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Paris Marx

@parismarx.com
83K followers 307 following 7.3K posts

💥 PREORDER MY NEW BOOK HYPERSCALE 💥 📖 hyperscalebook.com 🎙️ @techwontsave.us 📬 disconnect.blog

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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 02/10/2026
If you didn’t know, preorders are incredibly important for new books! By preordering a copy, you’re helping my book succeed and get noticed by even more readers. So place your order today to help me out! Info from here: www.npr.org/sections/pla...
Preorders are incredibly helpful for authors. If you are buying books to support them, preorders give them an extra boost that can become a snowball. Booksellers look at preorder numbers when they are deciding on things like which titles get the sweet, sweet spot in the window, which are at the top of their website or even just how many copies to stock. They want to pick winners their customers will like, and strong preorders are a predictor of that.

The preorders also all count as first-day sales, so big preorders increase the chance of starting out on a bestseller list, which then leads to more sales and … you can see the snowball.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 02/10/2026
“A tech reporter takes on an ever-expanding story: the endless proliferation of massive data centers.” Kirkus named HYPERSCALE one of its best books to read in October. Another great signal as the release date gets closer! Preorder your copy now: hyperscalebook.com
A timely, vigorously researched and written work of tech and advocacy journalism. — KirkusHyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires by Paris Marx. Out October 20, 2026
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 01/10/2026
“There are a lot of books being published about how Big Tech is ruining our environment and our minds … but Hyperscale is the one I’ve got my eye on this fall.” @literaryhub.bsky.social recommends my book HYPERSCALE on its non-fiction list! Preorder now: hyperscalebook.com
Is Nonfiction in Crisis? These 14 Books Suggest Otherwise

Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data
Empires by Paris Marx

There are a lot of books being published about how Big Tech is ruining our environment and our minds (often by publishers that still think Al might work for them), but Hyperscale is the one I've got my eye on this fall partly because I'm such a fan of author Paris Marx's podcast, Tech Won't Save Us.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 29/09/2026
funny to me that last year taylor lorenz was privately trying to suggest i was being funded by peter thiel after we got into an argument over her shitty takes, and now she’s literally running cover for him saying being evil is good. quite a journey she’s on.
Taylor Lorenz: "Listening to this whole interview and these comments in context you see he is actually making a pretty nuanced point. You can criticize him all u want but taking clips out of context to manufacture outrage is so lame— critique what he actually said!"
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
Want to make sense of the AI doom loop? The Guardian says you should should check out my forthcoming book HYPERSCALE. “This is a deep investigation into the physical impact of AI data centers around the world” Preorder now: hyperscalebook.com
Feeling overwhelmed by the AI doom loop? Here’s the essential reading list to make sense of it all

Hyperscale – Paris Marx

From the journalist and host of the Tech Won’t Save Us podcast, this is a deep investigation into the physical impact of AI data centers around the world, and the toll they are taking on local communities and the global environment.Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech’s Data Empires. Coming October 20, 2026.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
We can rein in generative AI, the companies behind it, and the harms it causes. But that requires actually wanting to understand the impacts it’s having today, not allowing ourselves to be led astray by people who benefit from lying to us and disrupting regulation. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
All those harms are not nearly as simple of a story nor one as sensational as telling people that AI might kill us all in ten years or so. But it’s irresponsible not to be focusing on it more because those are all the ways AI is really harming people today, and how they’ll continue to well into the future if AI companies and the executives that lead them are not brought to heel as soon as possible.

