Sunday, April 19, 2026
What Could Possibly Go Wrong with the Profileration of AI: Read and Watch Science Fiction and Find Out
Science Fiction writers and filmmakers are sometimes accurate seers and prophets of how humanity and technology will evolve.
Read Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and see how the NASA scientists learned from it.
Look at Issac Asimov's I Robot and fast forward to a First Lady of the United States walking down a White House hallway with a talking...wait for it...Robot who, as Melania Trump said, could help teach children in the classroom.
Watch Star Trek and take a look at that communicator...cell phone you use every day.
With advances in AI and data centers accelerating at, many would say, alarming rate, many should look to the creative geniuses of Science Fiction writers and filmmakers on what happens when technology runs amuck when no safeguards are in place.
Read stories like Karel Čapek's R.U.R. or Arthur C. Clarke's 2001 A Space Odyssey and Dial F for Frankenstein about robots rebelling against humans and a worldwide web system and supercomputer taking over.
Foolishly relying on supercomputers that think they're God could be found in the underrated 1970 Colossus: The Forbin Project movie, the Matthew Broderick hit War Games, or watch the Star Trek Original Series second season episode, The Ultimate Computer.
Cue the musical theme for The Terminator Series, and people should think about what happens when humanity allows technology to become sentient or eclipse them.
Other examples include Westworld (the original movie and HBO series) and Ultron from The Avengers.
More metaphysical examples would be The Matrix trilogy or Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
What could possibly go wrong with the proliferation of AI, especially with aspiring tech overlord Long Termists eugenicists like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel pulling the strings on several AI initiatives?
Watch Bill Maher's New Rules from April 17 and see what can go wrong.
Many public servants, including Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, have, while not as dystopian as the science fiction examples above, sounded the alarm on the proliferation of AI and how it could threaten individual prosperity and society as a whole.
Appearing at an American Seed AI Festival in March, Kelly, who last year published an AI roadmap for the country, said:
"Because the truth is that Washington is behind on this stuff, like way behind. This town is just starting to ask questions about the impact of AI on the workforce, on our infrastructure, and on our society. Questions that are already being discussed in places like Silicon Valley, in those Silicon Valley boardrooms, and in offices on Wall Street, and also at kitchen tables across the country.
Now, AI has real promise, more productivity, better health care, faster scientific discovery. But we've got to be honest about something here. If we don't get this right, people across this country are going to be the ones that end up paying the price.
And many of those people are going to be left behind. We can't let that happen. So that's why I put out my AI for America roadmap.
And it's focused on closing the gaps, workforce, and infrastructure. And making sure innovation strengthens the families and small businesses that power our economy, instead of putting more strain on them. Because if America is going to lead in AI, we've got to invest in the people, the workers, the systems that make that leadership possible...
Some here in DC and also in Silicon Valley think that the solution is to just steamroll people and steamroll communities.
Give them no say. That stuff's not only wrong, it's just not going to work. And if you want to build faster, you've got to talk to the local community and work with them on what the project will mean for their jobs, their town, and their cost of living.
You have to make it clear early that they're better off with this project than without it. So the question is, how do we build a better way to get this done? And I've got a proposal. So building on the ideas from my AI for America roadmap, I've been working on a new bill to do exactly that.
And it's pretty simple. Bring developers and communities together at the beginning to work through the details. What a project means for energy, water, infrastructure, and jobs, and put real commitments on the table.
The people building the data centers commit to delivering real long-term benefits for communities, like local hiring, paying for some of the infrastructure, and keeping utility rates low. In return, communities commit to getting projects approved and off the ground. Now, my framework includes public input, clear timelines, and enforceable agreements.
So communities and workers have a real say in how these projects take shape, and developers have certainty that they're going to move forward. Clear expectations, tangible outcome, tangible community benefits, real accountability, no surprises...
...Projects that do this work up front, they get priority access to the federal programs that are already on the books. We also make sure communities aren't going into this process alone. The bill provides local leaders with access to the engineers, the lawyers, and the experts that they need to negotiate these agreements effectively.
Because if we want this to work, it's got to be fair. Local communities need the same expertise as the big companies. This is about speeding things up by reducing the friction that's stops projects today.
When people see real benefits, good paying jobs, stronger infrastructure, lower costs, they're going to get on board. We're not just building data centers or power plants. We're building an economy, an economy that works for people to get, one that creates opportunity, strengthens the middle class, and keeps America leading the world.
Please see all of Kelly's remarks below:
Time to Buy an EV and Invest in Clean Energy
What is that old saying?
Necessity is the mother of invention in times of great need.
Or maybe it should be a new proverb: affordability is the father of forward progress as Donald Trump's war on clean energy, including ending subsidies for electric vehicle purchases and investments in solar and wind projects, coupled with his war of choice against Iran, has created near perfect market conditions for people to...wait for it...buy an electric car and invest in solar and wind energy sources.
With a glut of electric vehicles wasting away on car lots, automotive companies have responded to the law of supply and demand, reducing their asking sales price to roughly what it would have been had the Biden/Harris Era tax incentives for those types of vehicles had been in place.
Another factor to consider is that the average prices of a new electric vehicle ($54,500) compared to a gas-powered one ($49,000) are drawing closer.
According to a guest op-ed in the New York Times, the sales price for the five best selling electric vehicles is less than the average price for a new car.
That is in addition to the $6,000 to $12,000 in average savings on maintenance and fuel costs.
With prices falling on electric vehicles and gas prices, thanks to Trump's war of choice against Iran rising, electric vehicle sales for auto companies like Tesla have risen.
So have electric vehicle sales for General Motors, Hyndai, and Kia.
Hybrid sales for Toyota and Honda are also doing well.
