Trapped in the Maw of a Stillborn God (Pt. 1)

Tech is becoming further removed from reality, and the casino floor of Las Vegas is presented as a laboratory for surveillance and profit-driven design that could shape the sector's future. Chris Hedges' 2017 Truthdig column argues that machine gambling erases the self, and that his vision of future politics is perpetual immiseration beneath digitally mediated pleasure palaces. Natasha Schüll's study of Las Vegas machine gambling finds that casinos engineer play to maximize time on device, and Schüll says casino surveillance techniques have also benefited airports, banks and Homeland Security.