technopolitics and intellectual culture", I spoke about strategies and outlooks on environment justice with policy expert, Sonja Solomun. Recorded Apr 2, 2026. Released May 11, 2026. The end of accountability: How autonomous AI could supercharge climate disinformation https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/02/27/opinion/ai-conspiracies-climate-disinformation Polarization as the technological goal – not the error https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/all-work/polarization-as-the-technological-goal-not-the-error From Tech to Justice: A Call for Environmental Justice in AI https://ainowinstitute.org/publications/collection/a-new-ai-lexicon-sustainability Beyond Technology: The Role of Information Interference in Climate and Election Obstruction https://www.mediatechdemocracy.com/all-work/beyond-technology-the-role-of-information-interference-in-climate-and-election-obstruction “You will be in positions that matter. Positions in which you can decide the nature and quality of other people’s lives. Your errors may be irrevocable. So when you enter those places of trust, or power, dream a little before you think, so your thoughts, your solutions, your directions, your choices about who lives and who doesn’t, about who flourishes and who doesn’t will be worth the very sacred life you have chosen to live. You are not helpless. You are not heartless. And you have time.” ― Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#81
April 27 · 1 hr
Simulation, with Dan McQuillan
In this episode with Dan McQuillan, we discussed the current AI moment as/within the polycrisis, and also as a temporary period between illusion and simulation. Dan proposes a series of countermeasures to AI under the umbrella of 'decomputing'. We also spend some time talking about illusion, shame, authenticity, and a slew of other contradictions that are important to note in relation to this AI moment. Recorded Apr 7, 2026. Released Apr 27, 2026. Preprint: AI, Decomputing and the Interregnum https://www.danmcquillan.org/ai_decomputing_interregnum.html Resisting AI: An Anti-fascist Approach to Artificial Intelligence (2022) https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/resisting-ai Meta Security Researcher's AI Agent Accidentally Deleted Her Emails https://www.pcmag.com/news/meta-security-researchers-openclaw-ai-agent-accidentally-deleted-her-emails Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#80
April 13 · 1 hr 9 min
Offloading, with [Anonymous]
For this episode, I interviewed someone who asked to be made anonymous (and voice altered) in order to openly discuss their complicated feelings of regularly offloading work tasks to an AI chatbot. Is there any shame is using AI? Isn’t everyone doing it? Why would people pretend not to? Does it change you? Is it bad for the brain? Recorded Mar 22, 2026. Released Apr 13, 2026. How I Realized AI Was Making Me Stupid—and What I Do Now https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/how-i-realized-ai-was-making-me-stupidand-what-i-do-now-5862ac4d Study Finds That People Who Entrust Tasks to AI Are Losing Critical Thinking Skills https://futurism.com/study-ai-critical-thinking Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#79
March 30 · 1 hr
Mundane, with Wendy H. Wong
In this episode, Wendy H. Wong explains the human rights implications of datafication. We talk about how data become valuable, sticky data, big tech’s encroachment on governance, our faces/selves as datapoints, and how the mundane underlies and explains so much of how data collection happens in the first place. Recorded Mar 20, 2026. Released Mar 30, 2026. Wendy H. Wong We, the Data: Human Rights in the Digital Age https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262048576/we-the-data/ Human Rights in the Digital Age https://youtu.be/HyLV5Tf54QM?si=y08lMREdIgYVULcG Big Tech companies govern our lives. It’s time they’re held accountable for it https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-google-amazon-apple-meta-microsoft-governance-accountability/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#78
March 16 · 1 hr
Hollowed, with Olivia Guest, Iris van Rooij and Andrea Reyes Elizondo
