Science & Technology
They’re Building War Robots – The New American
An American company is building war robots, and the justification for pursuing this risky technology is the same one we hear from people who want to drop a data center in every nook and cranny of the American landscape.Foundation’s View“U.S.…
Power Companies Leverage Eminent Domain to Clear Land for AI Data-center Transmission Lines
As the artificial-intelligence boom drives explosive demand for computing power, utilities across the United States are turning to eminent domain to secure rights-of-way for new high-voltage transmission lines. Private landowners, including…
Electric Cars Meet Economic Reality
The electric-car industry, once deemed the unstoppable wave of the future destined to completely replace gas-driven vehicles, has run aground on the shoals of economic reality. In a counter-swell that reflects growing consumer dissatisfaction…
Congress Wants a Kill Switch for Rogue AI
Congress just drafted a bill that allows the federal government to order the shutdown of AI models “that can cause catastrophic harm.” Representatives Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) and Ted W. Lieu (D-CA.) introduced on Thursday the AI Kill Switch…
Rogue AI Is the New Normal
In the latest news of artificial intelligence taking destructive and autonomous action, ChatGPT maker OpenAI told the world that its AI system hacked into that of another company’s. The incident was corroborated by Hugging Face, the company that…
The EU’s Growing Surveillance State
The European Union is developing a growing, intrusive surveillance state, which two recent developments demonstrate.Speed LimitersIn late June, the Daily Mail reported that the European Commission is considering a measure to require “every new…
NRC Ends ALARA, Boosts Nuclear Energy
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has proposed one of the most significant changes to nuclear regulation in decades by moving away from the long-standing ALARA principle — short for “As Low As Reasonably Achievable.” Although the…
Congressmen Want to Force Feds to Get Warrant to Access Local Surveillance-camera Data
Representative Keith Self (R-Texas) introduced legislation Wednesday that would prohibit federal law-enforcement agencies from obtaining data from state and local mass-surveillance devices, including Flock cameras, without a warrant.Cosponsored…
Energy Secretary Wright Says Data Centers Will Bring Power Prices Down. The Grid Says Otherwise.
In a novel reading of supply and demand, Energy Secretary Chris Wright declared Wednesday that data centers are actually the country’s “greatest tool” for stopping electricity prices from rising and eventually bringing them back down.Wright made…
Flocking to the Algorithmic State
Flock Safety cameras surveil thousands of American communities, scanning every license plate that passes and feeding the data into a centralized, searchable private database queried by law enforcement millions of times annually.Flock cameras…