Steven Johnson - The Infernal Machine

Why It Matters

The book reframes anarchism as a viable, cooperative model and shows how early forensic innovations can inform today’s security and organizational strategies.

Key Takeaways

• Anarchist bombings plagued NYC 1900‑1920, shaping modern security concerns.
• Joseph Petroski introduced forensic tools—fingerprints, photography—to early NYPD.
• Anarchism originally championed cooperative, non‑hierarchical guilds, not chaos.
• The book links Nobel’s dynamite, watchmakers, and political violence threads.
• Reimagining non‑violent anarchism could alter contemporary protest strategies.

Summary

Steven Johnson discusses his new book, *The Infernal Machine*, which uncovers a forgotten era of political bombings in early‑20th‑century New York City and ties it to the evolution of modern policing and radical thought. The narrative weaves three strands—Joseph Petroski’s introduction of fingerprinting, photography, and indexing to the NYPD; the relentless wave of anarchist‑linked bomb attacks from 1900 to 1920; and the philosophical roots of anarchism in cooperative guilds, from Nobel’s dynamite to Swiss watchmakers.

Johnson highlights how bombings were a weekly reality, prompting a forensic revolution that prefigured today’s biometric databases. He argues that anarchism originally meant "no rulers," exemplified by the Jura‑mountain watchmakers who achieved high‑tech precision without hierarchical control. The book also explores the "slow hunch"—the gradual synthesis of ideas that led Johnson to connect dynamite, mutual‑aid theory, and urban terror.

A striking quote from the interview: "Anarchism didn’t start as chaos; it was a brand‑failed philosophy of cooperative, leaderless innovation." Johnson cites the 1905 Han Schmidt case and the watchmakers’ guild as concrete illustrations of how decentralized expertise can drive technological progress.

By reframing anarchism as a missed experiment in non‑violent, bottom‑up organization, the work suggests new pathways for contemporary protest, corporate governance, and surveillance policy, echoing Silicon Valley’s own flirtation with anarchic ideals.

Original Description

While the podcast team is taking a Radical Sabbatical, Kim is interviewing authors of the books that have had a big impact on her in the past two years.

In this episode, Kim speaks with Steven Johnson, co-founder of Notebook LM, not about AI but about his book, The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective. They start with the story of how the Swiss dominated the watch industry for over a century, thanks to a highly decentralized network of cottage laborers in the Jura mountains. The culture of autonomy in the industry was so strong that it turned Swiss watchmakers into some of history's first anarchists, which in the 19th century simply meant self-organization.The movement became associated with disorder and violence after many anarchists adopted Nobel’s invention of dynamite as their weapon. The public outcry against their violent attacks on heads of state and industry led to many modern surveillance techniques, including wiretapping and fingerprinting.. Steven and Kim speculate that some approaches to company-building in Silicon Valley have embraced bottom-up self-organization principles of the Jura mountains. They explore how we might have a viable alternative to capitalism and socialism today if anarchists had not embraced dynamite. They agree it’s not too late to imagine that viable alternative–maybe one of them will write that book.

Guest Background: Steven Johnson is the Co-Founder and Editorial Director, NotebookLM; Author of 14 books on science, technology, and innovation; co-creator and host of BBC/PBS series How We Got To Now and Extra Life. He is the host of the podcast The TED Interview and the author of the newsletter Adjacent Possible. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, and Marin County, California, with his wife and three sons.

(Steven’s Bio) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/93087/steven-johnson/

(Stevens’s latest book: The Infernal Machine) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/715495/the-infernal-machine-by-steven-johnson/

(how to contact, Steven) https://stevenberlinjohnson.com/

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Introduction to Radical Sabbatical and Steven Johnson

(03:02) The Relevance of History in Today's Context

(06:02) The Evolution of Anarchism and Political Violence

(09:03) Kropotkin and the Philosophy of Anarchism

(12:06) The Watchmakers of Switzerland and Technological Innovation

(15:02) The Irony of Kropotkin's Life and Legacy

(18:05) The Influence of Anarchism on Modern Thought

(21:01) Silicon Valley's Bottom-Up Ethos and Its Evolution

(24:02) The Emergence of Google and Bottom-Up Systems

(25:54) The Transformation of Pinkerton: From Idealism to Violence

(30:27) Nobel and the Dual Nature of Dynamite

(35:16) The Political Ramifications of Dynamite

(40:34) The Ludlow Massacre and the Siege of Tarrytown

(43:14) Lessons from History: Nonviolence vs. Violence