In this episode, Olivia Guest, Iris van Rooij and Andrea Reyes Elizondo discuss why it’s important to the overall purpose and significance of the university to resist the uncritical adoption of AI in academia. The risk of AI adoption is that it’ll hollow out the institutions first, and then society at large. Recorded Feb 27, 2026. Released March 16, 2026. Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia Olivia Guest, Marcela Suarez, Barbara Müller, Edwin van Meerkerk, Arnoud Oude Groote Beverborg, Ronald de Haan, Andrea Reyes Elizondo, Mark Blokpoel, Natalia Scharfenberg, Annelies Kleinherenbrink, Ileana Camerino, Marieke Woensdregt, Dagmar Monett, Jed Brown, Lucy Avraamidou, Juliette Alenda-Demoutiez, Felienne Hermans & Iris van Rooij https://philarchive.org/rec/GUEATU *the 2nd quote read on the episode: Guest, O. (2025). What Does 'Human-Centred AI' Mean?. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2507.19960 We've been here before! What do you mean? Olivia Guest, 18 February 2026 https://olivia.science/before/ Summer School: Critical AI Literacies for Resisting and Reclaiming https://irisvanrooijcogsci.com/2026/02/18/summer-school-critical-ai-literacies-for-resisting-and-reclaiming/ and https://olivia.science/ai/ Academic Collaborations and Public Health: Lessons from Dutch Universities' Tobacco Industry Partnerships for Fossil Fuel Ties. Zenodo. Knoester, L., Pereira, A., Vanheule, L., Reyes Elizondo, A., Littlejohn, A., & Urai, A. (2025). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15274865 Why AI transparency is not enough https://www.leidenmadtrics.nl/articles/why-ai-transparency-is-not-enough Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#77
March 2 · 1 hr
Opposition, with Daisy Maldonado, Annie Ersinghaus & Gilberto Manzanarez
In this episode, Daisy Maldonado, Annie Ersinghaus, Gilberto Manzanarez and I discuss on-the-ground opposition to two data centers being built against the will of local residents: Project Jupiter (Oracle/Open AI) in New Mexico, and the largest data center in California -- in Imperial Valley. This conversation was part of: Powering AI from the Borderlands: Organizing Against Data Centers, facilitated by Dustin Edwards. Recorded Feb 24, 2026. Released Monday March 2, 2026. Powering AI from the Borderlands: Organizing Against Data Centers https://cal.sdsu.edu/humtech/events Gilberto Manzanarez on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/valleimperialresiste/ Resistance to data centers rises on the border https://www.hcn.org/articles/resistance-to-data-centers-rises-on-the-border/ "Jupiter Watch" videos on Project Jupiter in New Mexico https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi_phIsUpRg&t=5s The Water Is Coming ¡Ya Viene La Agua! Annie Ersinghaus’s short doc on the politics of the Rio Grande (Project Jupiter is pulling from underground water along the Rio Grande) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgab5ICoWJI&t=430s Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#76
February 16 · 1 hr 11 min
Enough, with Adam Becker
In this episode, Adam Becker and I talk about our AI overlords and their “philosophical” influences — mostly eugenics-based pseudoscience and bad readings of sci-fi that make tech billionaires feel like they’ve earned their billions by being the smartest people on the planet… while ruining the planet. Recorded Feb 13, 2026. Released Feb 16, 2026. More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity (2025) https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9781541619593 BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172zsskmkss5ll (start at 39:15) Rolling Stone Q&A: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tech-billionaires-adam-becker-1235381649/ Dreaming Against the Machine http://dreamingagainstthemachine.com/ Forthcoming: Adam Becker’s new podcast website (bookmark this now for later!) Mentioned in our conversation: I Am An AI Hater by Anthony Moser https://anthonymoser.github.io/writing/ai/haterdom/2025/08/26/i-am-an-ai-hater.html Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#75
February 2 · 59 min
Containment, with Zoë Sofoulis (Zoe Sofia) and Ingrid Richardson
Great theorists make you see the world differently forever after. This is the case with my guests for this episode, Zoë Sofoulis (Zoe Sofia) and Ingrid Richardson — brilliant scholars helping us rethink containers and containment as a feminist strategy to rework worldly narratives about what holds, filters, leaks. This conversation was a special honour for me. Recorded January 23, 2026. Released February 2, 2026. Containment Technologies of Holding, Filtering, Leaking (2025) https://meson.press/books/containment/ Zoë Sofia Container Technologies (2000) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227700296_Container_Technologies Shoutouts to: Re-Understanding Media: Feminist Extensions of Marshall McLuhan (Duke University Press) https://dukeupress.edu/re-understanding-media Insufferable Tools: Feminism Against Big Tech https://www.dukeupress.edu/insufferable-tools Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man Paperback –1994 https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262631594/understanding-media/ And much more… Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#74