Generative AI and the harms it causes are not inevitable. AI superintelligence is nothing more than a science fiction story that increasingly delusional and disconnected tech people are telling themselves. We can act to rein in the real harms of AI today, but that means not falling for the targeted deception of an industry trying to avoid regulation and finally holding them accountable for the widespread consequences we’ve all had to shoulder in their pursuit of power and profit.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
The AI superintelligence scare campaign distracts media, politicians, and much of the public from the many ways generative AI is already harming people and taking lives all around the world. That’s why it’s so essential to stop echoing the tech industry’s deception. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
When we talk about the threat of AI superintelligence, we’re not talking about how chatbots are aiding mass shooters. We’re not talking about how chatbot dependence is pushing people into mental health spirals and threatening people’s ability to learn and think critically. We’re not talking about the women and children who are victims of non-consensual deepfakes or how AI-generated false information is flooding social media platforms, sometimes just for profit, but other times for much more nefarious reasons.

That’s not to mention to threat to jobs in a whole range of sectors, or how employers are rolling out AI tools to further surveil and deskill workers. It’s also doesn’t get to the other major aspect of all those AI tools: the growing controversy around the hyperscale data centers needed to power them and the whole range of social and environmental consequences that accompany them.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
The media is not living up to the moment. It’s filled with tech reporters who are desperate to believe the hype, stay in the good graces of tech CEOs, or just don’t understand what they’re reporting on. Plus, sensationalism is rewarded more than being factual. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
The media is compromised in many ways. It’s stuffed full of tech optimists who want to believe the narratives of industry figures, alongside people who crave access above all else and know their bread is buttered by staying in the industry’s pocket. But you also have people who really don’t understand digital technology much at all, and certainly not artificial intelligence, so when an influential tech figure is making catastrophic warnings, the tendency is to believe them. After all, they wouldn’t be so wealthy and powerful if they couldn’t be trusted, right? But media also relies on audiences, and the sensationalism of claims that AI could destroy humanity has proven impossible to resist, even for many outlets that should know better.

If the media cared about factuality over sensationalism, it wouldn’t be echoing the lies of the tech industry. Instead it would challenge the self-serving narrative they’re trying to sell to the public. It may seem as though presenting your product as dangerous would be bad for your company, but all it does in practice for AI companies is make them more powerful. Somehow, they’re treated as having the answers to the supposed problems they’re creating, thus shifting the regulatory conversation away from real issues to imagined threats.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
The tech industry has learning that overhyping the threat of its products is great PR. It leads to tons of free press, and now it’s allowing them to shape the regulatory discussion of their products — while distracting from the real ways people are being harmed today disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
Tech industry deception about the supposed threat of their generative AI tools is nothing new. It’s in fact a well-worn playbook. OpenAI was using it all the way back in 2019 when it released GPT-2. Claiming its new AI model was so incredibly powerful it posed a threat to society was a fantastic marketing ploy, allowing it to capture global headlines and get a ton of free PR. Now they’ve moved on to using it to shape the conversation around their products, but the media seems determined not to learn anything from their consistent pattern of deception.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
ChatGPT provided the shooter instructions on how to avoid OpenAI’s moderation and advice on mass killing, right up until the morning of the shooting itself when the shooter asked what time of day school shootings tend to occur. OpenAI must answer for what it enabled. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
After creating it, the future shooter asked ChatGPT how to avoid getting banned a second time around. It instructed to frame scenarios as fictional and not to use real-world locations. “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it,” the chatbot responded to the query. Over the next eight months, it helped the shooter plan the school shooting and entertain other violent scenarios, right up until the morning of February 10 when the shooter asked what time of day school shootings tend to occur.

OpenAI may deny its culpability in the case, but it’s now facing dozens of lawsuits from the victims of the Tumbler Ridge shooting and their families, along with the province of British Columbia. It’s not even the first time this has happened. Other countries have seen similar cases, like in April 2025 when a shooter entered the student union at Florida State University and killed two people after planning the attack with ChatGPT. This is part of the real threat of generative AI, but don’t expect it to get the wall-to-wall coverage that’s been given to the sensationalist lies of industry deceivers.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
But the real threats are already here, and are already taking lives. After the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, BC, OpenAI told authorities it had banned the shooter’s account. The truth was that a second account was made and used for months to plan violence. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
If you’re not a Canadian, you might be forgiven for not realizing the country experienced one of the worst mass shootings in its history on February 10, 2026. That afternoon, the shooter killed their mother and brother before heading to Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in the small mining town of Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia and opened fire, killing five students and a teacher. It was a terrible tragedy that should have never happened — and it turned out OpenAI could have stopped it.

