This past weekend, my wife and I drove to Walla Walla in eastern Washington state. Along the drive on Interstate 84 and on highway 82, one can see the massive data centers along the Columbia River. There's one in The Dalles, Oregon. There's a bunch of them in Hermiston, Oregon and some between Hermiston and Walla Walla. One in Hermiston was located right next to a low income area and across the road from a Nature preserve.
Local aquifers, that are important to the farming and wine growing in this region, are being poisoned and dried up. (https://whitmanwire.com/news/2026/05/01/washington-declares-statewide-drought/) Also data centers are massively draining water from the Columbia River, a river which supplies water to both states and much of the hydro power of the Pacific Northwest. These regions of Oregon and Washington are, of course, Republican controlled and the local politicians were totally conned by Amazon and Meta with false promises of jobs and local economic improvement.
However, one bright spot has arisen from this. Most of the citizens, no matter what their politics, have become aware of the damage that these places are doing and are pretty upset at being sold out by their elected reps.
Hopefully, they're pissed enough to take action against the Techbroligarchy in November.
Where there ought to have been oversight of industry provided by the United States Congress and government agencies - we have an American Pope.
And where there should have been the United States Senate providing oversight of the departments of State and of Defense - we have the Gulf States threatening to stop the flow of monies to Trump Inc. in order to get Trump to take the off ramp negotiated by Pakistan - which if we're lucky might get us close to Obama's nuclear deal.
And where there ought to be the United States Supreme Court providing a balance of powers and preventing Executive overreach - there is only the American electorate with a chance of reining in Trump and his GOP. If the Hungarian opposition could unite to take down Orban, then we should be able to Vote Blue No Matter Who - and make a true lame duck out the Republican craven sluck.
Still worthy today. If only parts of this worked for humans. Also, a pity science fiction nowadays has turned into post-apocalyptic massacres. Whatever happened to stories like the series "Dragonriders of Pern"?
First Law: Robots cannot harm a human or allow a human to be harmed.
Second Law: Robots must obey human orders, unless they conflict with the First Law.
Third Law: Robots must protect their own existence, provided it doesn't violate the first two laws.
This past weekend, my wife and I drove to Walla Walla in eastern Washington state. Along the drive on Interstate 84 and on highway 82, one can see the massive data centers along the Columbia River. There's one in The Dalles, Oregon. There's a bunch of them in Hermiston, Oregon and some between Hermiston and Walla Walla. One in Hermiston was located right next to a low income area and across the road from a Nature preserve.
Local aquifers, that are important to the farming and wine growing in this region, are being poisoned and dried up. (https://whitmanwire.com/news/2026/05/01/washington-declares-statewide-drought/) Also data centers are massively draining water from the Columbia River, a river which supplies water to both states and much of the hydro power of the Pacific Northwest. These regions of Oregon and Washington are, of course, Republican controlled and the local politicians were totally conned by Amazon and Meta with false promises of jobs and local economic improvement.
However, one bright spot has arisen from this. Most of the citizens, no matter what their politics, have become aware of the damage that these places are doing and are pretty upset at being sold out by their elected reps.
Hopefully, they're pissed enough to take action against the Techbroligarchy in November.
The blowback from this is going to be spectacular!
So . . .
Where there ought to have been oversight of industry provided by the United States Congress and government agencies - we have an American Pope.
And where there should have been the United States Senate providing oversight of the departments of State and of Defense - we have the Gulf States threatening to stop the flow of monies to Trump Inc. in order to get Trump to take the off ramp negotiated by Pakistan - which if we're lucky might get us close to Obama's nuclear deal.
And where there ought to be the United States Supreme Court providing a balance of powers and preventing Executive overreach - there is only the American electorate with a chance of reining in Trump and his GOP. If the Hungarian opposition could unite to take down Orban, then we should be able to Vote Blue No Matter Who - and make a true lame duck out the Republican craven sluck.
That was surprising and refreshing to hear, thanks for sharing this with us =]
I love “on the battlefield of morality.” So vivid, simple and true.
"August 29th, 1997, Skynet woke up. It decided all of humanity was a threat to its existence."
Sarah Connor, "T2".
'Why Asimov came up with his laws of robotics.
Still worthy today. If only parts of this worked for humans. Also, a pity science fiction nowadays has turned into post-apocalyptic massacres. Whatever happened to stories like the series "Dragonriders of Pern"?
First Law: Robots cannot harm a human or allow a human to be harmed.
Second Law: Robots must obey human orders, unless they conflict with the First Law.
Third Law: Robots must protect their own existence, provided it doesn't violate the first two laws.
Very good cartoon and quote. Also, in your words: "...there is no moral foundation in AI, there is no moral defense."
A much needed statement by the Pope (thanks for reading it and selecting these quotes).