The world, at least my world, seems abuzz with controversy over the build-out of data centers to support our thirst for artificial intelligence (AI). The controversy stems from the tension between the benefits of AI to the entities that profit from the technology and the impacts of data centers on the environment, energy consumption, and … More Data Centers: Monuments to a Technological Moment?
Why Disruption Now Works—and What That Says About Us The Present Moment The United States is not merely polarized; it is epistemically fractured. Shared assumptions about truth, legitimacy, and institutional restraint—once treated as background conditions of civic life—are now openly contested. What feels new is not disagreement, but the normalization of bad faith as a … More When Norms No Longer Bind
The official line on U.S. control of TikTok’s algorithm sounds benign. By “U.S.,” I mean the federal government—or the corporations it influences or directs. The purported benefits include: National Security / Foreign Influence ConcernsThe fear is that China, through ByteDance or Chinese law, could compel TikTok to share data or manipulate its algorithm to push … More Political Agendas and the TikTok Algorithm
The Constitution was drafted in a world vastly different from our own—sparse in population, slow in communication, and fearful above all of monarchy. The Framers promised that the new office of President would be tightly bound by checks and balances, “much inferior” to a king, and forever accountable to the people. Yet more than two … More The Framers Warned Us About Kings.
The undeniable conservative agenda of Fox News pushes their content out of the category of news into polarizing entertainment for those who share their beliefs. Fox News is indeed more accurately described as Faux News. They carry just enough legitimate news stories to give the appearance of news. Some are factual, some are blatantly false. … More The fuzzy line between news and entertainment