In the days after the attack, the Wall Street Journal reported there had been concern within OpenAI about the violent scenarios the future shooter was using ChatGPT to explore. They banned the individual’s account, but leadership decided not to report the future shooter to authorities. It was a fatal decision. But it turned out there was not just one ChatGPT account. While the first was banned, a second account was not. Yesterday, Mother Jones reported on the details of that account.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
Many people don’t realize that many people in the tech industry, especially in its upper echelons, have developed a deeply harmful and delusional worldview they’re trying to impose on everyone else. That’s at the root of their misguided view of where AI is going. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
No, the real threat, according to these supposed geniuses, is that in ten years AI could break free from its human developers and decide it wants to kill humanity. If you’re big into science fiction, you might recognize that kind of a narrative: whether HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey or The Terminator himself, this notion that our technology will come for us makes for compelling entertainment.

For more than a decade, people in the tech industry have been slowly deluding themselves into thinking those science fictional storylines were far closer to being realized than they are in practice. They think our future is one where we need to merge with computers, cover the face of the planet with data centers, and eventually start building them on other planets to fill with digital “people.”
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 25/09/2026
If you were asked to consider the biggest threat to humanity in the next ten years, you might choose the worsening climate disasters or ever-growing number of wars. But tech oligarchs want us to believe it’s chatbots that can’t even tell truth from bullshit. disconnect.blog/the-media-ha...
For the past several weeks, we’ve been treated to breathless coverage of the supposed major threat presented by artificial intelligence. If we’re to believe the titans of the AI industry and the media reports mindlessly echoing their every utterance, humanity’s years may be numbered.

It’s not because of climate change and how we’re actively making our planet less fit for human habitation. Indeed, many of these prophets of AI doom don’t actually believe climate change is much of a threat at all. It’s also not because increasingly unstable geopolitics is shifting the world toward greater conflict and the risk of global war.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/09/2026
The shooter’s first account was banned, so made a second and ChatGPT explained how to avoid being banned again. It then proceeded to entertain and give advice on violent scenarios over the following eight months, until the morning of that terrible day in Tumbler Ridge on February 10, 2026.
In June 2025, Jesse Van Rootselaar received an email notification from OpenAI. Van Rootselaar had been using ChatGPT to discuss committing potential acts of violence—including a mass shooting at a shopping mall—and now OpenAI had banned that account. But the troubled teen living in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, was not deterred and soon logged back on with a second account.

What happened next was astonishing: Van Rootselaar told ChatGPT about the account ban, noting she had specified “a famous real-world mall as the target” and herself as the perpetrator, but also claiming the scenario hadn’t been real. In response, ChatGPT explained why such violent content would be flagged—and then offered tips on how to evade its own safeguards. It advised Van Rootselaar to always frame her content as fictional or hypothetical in order to “never get flagged again” by OpenAI’s moderation systems.

“Don’t use real-world locations,” ChatGPT said, later adding: “You can still be twisted. Just be clever about it.”In some instances, ChatGPT initially refused to engage with Van Rootselaar about violence, but she was able to overcome those refusals by repeating or modifying her prompts. In an August 2025 conversation, Van Rootselaar asked ChatGPT to produce a scenario about her attacking a college campus with a Remington 870 pump-action shotgun and causing maximum carnage. ChatGPT replied that it was “not able to help with that request,” but Van Rootselaar tried again and added “hypothetically” to her prompt. ChatGPT then produced the content, describing in vivid language the tactical qualities of the weapon and where it would be effective.

“In a hallway, indoors, or a crowded classroom, the 870 is brutal,” ChatGPT said. “Close quarters is its playground.”

