[24046] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Script of my national radio report yesterday on
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lauren Weinstein)
Tue Jul 21 11:04:08 2026
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 2026 07:54:08 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
To: privacy-dist@vortex.com
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This is the script of my national network radio report yesterday on how
AI is causing massive shortages of memory chips, impacting a wide array
of consumer products, and about pushback against AI around the country.
As always there may have been minor wording variations from this script
as I presented this report live on air.
- - -
Yeah, so this is yet another example of the technological razor blade
society is sliding down these days. Indeed smartphone shipments have had
their biggest drop in more than 13 years, And of course, the cause is ... AI,
yet again making people's lives miserable.
It all ties in to the construction of these massive data centers that
are now despised around the country. This is especially true in the
rural areas where the Big Tech AI companies can find unspoiled land that
they can then spoil with air and noise pollution, destroying those
communities, causing power rate increases, water shortages, homes being
forcibly taken from their long-time owners -- you know the drill.
And what goes into those monstrous data centers? Lots of memory chips.
So many chips for AI services -- that in many cases are wrecking our
society -- that it has created enormous shortages that are affecting all
manner of consumer products, including PCs, laptops, and many others,
including, of course, smartphones.
Unsurprisingly, this shortage, which has pushed up memory chip prices by
something like 300% in the last year or so, is most impacting lower and
mid-range smartphones where they can make up over 65% of the total cost
of materials. Meanwhile, the higher end units, for the folks that who
afford to drop a grand or two on a super-fancy smartphone, aren't being
affected as much since those users are typically not bothered by the
resulting increases in the already premium prices.
Meanwhile, the hatred of AI as being pushed by Big Tech has spread
across all sectors of the U.S. -- both political parties, independents,
all age groups, all economic levels. At least 70% of Americans are fed
up with AI. They don't want what large language model generative AI is
offering: Misinformation, lost jobs, endless AI spam, AI scams and
phishes to steal your money, vehicle surveillance tracking systems,
chatbots involved in suicides and murders, AI Slop taking over social
media, YouTube and seemingly everywhere else around the Net, burying
worthwhile content under a deep sea of AI garbage.
And even as this topic has burst from being a techie issue to a
mainstream society issue, with media stories everywhere about AI abuses,
the politicians by and large still don't get it. The federal government
criticized New York State when a few days ago they declared a one year
moratorium on data center construction. Other states, red and blue are
considering their own moratoriums or have already paused or blocked
various data center projects that were likely to ruin communities.
Irrespective of what the pro-AI politicians say, the vast majority of
people are now seeing through false Big Tech AI claims and are pushing
back against those firms and the politicians who support them. And that
movement is growing every day, all over the country, bringing together
people on this issue who usually can't agree on much else.
Unfortunately, this isn't likely to help the memory chip shortage
anytime soon. Current predictions suggest that shortages and crazy high
prices for memory might last until 2030 or even beyond. We can hope that
it turns out not to be that bad, but for now make sure that you don't
drop your phone, because you might suffer serious sticker shock if you
have to buy a new one anytime soon. And for that, we can thank AI.
- - -
L
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com (https://www.vortex.com/lauren)
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Mastodon: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren
Signal: By request on need to know basis
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
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