# Matthew Crawford: The truth about 'Smart Cities'

An episode of [UnHerd with Freddie Sayers](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1540134798), 19 Nov 2025, 40 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5fad6d24bc034454b53fe011/e/691df2c77886054fec0bccfa/media.mp3

UnHerd's Freddie Sayers talks with writer and philosopher Matthew Crawford about the creeping tyranny of the "Smart City"—a vision of the future where urban life is optimised by data, and human unpredictability is treated as a "bug" to be fixed. But what is the spiritual cost of a "frictionless" existence? As tech giants begin to govern like nation-states and cars become subscription services that can be throttled from afar, Crawford asks the question: are we building paradise, or a "glorious, collisionless" prison? From the defiance of skateboarders to the ULEZ "Blade Runners" destroying cameras in London, they discuss the fight to reclaim the "unruly felicities" of a life truly worth living. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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