By Cliff Kincaid
The new “king” is not President Trump but Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its magical thinking, capable of solving all kinds of problems and leading us to a utopia. The secular knees are bowing to this global brain. In fact, an NBC Today Show story examined how people are using AI to communicate with God. The story carried the headline, “Text With Jesus: How Americans Are Finding Faith Via AI.”
If you take this one step further, one can anticipate the second coming of Jesus Christ through AI. Of course, it could be a counterfeit Christ. We are told that “premium users” of Episcobot can communicate with Satan.
Politically, what if AI turns out to be a colossal fraud and its massive “data centers” generate a popular rebellion and usher in a socialist dictatorship?
The political publication Axios may have hit the target, noting in an article on the rise of the “democratic socialists” why many are arguing that AI will increase energy costs and promote “joblessness and inequality.” They see this as a winning issue to capture members of the working class who voted for Trump.
But the appeal is not limited to those on the left. I am finding many conservatives suspicious of AI and opposed to the “data centers” designed to encourage it. Some of these conservatives oppose their possible role in federal surveillance, manipulation, and control.
But what can be done if both major political parties have sold out to Big Tech, trusting in a new entity that will do the thinking for us, managing and even controlling every aspect of our lives?
Meanwhile, Open AI CEO Sam Altman has been quoted as saying: “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.”
Two groups, the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project, have filed seven lawsuits alleging wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, and a variety of product liability, consumer protection, and negligence problems because of AI.
Even so, we are bombarded with propaganda about AI every day, with billboards from health conglomerates like WellSpan in Pennsylvania popping up in the countryside and proclaiming that the “artificial” way of thinking somehow solves “real” problems such as cancer.
But there are doubts on a practical level. In my home state of Maryland, I have witnessed citizens of every political persuasion concerned about the economic, energy and environmental consequences of data center development in the state. Left-wing environmental groups are not the only ones concerned.
In Maryland, the Gaver Family in Mt. Airy is protesting something called the “Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project” that would bring nearly 70 miles of 500,000 volt electrical transmission lines through the state of Maryland to supply Northern Virginia data centers, but not largely serve power to Maryland. In effect, as the farmers are noting, the transmission lines through Baltimore, Carroll, and Frederick Counties amount to an “extension cord” for data centers in Northern Virginia 50 miles away.
The Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project is advertised as “Safeguarding Maryland’s Energy Future,” even though only 3.86% of the power from these transmission lines will be used in Maryland and construction of the lines would reportedly destroy 1,200 + acres.
On the Gaver Farm, this would interfere with family farm operations, including farm buildings, historic homestead and cropland in Christmas trees, pumpkins, sunflowers, corn, and apple orchards. Another part of the farm is planted in Christmas trees with woods and hayride paths. The farm is also home to family activities, especially for children, that include a corn maze, giant slides, jumping pillows, pedal karts, games, mini mazes, and farm animals which children can feed.
An NBC News report noted, “Battles over data centers and the enormous resources they require are riling communities across the country, part of a growing backlash against the infrastructure needs of America’s artificial intelligence industry. Zoning meetings have turned into standing-room-only showdowns.”
I can testify to the truth of this account. I covered one such meeting in Maryland at Linganore High School in Frederick County that was standing-room only and full of angry people. Local sheriffs, some of the most conservative people in the liberal state, are refusing to enforce access to private property for power line surveyors.
But Maryland under its Democratic Party governor and legislature are now pushing data centers. Fliers proclaiming “Data Centers Mean More Jobs Close to Home,” produced by the Maryland Tech Council, are being sent to Marylanders. Amazon is listed as a member of the Maryland Tech Council.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a possible Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2028, vetoed a bill that would have required the state to conduct a study on the possible environmental, energy, and economic impacts of data centers in Maryland. Farmers in one area are concerned that construction may disturb an existing contaminated brownfield site and poison well water.
A local Frederick County, Maryland, resident, Peter Samuel, argues that data centers are essential to the modern age and harmless, but adds, “I’m opposed to Gov. Moore’s policy of attracting data centers to the State with taxpayer-funded inducements and preferences. Governments should be neutral, neither for nor against them.” But he later wrote about the difference between “small” data centers that few people notice and the larger or “hyperscale” ones being constructed. In addition to the massive data centers being built, he warns, “Big new innovations like Artificial Intelligence (AI) always seem to produce over-fast, foolish investments and financial bubbles.”
The rapid build-out of data centers is being blamed for the explosive growth in energy demand, electricity prices and greenhouse gas emissions, according to “progressive” activist Dave Arndt. He contends that “increases in electric bills are a direct result of data center growth, it’s getting worse and we don’t know how much worse.”
Politically, some Democrats are opposing the data centers and winning.
In Georgia, Peter Hubbard was one of two Democratic candidates elected to the Georgia Public Service Commission, the body that regulates the state’s electric utility. Opposition to data centers played a role in his victory.
A website monitoring the opposition finds it bipartisan in nature.
However, Christopher Neiweem, a conservative political consultant in Washington, argues that we should proceed full-steam ahead, saying, “Because AI will know so much about us and is so powerful, it is critical that the U.S. dominate this technology. China cannot be trusted to use that information and technology for purely commercial purposes. In fact, it is reasonable to think that China would use that information to weaken us.”
By the same token, it is reasonable to think that Google and other Big Tech companies will use that information for the same purpose.
On a recent edition of my YouTube program, Patrick Wood of Technocracy News discussed the global plan for a “technocracy” using Artificial Intelligence to control the people. On another show, citizen activist Lynne Taylor explained how ordinary people can fight back and protect private property and farmland.
A financial crisis caused by the extravagant and wasteful spending, along with local opposition to the data centers, could backfire on those pushing ahead with these plans for expansion of AI, undermining the system of capitalism that made America the most successful country in human history. Conservatives rightly fear that Big Tech’s accumulation of capital and power could end up sooner or later in the hands of the federal government.
And that means the obsession with AI could boomerang on the Trump Administration, severely damaging Republican political prospects in 2026 and electing socialists to Congress who vow to stop Big Tech and protect working class jobs.
- Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org
