Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

There is a whole lot that one might say about Tuesday's midterm elections . Let's see if I can come up with something more novel than most of the early coverage. My question is -- what if anything does the "blue wave" of Democratic victories tell us about the future creation of data centers, with their developmental and environmental costs and accordingly about the continued development of artificial intelligence in the United States?  In the Governor's race in Texas, Gina Hinojosa successfully made the unchecked expansion of data centers a central part of her campaign against Greg Abbott. She advocates a moratorium, and work toward stronger protections for electric and water utility rate payers.  This race was not alone in elevating data centers from a local development issue to a state-wide issue.  But since it involves TEXAS, this race clearly suggests it has a future as a national issue, if Hinojosa herself can become an Ann Richards sized figure.  The Ohio Se...

As I believe I have suggested here before, we are at a moment in the history of the North American economy where there are two paths forward, and both of them entail some pain.  One path involves the continued growth of general (or "generative") artificial intelligence, a system that could render irrelevant most of the apps on many of the world's phones and devices, and destroy the companies that have made their income from those apps, and the other companies that have invested and lent too much in them. The destruction of the whole app-based ecosystem -- THAT is what is at stake on this path. Will the world be more than sufficiently compensated or condoled for that loss by the benefits that the growth of GAI will supposedly bring? The other possible path involves a bust and/or long pause in the development of GAI and the continued thriving of the apps ecosystem.  That involves pain, too, since a lot has been invested there.  Again: will the pain be collateral to a greate...