Mike Pepi: Are Platforms Ruining the Internet? | #48

Welcome to the Urgent Futures podcast, the show that finds {signals} in the noise. Each week, I sit down with leading thinkers whose research, concepts, and questions clarify the chaos, from culture to the cosmos.

👉 Never miss an episode! 👉 Subscribe to Urgent Futures now: Youtube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify.

My guest this week is Mike Pepi.

Mike Pepi

is a writer and critic exploring the intersection of technology, culture, and politics. His work has appeared in e-flux, Frieze, Art in America, Spike and other publications, where he interrogates the ideologies behind digital tools and cultural production. He is the author of Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia (Melville House, 2025).

Once upon a time, the Internet was heralded as a great open space, the utopian dream of free information flow. Obviously those ideas were misguided at best; the Internet we experience today is a far cry from what Silicon Valley promised us. What went wrong?

Today’s guest argues that there’s a reason for this: we’ve boxed ourselves—or maybe more accurately, been boxed into—platforms. The Internet as we understand it is dominated by platforms. Odds are you’re encountering this episode on a platform. In the loosest sense, a platform is a privatization of digital space, whether that’s social media, search, ecommerce, or otherwise. Far from neutral tools, this privatization always smuggles in specific choices, architectures, and ideologies—and given the marriage of tech and finance, those features reflect the incentive structures of late capitalism. Platforms have colonized our ideas about what our digital existence—and therefore daily reality—can be. So much of our daily experience reflects the logic of platforms, in ways visible and not.

Get your copy of Against Platforms here!

In his remarkable new manifesto, Against Platforms, Mike makes the case that we could imagine an Internet (and reality) otherwise—and he makes the case for putting more attention toward an alternative logic. It’s one with deeper roots in the human experience. But to find out what exactly this response is, you’ll just have to go pick up a copy of the book—and in the meantime, please enjoy this conversation with Mike Pepi.

Another episode you might like:

Support Reality Studies

NOTE: Thank you for supporting my work by purchasing these products through the links provided. I will only ever share products I actually believe in.

Health & Wellness:

ZBiotics: Right now, get 10% off ZBiotics. Just head over to zbiotics.com and use code JESSEDAMIANI. If you have an evening with drinking and a morning you need to feel fresh, these are a great help. Genetically engineered by a team of PhD microbiologists, ZBiotics is a probiotic drink that breaks down the byproduct of alcohol responsible for rough mornings after drinking (acetaldehyde).

MUD\WTR: Right now, get 30% off on starter packs using this link. There’s four different blends to choose from, but my current favorite is :rest. “This is our protest to hustle culture,” they say, and that resonates with me. Not only does it actually help me ramp down to sleep, but since I froth a little milk and make a latte with it, I get the warm cozy feeling of morning coffee at night. (For the evening tea drinkers out there: I’m not saying it’s better, just different!)

Mission Farms CBD: Right now, get 25% off your first order using this link to sign up for emails. Mission Farms CBD crafts full-spectrum CBD products for specific conditions like sleep, stress, and discomfort, using a combination of CBD and terpenes found in essential oils. I swear by this stuff. All of Mission Farms’s CBD comes from a small farm in Bend, Oregon. They farm the hemp organically, tend every plant by hand, and test for purity four times: the soil, the hemp, the hemp-extract, and the final products. This CBD is designed for wellness and it shows.

Digital Hygiene:

NordVPN: For a limited time, get up to 72% off using this link. Some people tell me that “VPN” brings to mind ideas of hackers and the dark web, but honestly VPNs are just an extremely easy way to stay much safer online. I’ve used NordVPN for the past four years, and appreciate what they offer, including Threat Protection against malware, 24/7 customer support, fast speeds, and more. One account can protect up to 6 devices (phone and computer), and they don’t track or share what you do online. Another benefit: you can always access the content/apps you have at home, wherever in the world you are.

1Password: Listen, I know from personal experience that password managers don’t make for the most riveting dinner party conversation, but I need to express 3 things: 1) They make your life so much easier—it’s called “1Password” because once you get set up it’s the only password you’ll ever need to remember again. 2) They make your online life so much safer, ensuring that you use unique passwords for every account, stored with a high degree of encryption. 3) They are not nearly as complicated to set up as you think they are! Head over to 1Password using this link for a free trial, and individual plans for less than $3/mo after that.

---

CREDITS: This podcast is edited and produced by Adam Labrie and me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also directed, shot, and edited the video version of the podcast, which is available on YouTube. The podcast is presented by Reality Studies. If you appreciate the work I’m doing, please subscribe and share it with someone you think would enjoy it.

Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Past conversations include Taylor Lorenz, Lisa Messeri, Legacy Russell, William E. Rees, Renée DiResta, and more. Here is another recent episode with geographer Brett Christophers: