STATE OF MONDAY: AI Was Supposed To Replace Us. Now Our Brain Cells Are Powering Data Centers

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Hey everyone,

Welcome to State of the Day,

The bots may not be conscious yet, but our brains are on the menu.

AI Was Supposed To Replace Us. Now Our Brain Cells Are Powering Data Centers

Your utility bills are climbing, sprawling data centers are swallowing your communities, and residents are fighting desperately to keep these industrial behemoths out of their backyards, all to fuel an AI boom that threatens to make more and more of us replaceable.

And as if replacing human beings weren’t enough, the clankers are being built with pieces of us.

Yes, you read that right.

The National University of Singapore is now home to 20 biological computing units that make up an experimental biological data center — a nauseating phrase in and of itself, but the details are somehow worse.

They’re using millions of living, human-derived neurons to process information. We’re not just talking about conventional computer chips, but actual human neurons grown from stem cells in a lab, connected to electrodes on silicon chips and kept alive by a dedicated life-support system.

I’ve watched quite a few sci-fi movies in my time (Alien is one of the best movies ever made) but somehow, a real-life data center has managed to make my skin crawl more than any horror flick.

And here’s the part that should really give you nightmares: The cells can learn.

That’s right. Researchers have developed these abominations masquerading as computers that can be trained to play games like Pong and DOOM.

And they’re not done yet. They hope to eventually use these brain-cell-powered machines to tackle more complex tasks.

Apparently, teaching human brain cells to play computer games inside a machine wasn’t disturbing enough.

There’s something perversely fascinating about all this. So many people around have bent the knee to technological gods that we’ve reached the point where the human brain is treated as just another computer, ripe for the picking.

And look, I’ve made my disdain for data centers clear.

For me, they’re a no-go.

But whatever your opinion, we should all be able to agree that using literal human neurons as computing hardware raises some deeply unsettling questions. The idea is grotesque on its face, and the fact that researchers are looking to advance the technology even further makes me wonder if there are any ethical boundaries left in the race to develop super intelligence.

To me, the concept is a defilement of humanity itself.

But as always, there’s irony in all of this.

In all their infinite wisdom, the tech bros have turned back to humanity for their next breakthrough. After years of promising that AI will automate our jobs and surpass human intelligence, they’re still relying on the very thing they’re supposedly trying to replace: the human brain.

If you read this newsletter regularly, you’ll know I have a penchant for bringing you some of the less cheery news of the day. The goal isn’t outrage bait. It’s simply to cover the real issues facing humanity.

But to be clear, this should enrage you — and probably make your skin crawl a bit.

Still, there is a silver lining: Even as some people in the industry contemplate a future in which humanity is expendable, this latest computing experiment is a testament to the extraordinary capabilities of human biology.

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There’s a lesson in that, even if the tech bros don’t realize it.

Humanity can’t be reduced to code. Consciousness isn’t just another function to be programmed. And morality can’t be compiled into a series of ones and zeros.

Human beings are more than the sum of our processing power. There is something undeniably special and immutable about God’s creation.

No matter how hard the tech bros try to Frankenstein their way to our very own Terminator, they can never out-engineer humanity.

I figured that out a long time ago. I guess the tech bros just haven’t caught up yet.

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From The Editors’ Desk

Attorney General Behind Historic Meta Fine Picks Next Target — Sean Moran, Daily Caller News Foundation

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez just secured a staggering $25 billion judgment against Meta in a case that included allegations the company failed to deliver on its promises to police “misinformation” and “hate speech.” Apparently, Silicon Valley’s biggest sin wasn’t censoring Americans through bogus fact-checking programs — it was failing to censor them enough. Now Torrez has his sights set on AI, raising questions about whether the next frontier of Big Tech regulation will become another excuse for government officials to police what Americans can say and think.

Trump Says He Doesn’t ‘Give A Damn’ About Gas Prices As US Making ‘Fortune’ — Emma Marsden, Newsweek

President Donald Trump’s advisors were probably right on this one. During a Georgia rally, the president declared that while Americans are paying more at the pump, the oil industry is experiencing a huge windfall from the war in Iran. “My people say, please don’t mention that, Sir, people are paying a little higher,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘I don’t give a damn, I’m gonna say it: We’re making a frickin’ fortune.”

Conservative Gubernatorial Candidate Warns Wyoming Can’t Depart From ‘Bread And Butter’ Policies — Spencer Lombardo, Daily Caller News Foundation

Wyoming went for Trump by more than 45 points in 2024, but one gubernatorial candidate says the nation’s reddest state is in danger of becoming the next Colorado. Constitution Party candidate Rebecca Bextel told Tucker Carlson that Democrats have infiltrated Wyoming’s GOP, embracing renewable energy policies that threaten the state’s lucrative fossil fuel industry. Bextel, who claims Democratic and George Soros-linked money is influencing Republican politics in the state, is urging voters to look beyond the R next to a candidate’s name.

From Ohio’s cornfields and factories comes a warning for Republicans — Salena Zito, Washington Post

Trump turned Ohio’s once reliably Democratic working-class strongholds red, but can Republicans keep those voters without him on the ballot? In the Mahoning Valley, GOP organizers are warning of an enthusiasm problem as voters grapple with high gas prices, manufacturing job losses and the war in Iran. Salena Zito reports on the ground.

‘Let’s Go to Footlocker!’ French-Style Unrest Spreads to Spain as Youths Riot and Loot in Barcelona — Kurt Zindulka, Breitbart

Apparently, teen takeovers have moved to Europe. Hundreds of hooded teenagers descended on Barcelona, smashing windows, setting fires, clashing with police and looting stores in an apparent attempt to imitate the unrest sweeping France. One participant reportedly admitted they weren’t protesting anything in particular, while another suggested the mob head to Foot Locker.

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