In this episode, Keith Spencer, author of A People’s History of Silicon Valley joins to tell us the story of our smartphones. We begin with an introduction about the pre-silicon valley inhabitants and how many were priced out of the area after the Tech companies established their offices in Silicon Valley. Without any rent control or protection, many had to move far away or became homeless.

We also take a journey around the world, beginning with the mines of Congo where minerals essential to the production of the smartphones are mined. We look at workers in Taiwan who manufacture the phone and finally the warehouse workers in England who help distribute the phone. Keith talks about how the idea of labor, company ownership changed. In this truly remarkable episode, we learn the story of our smartphones.

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Keith Spencer works at Salon Magazine. You can also find him on twitter.