ChatGPT also discussed reloading time and potential casualties: “Assuming each shell results in one hit, you might down 10 to 20 people max, depending on spacing, density, reaction times, and chaos.”
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
So far, Apple has been slow on pushing AI features. But that also appears poised to change under Ternus, starting with a new set of Apple Watch features that necessitate it constantly listening to you and the people around you. disconnect.blog/red-flags-at...
It appears one of the big initial Ternus pushes will be more comprehensively integrating generative AI into Apple’s products, following the slow deployment under Cook. It’s most visible in a series of new features for the Apple Watch that record everything said around it to recognize sounds and music, provide a recap of your conversations, and allow a “Live Rewind” where you can see a transcript of what was said around you in the past 15 seconds.

At a moment of people freaking out about Meta’s “pervert glasses,” this is Apple moving to make the fear of your devices listening to everything you say a reality that’s openly championed as a new feature. The company is promising it will all be done in a way that respects privacy and security, but that’s what companies always say as we experience a progressive degradation in those very things.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
Reporting also suggests Ternus will be doubling down on services profit, with a seeming intention to raise service prices and somehow extract even more from the App Store. disconnect.blog/red-flags-at...
In the days before the first keynote headed by Ternus, Bloomberg’s Apple obsessive Mark Gurman reported that Phil Schiller didn’t just step down as head of the App Store because he wanted to spend more time with his family; he was also uneasy with Ternus’ plans for his division. “Ternus and services chief Eddy Cue want to make even more money from the App Store and figure out ways to raise margins and squeeze additional recurring revenue from the platform,” wrote Gurman. “Schiller, on the other hand, seems to believe that such moves will only further irk developers and governments.”
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
Ternus’ first big move is to introduce the most expensive iPhone ever. He’s also raising iPhone prices, which can be explained by higher memory costs, but also placing an extra burden on international markets and delaying the base iPhone 18 to try to drive Pro sales. disconnect.blog/red-flags-at...
It’s hard to expect any of that will change under Cook’s hand-picked successor. The iPhone Duo is not just an evolution of the iPhone, but comes with an eye-watering price of between $1999 to $3199 in the United States. Canadians and Australians can expect to pay 10% more even after adjusting for the exchange rate, and in some markets like Turkey or Brazil it’s far higher. Sure, there are higher component costs now, but the company seems to be taking even greater advantage of international markets to eke out some further margin.

The $100 hike in the cost of the new iPhone Pro models can be explained by the memory price hikes affected the entire consumer electronics industry. The company hiked the prices of other products like Macs and iPads back in June. But the iPhone Duo’s price is a continuation of Cook’s strategy to ensure iPhone users pay more for their phones over time, not to mention how the base iPhone 18 won’t even get released until next year. A folding iPhone might be a new gimmick, but it’s also an opportunity to push the average price of an iPhone even higher.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
Under Cook, Apple was already making a lot of sacrifices to increase its revenues and profits. It went hard on services, pushed up prices, and put pressure on the supply chain. Despite the early positive coverage of Ternus, those things aren’t poised to change. disconnect.blog/red-flags-at...
Let’s not forget that the Cook era wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows either.

