Podcast Club ONLINE: Data Centers and the A.I. Revolt
Details
Data centers have been in the news lately, and not in a good way. Sure, they're ugly, noisy, and problematic, but does the huge outcry against them reflect something else? Have data centers, as tangible projects that people can actually rally against, become a proxy for A.I. and the Silicon Valley tech giants?
What's going on with those data centers, and how real are the problems they pose? Are data centers really needed, and if so, what approach should tech companies take in developing them? What if the number of data centers winds up being too few to handle our bourgeoning compute needs? These and other questions are discussed in this week's podcast, The Ezra Klein Show, with guest Jasmine Sun. The podcast also considers other pressures in A.I. development.
Jasmine Sun is an independent writer and journalist. She is a contributing writer for The Atlantic and also writes for other major publications like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, and SF Standard. She publishes a Substack newsletter on AI and Silicon Valley culture. Previously, she was a product manager at Substack, an AI policy researcher, and a cofounder of Reboot.
PLEASE NOTE: We require that attendees listen to the podcast below before attending the meeting to optimize discussion.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-jasmine-sun.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5FA.4jup.ZBNd0qP2iqis&smid=url-share
(includes transcript)
or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbgvTlt1VB8
(1 hr, 18 min.)
What's a podcast club?
It's like a book club for podcasts. Each week we discuss an interesting and currently-relevant episode from podcasters like Ezra Klein, Michael Shermer, or Russ Roberts. We start off as a large group and spend most of the time talking in small break-out groups, which we remix 3 times during the course of the evening. Our conversations are casual and open. We ask that everyone speak respectfully at all times, and we encourage free and concise discussion relevant to the week's podcast topic. To do this, we try to adhere to Grice's Maxims: https://bit.ly/2p4uSQm
Ultimately, the idea is to help each other think a little differently, learn a thing or two and have some fun.