The Santiago Boys

THE SANTIAGO BOYSTHE TECH WORLD THAT MAY HAVE BEEN

"Dramatic and illuminating...Surprisingly riveting."

Los Angeles Times (USA)

"As gripping as a Netflix thriller... Perhaps the most important political thriller of the last years...from one of the most important and critical theorists of digitalization..."

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Germany)

"Complex but rewarding...You can hear the care that has gone into the research...The writing is smart, stylish and contains some terrific blink-and-you'll-miss-them details...Doesn't shrink from complex ideas and credits its audience with intelligence, curiosity, and, above all, staying power. Like the best podcasts, it leaves you feeling a little bit cleverer for having heard it."

Financial Times

"An important historical reminder from Chile's tragic fate that digital technology does not necessarily have to serve the interests represented by today's Big Tech."

Aftonbladet (Sweden)

"Particularly attentive to the hidden, secret, and violent uses of technology... - the so-called Dark Tech."

La Lettura / Corriere della Sera (Italy)

"A rich podcast... a beautiful and important production that first and foremost shows how thoroughly political technology is..."

De Correspondent (Netherlands)

"Very, very good. Extremely relevant. Not a mere podcast...but a huge universe. If you are interested in technology, history, and politics, it's a must-hear"

Deutschlandfunk (German public radio)

"Highly exciting, Netflix-like, sophisticated and entertainingly educational"

Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin (Germany)

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The Santiago Boys is a nine-part podcast about a group of radical utopians around Salvador Allende, Chile's socialist president. Undeterred by the Cold War and machinations of their enemies and aided by an eccentric British consultant, they try to wrestle control over technology from multinationals and intelligence agencies and use it to create a more egalitarian economy. As their dream gets crushed by Pinochet's bloody coup, the Santiago Boys find an unexpected afterlife - and in Silicon Valley of all places.

Video trailer, The Santiago Boys (Ops Room image credits: London Design Biennale Project)

This project has been two years in the making and involved more than two hundred interviews and countless hours spent poring over historical documents. Given the immense importance of the topic - especially in light of our own contemporary struggles with and against Big Tech - we've decided to preserve the fruits of our research in the form of a website containing transcripts of the interviews that we conducted as well as pointers to readings, videos, and other historical materials that might enhance the listening experience.

The podcast was written, researched, produced, and presented by Evgeny Morozov. It's a collaboration of Chora Media and Post-Utopia.

Listen to the main music theme of The Santiago Boys composed by Luca Micheli.

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CREDITS

AUDIO

Music main theme: Luca Micheli
Music supervisor: Luca Micheli
Editing & postproduction: Luca Micheli, Guido Bertolotti, Mattia Liciotti, Emanuele Moscatelli
Postproduction assistance: Luca Possi, Lucrezia Marcelli, Filippo Mainardi
Postproduction producer: Matteo Scelsa
Production support: Monia Donati
Editing support: Matteo Miavaldi
Cover art: Alessandro Cavallini

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE

Chiara di Leone (UK & Germany)
David Mills (UK)
Ekaitz Cancela (Spain)
Gustavo Lamounier (Brazil)
Ignacio Velsaco (Chile)
Peter Berard (US)
Vlad Afanasiev (UK)

INTERVIEWS ASSISTANCE

Chiara di Leone (UK & France)
Ekaitz Cancela (Spain & France)
José Antonio Bautista García (Spain)
Macarena Lladser & Sebastian Larrain (Chile)
Maria Luiza Freire (Brazil)
Sebas De Toma (Argentina)

TRANSCRIPTS & FOOTNOTES

Ekaitz Cancela
Fedir Orlov
Ivan Krasnov
Marc Shkurovich
Marco Ferri
Max Hancock
Mikalai Maksimchuk
Pierluigi Bizzini

SPECIAL THANKS

Carlos Senna
Chiara di Leone
Ekaitz Cancela
Enrique Rivera
Fedir Orlov
Fernando Flores
Francesca Bria
Gabriel Rodriguez
Gui Bonsiepe
Guido Brera
Joan Garcés
Marco Ferri
Mario Grandi
Matteo Miavaldi
Mikalai Maksimchuk
Raul Espejo
Renata Avila
Roger Harnden
Sonia Mordojovich
Vanilla Beer