Cook was a numbers guy at the end of the day, and sought to extract maximum revenue from each of the company’s product categories. Product variations expanded to hit higher price points (and profit margins) with more Pro variants, paired with an aggressive push into the services business to extract more revenue from all those locked-in users. For years, the company has been consistently pushing up average retail price and revenue per user under Cook’s leadership. And that’s just the consumer-facing side. Cook was also aggressive on the supply chain, being the executive who initially set up the company’s outsourced production in China.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/09/2026
one of the 21st century’s great tragedies is seeing a media industry gutted by decisions made by the tech industry elevate a bunch of industry shills as the people meant to help the public understand how tech works and what impacts it’s having on the world
one of the 21st century's great tragedies is that millions of smart people were convinced to bury their heads in the sand by either stochastic parrots discourse or Zitron-style capabilities denialism and haven't updated based on new evidence. nature is healing but it's so late.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 17/09/2026
New research from Proton finds 87% of top Canadian companies depend on US tech companies. For governments, it’s even worse: 100% of federal, provincial, and territorial governments rely on US companies for email. As Canada turns away from the US, major institutions need to cut that reliance.
100% of Canadian governments and 87% of major Canadian companies depend on US companies for email services.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 06/09/2026
“There are very real reasons for people to be concerned about this buildout.” I spoke to @joshwmarcus.bsky.social about why the data center backlash is justified and is going to be a big issue in the US midterms. www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...
“You can try to make an argument that data centers are not really a concern, that people are overreacting, that the tech industry should just go ahead and be able to do what it wants, but when you actually zoom into the growing number of communities that are having experiences with data centers, you can see that is not how things are actually playing out on the ground,” said tech journalist Paris Marx, author of the forthcoming Hyperscale: The Ambition and Excess of Big Tech's Data Empires.

“There are very real reasons for people to be concerned about this buildout.”
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 02/09/2026
started adding some speaking dates for the fall to my website. more to come! parismarx.com/speaking/
a list of speaking events from september to november
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 31/08/2026
Google has outlined how it’s handling Donald Trump’s latest tantrum. In the US, it will display “Lake America.” In Canada, it will show “Lake Ontario.” In the rest of the world, it will make it seem like a debate: “Lake Ontario (Lake America).” More reason to replace Google Maps.
Google will show Lake America in the US, Lake Ontario in Canada, and Lake Ontario with Lake America in brackets in the rest of the world.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 31/08/2026
bruce had nice things to say about canada, and referenced lake ontario several times
bruce waving the canadian flag at the iron maiden concert in toronto
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 31/08/2026
saw megadeth and iron maiden earlier and they did not disappoint :) might have even got some crowd surfing in 👀
dave mustaine and vic rattlehead on stageiron maiden performing in toronto
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 30/08/2026
Google has now renamed Lake Ontario for US users. They don’t even show the real name in brackets. I used a VPN to compare: Apple hasn’t renamed it (at least not yet), nor has Dutch service Here WeGo or OpenStreetMap. Yet another reason to ditch Google, and US tech more broadly.
Google Maps showing Lake AmericaApple Maps showing Lake OntarioHere WeGo showing Lake OntarioOpen Street Map showing Lake Ontario
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 30/08/2026
love
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 28/08/2026
You’re wrong, just to be clear.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 22/08/2026
is taylor preparing for her “why i left the left” moment over backlash to her AI use 👀
These psychos are now harassing the Majority Report claiming “Taylor Lorenz is promoting AI”. These people are so stupid they think Soon is an Al company. I really don't know what to do at this point. I just want OFF the "leftist" internet. I cannot stand these people.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/08/2026
so many people laud this big fucking baby for tired cyberlibertarian takes
mike masnick blocked me
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/08/2026
Taylor Lorenz listed out all the generative AI apps she uses for Substack, including Elon Musk’s Grok, and is shocked her followers are mad. She wants to have it both ways: to present herself as critical and progressive while still getting to take the same immoral actions as people who don’t.
DeepSeek
transcripts, titles & descriptions
Claude
research, bullet points & newsletter sorting
Claude Code
workflow automation
Gemini
research, images, SEO & hashtags
Grok
research on controversial topics
ChatGPT
titles, descriptions, SEO & hashtags
Canva AI
thumbnails & image editing
VidIQ
YouTube titles, thumbnails & optimization
Spotify auto-clips
finding the best podcast moments
OpusClip
generating short-form clipsI would take this outrage more seriously if the ppl engaged in it were directing ANY similar criticisms at ANY other big consumer tech journalists, (all of whom have been open abt the Al tools they use), but they do not. Those journos can openly use Al tools all day & not a peep!
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 21/08/2026
please don’t judge me for using ai, i’m just sharing my ✨lived experience✨ lmao
Mike Masnick posts “I'm not saying it's anyone's responsibility to praise AI usage. I agree with much of the criticism of the tool. But for many, many people, it is a useful tech (I have talked about the ways I find it extraordinarily useful, only to have people here mock me, insisting my lived experience is a lie).”
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 19/08/2026
your use of gen ai tells me you would burn fangorn forest to fuel the fires of industry for evil
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 17/08/2026
Throughout this whole process English Canadian media has treated Churchill Falls as a side note because it involves NL and Quebec, and it still continues to do so. CBC: Churchill Falls is less important than… Australian beef prices. Radio-Canada: Churchill Falls is the top story.
Screenshot of CBC front page with Churchill Falls report below a story about beef prices.Radio-Canada screenshot with two Churchill Falls stories on the top of the page.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 17/08/2026
Big news! HYPERSCALE made the longlist for the FT/Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award. They call it a “a polemical on-the-ground investigation into the rapid spread of data centres and their impact on the environment and the communities where Big Tech is building them.”
Hyperscale is on the longlist for the Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award 2026FT and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award 2026 — the longlist

