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What do the Ed Sheeran and AI doom news cycles have in common? They’re both about power, the people who currently have power and how much control they want over the rest of us and our lives.
Let’s start with AI. In my mind, the issue isn’t whether AI will kill us all. It’s how thirsty the tech oligarchs are to build a technology that could. I have no idea how dangerous the technology is, and I think that’s true for the vast majority of Americans. We can only guess. But it’s crystal clear how dangerous the people and companies funding it are. The fact that AI will kill us all is how it’s being marketed to investors tells you everything you need to know.
When it comes to AI as a technology, I’m fairly neutral. There are ways that it’s incredibly useful and places where I’m excited about its potential. But there’s also clearly been a lot of bluster where publicly available AI hasn’t lived up to the hype. Not to mention some sleight-of-hand trickery on its capabilities. All of which makes it hard for me and others to evaluate.
But when it comes to the people behind Big Tech, I’m anything but neutral. As I’ve covered here from the start and as journalists like Carole Cadwalladr and Gil Duran have reported extensively on, Silicon Valley is amassing power, and there’s a growing movement in tech that believes tech oligarchs should be running their own nation-states, AKA networked states. The same people who were content to allow social media to tear communities apart and weaken democracy have now turned their sights on AI.
Do I think AI will kill us all? Maybe. But more importantly, I think the broligarchs want a technology that could. Because they want to control it. Which says a lot about just how much power they want over the rest of us.
And the thing is, I think people get it. Local fights over data centers have always felt like a proxy fight over power and control. Communities are banding together to fight back against the notion that an AI takeover is inevitable. The nonpartisan nature of these fights is especially interesting. The Trump Regime might be all in on Silicon Valley ruling the world. But MAGA voters aren’t falling in line. At least when it comes to their own backyards.
What does this have to do with Ed Sheeran dropping Macklemore from his tour? It’s also about power and control. Billionaire Robert Kraft wants it too, along with his fellow stadium owners. Only their version controls the message. They seek to control what artists who rent their venues can and can’t say on the stages they own.
The backlash to Ed Sheeran’s spinelessness has been something to behold. Starting with the supporting musicians who quit in solidarity, leaving Sheeran without opening acts or a band for his set. At least one radio station in Ireland has stopped playing his music. The resale value of his tickets has plummeted. The memes have been about what I would expect, but I cackled when an ill-timed actual contest from Guitar Center promising a chance to open for Ed Sheeran was flooded with “Free Palestine videos and fart memes.”
Americans have a lot of feelings about billionaires right now, and none of them good. A recent Data for Progress survey found that “most voters see billionaires as representing a dysfunctional anti-working class economy.” It also found that “Around half of voters say billionaires got their wealth through luck and family inheritance rather than through hard work and innovation.” Meanwhile, a CBS/YouGov poll released just this week found that “69 percent of respondents under 30 favor candidates who support raising taxes on wealthy Americans,” and that “59 percent of respondents aged 30 to 44 and 55 percent of Americans aged 45 and older said the same.”
Ed Sheeran is learning a hard lesson about capitulating to billionaires. He had more agency than anyone else on that tour and chose power over principle. Robert Kraft and his fellow stadium owners won’t suffer real consequences for their choices — but Sheeran will, and the economic damage is already visible.
That’s the lever. Billionaires can always outfund us and they own the platforms we use to organize. But they can’t insulate themselves from the costs of public contempt, canceled tours, and communities that stand in solidarity. The data center fights and the Guitar Center fart memes are the same fight: ordinary people making it expensive (and annoying) to ignore them.
The broligarchs want a technology that could control us all, and they want to own it. We’re not going to out-resource them. But we can make their ambitions costly. In our backyards, at the ballot box, and apparently, in the comments section of a guitar contest.
ICYMI
We Have to Talk About the Jon Ossoff Thirst Edits (The 19th)
Hundreds of Election Deniers Will Be on the Ballot This November (Wired)
Bo French Sent a Tweet So Racist, His Own Party Finally Took Notice. It’s Just the Tip of the Iceberg. (Mother Jones)
Coda
Next Sunday will be my last newsletter before taking at least two weeks off for cancer treatment. (Before you send emails, yes, I will take more time off if I need it. I promise.) I have some guest authors lined up so hopefully you’ll still receive CARD uninterrupted.
Fall is here, which means it’s time for me to share my favorite YouTube video. Stella’s Best Leaf Jumps of All Time. Enjoy!