I was worried about the AI machines taking over the world until I considered the alternative: Humans remaining in charge. We’ve already entered an era in which a lot of people, for better or worse, are making chatbots their first stop for getting information about major events. And it’s unclear that these chatbots can overcome the biases and beliefs of their owners. Do you trust a guy who heils in public to host an AI tool that tells the truth about the Holocaust? A couple weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg’s philanthropy cut ties with the pro-immigration advocacy groupthat he founded, because that bedrock of America (and of Zuck’s past beliefs) fell out of favor with the current administration. What happens when the same administration doesn’t like the way the Meta chatbot answers a question about one of its policies? Trust a guy who abandons his own values to value yours? Why does this matter? Because, as Gary Marcus and Damon Beres explain in The Atlantic (Gift Article), the information war will be fought through chatbots. “Journalists and other sources may be cited by the bots, but the people who control these AI products, such as Musk, now have a greater ability to manipulate how events are reported. This is a deeply troubling development—one that threatens to leave the public less informed, with fewer checks on those in power.” So yes, I worry about the technology. But I worry more about the owners of that technology, who have already shown a willingness to sacrifice the public good for personal gain. 2Triumph of the Ill“In the unraveling narrative of Jan. 6, 2021, so many people claim to know the truth: The rioters who say they were protesting a stolen election. Republican leaders who have recast members of the violent mob as patriots. The quarter of Americans who say it is ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ true that the FBI instigated the attack. The president who called it a ‘day of love.’ Here in his classroom, nearly 250 years after the birth of American democracy, Tate wondered if he had the power to persuade a room of teenagers to reject all that.” The battle over the truth of January 6th as it plays out in the classroom of a teacher who was one of the officers attacked that day. WaPo (Gift Article): He was attacked on Jan. 6. Can he make sense of it for the kids he teaches? 3Yanking Our Chain“This chain of events, which some Danish officials and security experts proposed to us in recent months, may have seemed faintly ridiculous as of last Friday. By the weekend—after the toppling of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Trump’s ensuing insistence that the United States now “runs” Venezuela—it seemed far less so. For months, Danes have anxiously imagined an audacious move by the Trump administration to annex Greenland, whether by force, coercion, or an attempt to buy off the local population of about 56,000 people with the promise of cutting them in on future mining deals. Now those fears are spiking.” The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Seizing Greenland Could Set Off a Chain Reaction. (The chain reaction has already been set in motion. Our allies fear us and our enemies like Russia and China feel emboldened.) 4Left, Right, and Data Center“From Archibald, Pennsylvania, to Page, Arizona, tech firms are seeking to plunk down data centers in locations that sometimes are not zoned for such heavy industrial uses, within communities that had not planned for them. These supersized data centers can usurp more energy than entire cities and drain local water supplies. Anger over the perceived trampling of communities by Silicon Valley has entered the national political conversation and could affect voters of all political persuasions in this year’s midterm elections.” WaPo (Gift Article): The data center rebellion is here, and it’s reshaping the political landscape. 5Extra, ExtraCalculating Risk: “The United States is itself unwinding its own global order. The world’s most powerful country is in the throes of a political revolution.” The Eurasia Group is out with its review of the top risks of 2026. And for America, most of them are coming from within. 6Bottom of the NewsA new Grammy category honors album covers, and the artists that make them. (Now they just have to tell young people what an album is and then what the cover was for...)
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Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Q and A-holes
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