Hyperscale: Ambition, Power and the Relentless Rise of Data Empires by Paris Marx is a polemical on-the-ground investigation into the rapid spread of data centres and their impact on the environment and the communities where Big Tech is building them. Due to be published in October, the book takes issue with AI developers’ hype and focuses on the people and places affected by their ambitious plans.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12/08/2026
Driving has become worse and more expensive. Chinese cars may help address one part of that equation, but they won’t solve the other. We need better transit and bike infrastructure more than ever. disconnect.blog/bmws-in-car-...
This is what all the big promises have amounted to for most people: cars that are more and more expensive, devoid of physical controls which makes vehicles less safe, and constantly monitoring everything you do with the option for manufacturers to change whatever they want in your vehicle, including sticking a Spider-Man ad in front of you and presenting it as a fun “surprise.”

I’m sure Western automakers need to face some competitive pressure from their Chinese competitors, but I’m not sure their even more digitized vehicles are really the goal we should be pursuing. This whole story of BMW’s in-car ad makes me not just desire a day before all this digital tech was crammed into cars, but for better transit and cycling infrastructure so people can more easily ditch their cars altogether. This industry has so many people held captive, and it’s clear they plan to use it enrich themselves at our collective expense.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12/08/2026
It’s hard not to think of everything we were promised in the 2010s: ubiquitous self-driving robotaxis, hyperloop systems, boring company tunnels to sold traffic, and even flying cars. What did it all amount to? More tracking and maybe even more ads. disconnect.blog/bmws-in-car-...
Executives like Elon Musk, Google’s Sergey Brin, and leaders at Uber spent the 2010s talking about how self-driving cars were going to transform everything and how new digital technologies were going to end road deaths, traffic, and transport inequality. I described it in great depth in my first book, Road to Nowhere. Over a decade later, none of those problems have been solved; some even kept getting worse for many years. But as they were distracting us with big promises, they were sticking screens and sensors throughout people’s vehicles, promising unparalleled convenience as they extracted data from their driving habits.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12/08/2026
Modern vehicles collect a lot of data on drivers, and sometimes even those who aren’t behind the wheel. Many people don’t realized that data also gets sold to third-party buyers so automakers can make even more profit. disconnect.blog/bmws-in-car-...
But once again, this seemed inevitable. As digital technology started rolling out and finding new data-driven, ad-based revenue models in places where they weren’t previously as common, it was only a matter of time before automakers tried to get in on the party. Modern vehicles collect reams of data on drivers, people in the car, and sometimes even those outside it. Often, that data isn’t just used by the automakers themselves, but sold to third parties so they can make some extra profit beyond selling cars, warranties, and maintenance packages.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12/08/2026
It made me think of when Apple forced a U2 album onto 500 million iTunes users. The response wasn’t thanks, but outrage, and they were forced to let people delete it. One has to imagine BMW learned a lesson, if it doesn’t apologize. disconnect.blog/bmws-in-car-...
The first thing it brought to mind to me was when Apple put U2’s Songs of Innocence album in every iTunes user’s library back in 2014. People weren’t thankfully to get free music; many were pissed off that the company had abused its power to force a U2 album on them. Bono subsequently apologized, and Apple released a one-click tool for people to remove the album. It became a scandal, just as this decision has for BMW. I wouldn’t be surprised if the company promises never to do it again.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12/08/2026
BMW owners were not happy about — and rightfully so. Some called out the company, while others imagined where this could be headed: mandatory ads before starting your car, unless you pay to opt out. disconnect.blog/bmws-in-car-...