At a time when people are struggling with affordability, buying electric vehicles that are at least comparable in price to gasoline-powered ones, with the added incentive that all they have to do is plug them in at home to power up, rather than spend $5.00 a gallon on gas, is a powerful inducement for the American consumer to consider cleaner energy options.
There is also a nationalist side to consider.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, in writing about the increasing affordability of battery technology and electric vehicles, warned that the United States, under Trump's climate change denialism and anti-science/clean energy agenda, would cede the new emerging cleaner and better energy markets to China.
This writer has also pointed out in several articles that Trump is like a Manchurian Candidate with his reactionary energy and science policies aiding China's emerging clean sustainability sector.
In one of his articles, Krugman wrote:
"...Under President Biden the United States took much needed steps toward developing its own electrotech sectors, notably batteries and electric vehicles. It also sought to accelerate the growth of renewable energy in general. But not only has the Trump administration canceled all of Biden’s renewable energy programs, it is also actively trying to block private commercial investments in renewable energy.
By the time America frees itself from Trump’s fossil fuel obsession, if it ever does, China’s lead in the manufacture of renewables will probably be insurmountable..."
"Given the rate at which the planet is warming, a shift away from fossil fuels can’t come fast enough. Where the equipment needed to make that shift happen was manufactured is a secondary issue.
Yet it’s sad to watch this country sabotage itself and cede the most important industry of the future to China. In doing so, we make ourselves poorer, technologically backward, and less influential in a world that is speeding towards the energy revolution. In the end, we aren’t just burning fossil fuels; we’re also burning our future."
Arizona Senate Democratic Leader Priya Sundareshan, an advocate for clean energy sustainability as well as safeguarding the state's water supply, commented on the need to better invest in electric vehicles and other forms of clean energy technology, offering:
"Trump's choice to take the U.S. into reckless war with Iran has not only put members of our military at risk but has also dramatically increased prices at the gas pump for Arizonans. Now more than ever, we can see the pressing need for Arizona to take advantage of our sunny days and to invest in solar energy and electric vehicle incentives. Instead, we see both Trump's federal energy and environmental policy and state Republicans in the Arizona Legislature doubling down on policies that prefer fossil fuel use, causing working-class families to see their bills skyrocket ever higher while their wealthy cronies profit. Wiser leadership would help our state electrify and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. "
It would be sweet irony if Donald Trump's war on science, tax policies, and ill-conceived war against Iran would actually create the free market conditions for people, in search of affordability, to purchase the very clean energy automobiles that he abhors, and actually make the United States a major leader in those vital economic and scientific sectors.
This movement would be greatly helped with the election of public policy servants who fight for America's future, traveling the road ahead with solar and wind as opposed to coal and oil.
With Tisza Winning 138 of 199 Parlimentary Seats to Defeat Orban's Fidesz Party in Hungary, Will the People of the United States Soundly Defeat the Fascist MAGA Forces Here?
Yesterday was a great day for Democracy.
With voter turnout approaching close to 80 percent, the people of Hungary gave a massive F-You to Hungary's Prime Minister, Putin puppet, and Trump Project 2025 role model, Viktor Orban, the person who has spent the last 16 years running that country's economy into the ground while unleashing a stream of corruption, putting his plutocratic allies in key positions in the judiciary, universities, and press.
The opposition forces of Peter Magyar, despite Russian disinformation efforts and Trump/Vance endorsements for Orban, through their dual messaging of combatting corruption and reviving the country's economy, have secured enough seats in the Hungarian Parliament to form a super majority and start the process of dismantling what Orban has done to that nation in his time as Premier.
That dual message of combatting corruption and reviving the economy for the people could resonate in other nations that mirror Orban's governing philosophy like Israel and the United States, two nations that are also holding national elections this year.
Both nations, with White Nationalist-Neo Fascist leaders (Trump and his allies in the United States, Netanyahu and his allies in Israel,) who have driven their economies into the ditch, are engaged in open corruption and enrichment for their cronies and families, are targeting innocent minorities, and have driven the world into a potential economic calamity with their ill conceived war of choice against Iran, should be ripe for political change when elections come.
Reacting to the Hungarian Election results, Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego posted:
"Hungary just proved something the whole world needed to see: people will stand up and reject authoritarianism when it matters most. They chose Democracy, NATO, and the EU over Putin and illiberalism.
This is a humiliating blow to Trump and Vance, who went out of their way to campaign for Orbán. Turns out voters aren’t buying what they’re selling."
Appearing on Morning Joe, 2016 Popular Vote Presidential Winner and former First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that what happened in Hungary demonstrates how the power of the people could prevail over the forces of the reactionary right and their attempts to manipulate election results, saying that Democrats should take the themes of the Hungarian victors yesterday and run on accountability and affordability as a winning message.
Look at the below post Trump released after attacking Pope Leo XIV.
Representative Ansari is right.
Trump is mentally unstable, issuing posts that both portray him as a Messianic figure and threaten to wipe out Iranian/Persian Civilization.
He is tremendously incompetent as his management of the economy and taking the country into war against Iran demonstrate.
He is openly corrupt, as he and his family enrich themselves at working and middle-class taxpayer expense while prioritizing vanity projects like a triumphal arch and new ballroom over funding health and day care for the American People.
Hillary Clinton and Ruben Gallego are right.
Never underestimate the power of the people.
They will pick Democracy, competence, and anti-corruption all the time, especially when pro Democratic candidates run on a message of economic revival, affordability, and anti-corruption.
This is an historic opportunity for the forces of positive change, progress, accountability, and Democracy.
Do not blow it.
History is watching.
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Historically, former Presidents take time off when they leave the Oval Office and maintain a respectable silence while their successors get ...
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