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

Tech hype is growing more detached from reality, with Las Vegas casinos and the CES trade show linked through surveillance and extraction tools that serve capitalist technology. Chris Hedges argues in a 2017 Truthdig column that machine gambling erases the self, citing Natasha Schüll's finding that gamblers seek a state of escape rather than winning. Casinos use surveillance to track gamblers and maximize time on device, and Schüll names airports, banks and Homeland Security among beneficiaries of Las Vegas technology. The article also cites $119 billion in American gambling losses in 2013.