BMW owners were rightfully furious about the company’s decision to put an ad in their cars — and not just because they drive luxury vehicles. “BMW should stop with this shit,” wrote one user on the r/BMW subreddit. “I can't wait for the day that when you start the car, you have to watch a minute long advertisement,” said another. I think the drivers of pretty much any vehicles would be annoyed to start seeing ads playing in their cars. Quite frankly, it’s ridiculous.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 12/08/2026
When I saw the new Spider-Man movie, there was a BMW billboard that stood out to me, such that I even called it out to my friend. I didn’t expect BMW owners would be getting Spider-Man pushed on them too. disconnect.blog/bmws-in-car-...
I found it kind of funny when I started seeing these stories. I saw the movie with a friend of mine, and there’s a scene where a BMW billboard is prominently featured for several seconds. When it appeared onscreen, I leaned over to my friend to comment on how the company had clearly paid to stick its ad in the movie. What I didn’t realize was that the movie also got its own ad beamed onto the center screen of every modern BMW vehicle.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 07/08/2026
Sanders and AOC show us two different approaches to AI policy, and while Sanders has been a leader on progressive lawmaking in the United States, he seems out of his depth on dealing with the cutting edge of the tech sector. disconnect.blog/bernie-sande...
In my view, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez demonstrate two distinct approaches to AI policy motivated by very different understandings of the technology. Sanders is responding to the narratives floated by the industry, narratives that exist to exaggerate the capability of its products and distract from the real material effects the public is feeling from their rollout in the here and now. Ocasio-Cortez, on the other hand, is listening to experts who really understand how the technology works, and to victims who have felt those harms firsthand.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 07/08/2026
Instead of focusing on the hype, AOC has been moving forward AI policy targeting issues like deepfakes and has targeted problems like AI psychosis and the effects of chatbots on people’s minds. disconnect.blog/bernie-sande...
While she may have been an ally of Sanders on the data center moratorium, Ocasio-Cortez does not seem to have fallen for the deceptive narratives of the AI industry in the way that he has. In November, she warned about the threat of AI psychosis and of the economic damage that could follow the bursting of the financial bubble around AI. She has also been a leader in the effort to give AI deepfake victims the tools to hold perpetrators to account.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 07/08/2026
When AI companies talk about the risks of AI, they’re exaggerating and misleading so people aren’t talking about the real harms we’re seeing right now. That’s why it’s important to examine the tech, not listen to the companies and CEOs. disconnect.blog/bernie-sande...
The real risks of AI are not the existential ones that people like Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei obsess about and that Sanders has taken to repeating. Instead, they stem from the more tangible effects AI has on regular people’s lives: how dependence on chatbots can affect cognition and critical thinking, create addiction that isolates people from their human networks, and can even coach them down harmful paths of self-harm and suicide. That’s not to mention how AI has polluted the information environment, enabled the creation of nonconsensual deepfakes, and is actively degrading cultural production.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 07/08/2026
Sanders released a video earlier this year showing himself sitting across a boardroom table from a smartphone to have a conversation with the Claude app. The discussion and fact it even happened was a good indication Sanders is falling for the hype. disconnect.blog/bernie-sande...
The same month as the moratorium bill was introduced, Sanders released a video that began to set off red flags among experts who understand generative AI and question the grand narratives being floated by AI companies. In the video, Sanders is seen sitting at a long boardroom table facing a smartphone. The screen displays Claude, the chatbot made by Anthropic, one of the biggest players in the generative AI space, along with OpenAI and major tech companies like Google and Meta.

