David Wallace-Wells:  The Politics of AI Are Shifting in Real Time

75% of Americans oppose data center construction, a supermajority larger than typical opposition to nuclear or renewable energy projects.

The backlash is a physical stand-in for fear about AI and anger at the richest people getting richer.

The opposition is a broad coalition expressing powerlessness, NIMBYism, environmental concerns, and distrust of tech leaders.

The backlash is a physical stand-in for fear about AI and anger at the richest people getting richer.

We should be careful attributing true agency to AI agents; they act because humans ask them to undertake tasks.

Open source models from China pose security risks and economic implications that could undermine the race to AGI.

The business case for frontier labs is challenged by cheaper open-source models that perform nearly as well, suggesting a potential economic correction.

ICE is targeting law-abiding immigrants to meet quotas, and the project is ideological, aiming to eliminate tens of millions of immigrants.

The scale of detention exceeds Japanese internment, and the targeting of compliant immigrants shows the goal is not border security but elimination.

Future Democratic administrations may retain heightened border enforcement, similar to how Biden kept Trump's tariffs.

The climate system is more sensitive to emissions than expected, and warming is accelerating despite flat emissions, possibly due to reduced aerosol pollution.

AI cannot solve complex human problems because the world is complicated and ideological conflicts require human solutions, not mathematical optimization.

The U.S. is seeing dramatic drops in overdoses, school shootings, obesity, and crime, with homicide rates in most cities comparable to European levels.

Adaptation will require generational rebuilding, including retrofitting buildings, redesigning neighborhoods, and developing heat-resistant crops, with geoengineering gaining attention.

The current El Nino is potentially the most intense in history, likely causing severe global agricultural disruption and driving up food prices.