About
Techtonic with Mark Hurst is a weekly one-hour talk show exploring how technology is affecting us, and what we can do about it. Through interviews with authors and journalists, Mark Hurst explores surveillance capitalism, screen addiction, tech utopianism, and more. The show spotlights the risks to democracy, society, and the environment due to the actions of giant corporations and tech platforms.
Techtonic is a production of WFMU, a freeform independent radio station in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Browse the list of books featured on past shows.
About Mark Hurst
Mark Hurst, host of Techtonic, is a longtime tech veteran. He began Techtonic in 2017 after becoming disillusioned with tech industry’s descent into exploiting, rather than serving, its users. Hurst has spent his career writing, speaking, and advising teams about how to create technology that serves people better. His Creative Good email newsletter, started in 1998, is one of the longest-running email newsletters in the world.
Hurst also is the founder and host of the Gel conference, which featured the first-ever presentation of Wikipedia by Jimmy Wales, as well as hundreds of other talks (see Gel video archive). The next event is Gel 2026, coming up on Oct 2-3, 2026 in Accord, New York.
Hurst has written two books: Bit Literacy (2007), which first described the “empty inbox” method, and Customers Included (2015), which argues that it is better to treat people well, not exploit them, with technology. (If only Big Tech had listened.)
Hurst has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from MIT. He lives in Manhattan.
Email Mark Hurst: mark at techtonic dot fm
Sign up for Mark’s Creative Good email newsletter