January 19 · 57 min
Friendship, with Am Johal and Matt Hern
In this first episode of 2026, I speak with Am Johal and Matt Stern, authors of the "O My Friends, There Is No Friend: The Politics of Friendship at the End of Ecology" (2025) to better understand what friendship means these days... at the "end of ecology". Is friendship political? Can an AI chatbot be a friend? Recorded Jan 16, 2026. Released Jan 19, 2026. Matt Hern, Am Johal O My Friends, There is No Friend (pdf) https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/022e1f6f-f14a-4c11-a94c-c95610919f8c/9783839470268.pdf Below the Radar podcast: https://www.sfu.ca/vancity-office-community-engagement/below-the-radar-podcast.html *** New Cover art by Oona Ode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#73
Dec 22, 2025 · 55 min
Predictable, with José Marichal
José Marichal is exceptionally good at making the case for why we should all become algorithmic problems and also much more reflective of our engagement with social media. We are altered by recommendation algorithms -- and we should probably think now about how to renegotiate these terms? Happy holidays! Recorded Nov 27. Released Dec 22, 2025. You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/you-must-become-an-algorithmic-problem Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#72
Dec 8, 2025 · 1 hr 1 min
Advocates, with Meg Rintoul and Kathryn Barnwell
In this episode I speak with friends-neighbours-advocates Meg Rintoul and Kathryn Barnwell about current plans in place to build an AI data center in Nanaimo, B-C. -- and allowing ourselves to write a new story about the future. Recorded Nov 27. Released Dec 8, 2025. 'Very scary': Nanaimo neighbours have water worries about new data centre https://www.reddit.com/r/nanaimo/comments/1oo24s3/very_scary_nanaimo_neighbours_have_water_worries/ 'An Island concern': Nanaimo water advocates want new data centre stopped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OQzc2bhtXw CBC: AI-related data centres use vast amounts of water. But gauging how much is a murky business https://www.cbc.ca/news/ai-data-centre-canada-water-use-9.6939684 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#71
Nov 24, 2025 · 54 min
Tracking, with Stefanie Felsberger
In this episode, I got to walk through a recent report called “the high stakes of tracking menstruation” with its author, Stefanie Felsberger, a sociologist of tech & gender. I cannot express enough how much there is to learn from this topic that can help us understand the bigger landscape of tech promises and harms. Recorded Oct 23, 2025. Released Nov 24, 2025. The High Stakes of Tracking Menstruation - MCTD Cambridge https://www.mctd.ac.uk/femtech-high-stakes-tracking-menstruation/ https://www.mctd.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/The-High-Stakes-of-Tracking-Menstruation_Accessible.html Menstrual apps harvest data that ‘puts women’s safety at risk’ https://www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcare/article/menstrual-apps-harvest-data-that-puts-womens-safety-at-risk-bd0srb8mt? Period: The Real Story of Menstruation (by Kate Clancy) https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691191317/period? Website https://www.stefaniefelsberger.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#70
Nov 10, 2025 · 52 min
Surveillance, with Justin Hendrix
In this episode, I speak with Justin Hendrix, the CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a nonprofit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy. We talk about ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement), surveillance, and AI. Recorded Oct 21, 2025. Released Nov 10, 2025. Republican Budget Bill Signals New Era in Federal Surveillance DEAN JACKSON, JUSTIN HENDRIX / JUL 2, 2025 https://www.techpolicy.press/republican-budget-bill-signals-new-era-in-federal-surveillance/ Amidst Violent Immigration Raids, DHS Turns to Big Tech to Silence Dissent JENNA RUDDOCK / OCT 3, 2025 https://www.techpolicy.press/amidst-violent-immigration-raids-dhs-turns-to-big-tech-to-silence-dissent/ AI Surveillance on the Rise in US, but Tactics of Repression Not New DIA KAYYALI / MAR 26, 2025 https://www.techpolicy.press/ai-surveillance-on-the-rise-in-us-but-tactics-of-repression-not-new/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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