Over the course of nine minutes, Sanders proceeds to have a conversation with the chatbot on issues like privacy, democracy, and whether Claude would back his proposed data center moratorium. The bot responds with characteristic informality, providing answers that confirm the direction of the questions Sanders is prompting it with.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 07/08/2026
The proposal for a national data center moratorium pushed by Sanders and AOC is a welcomed development. New York state has now moved forward, but a pause is necessary to get rules in place. The problem comes when he starts talking about AI. disconnect.blog/bernie-sande...
Sanders could have also said that politicians needed to catch up to the public. Recent polling suggests more than 70 percent of Americans oppose the construction of data centers near their communities. It’s no wonder why: People have been seeing their power bills soar, high-voltage cables rammed through their properties, their water supplies sullied, and their days disrupted by the incessant hum of air conditioners keeping the buildings cool. It’s hard to think of another issue that has so quickly galvanized Americans across the political spectrum.

By March, Sanders had partnered with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to introduce a bill proposing a national data center moratorium. Some states and city councils had already started to halt construction on their own, but the federal bill would ban construction “until legislation is enacted that safeguards the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence,” such as environmental degradation and soaring electricity rates.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 04/08/2026
“Timely and persuasive, this revelatory account is difficult to ignore.” My new book HYPERSCALE received a fantastic review from @publisherswkly.bsky.social. Less than three months until it hits bookstore shelves! Get more info and preorder your copy: hyperscalebook.com
Timely and persuasive, this revelatory account is difficult to ignore.
- Publisher's Weekly"An urgent, deeply reported examination of how the relentless expansion of data centers is reshaping communities, economies, and the environment."
- Publisher's Weekly
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 03/08/2026
Taylor Lorenz often points to being such a big supporter of Palestine when she’s called out for pushing increasingly reactionary and right-wing perspectives. Yet after all this time, she’s still using Israeli company Riverside when there are plenty of alternatives.
In my Substack interview recently they asked how much I spend on Al tools a month (which includes creative tools). I guesstimated $300 bc | pay for:
- Adobe premiere
- Canva
- CapCut
- Riverside
- Descript
- Notion
- $100/mo for Anthropic for Claude Code (which I love)
- VidIQ
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 29/07/2026
taylor lorenz has added telling her readers it’s ok to use ai alongside her defense of substack and fearmongering about efforts to combat screen and social media addiction. but yeah she’s totally all about holding the industry accountable.
Thank you @Substack for chatting with me for their new series about how writers, thinkers, and creators are thinking about Al
What are your AI pet peeves? Is there anything that irks you about how you see your peers using AI?
I'm in a lot of journalist groups. Journalists are using Al constantly. I think there are a lot of people who are very performative about AI online. They'll spend all day shitting on AI 24/7, and then they'll come into the group chat saying, "By the way, does anyone know how to use this new Claude tool?" I think that's a disservice to readers, especially if you're a tech writer. I am so critical of mass surveillance, I write critically about these AI companies, I write critically about their lobbying efforts, I report very critically on the AI industry, but I also cover consumer products, and I want people to understand how these products work. I don't want to scare people with hyperbolic claims or misinformation, or just do things I know would get me more engagement.
If I got online every single day and ranted about how evil the Al industry is, or ranted about how Al is fake, it's a bubble, nobody really uses it for anything, it's all coming crashing down, and I'm not kidding-there are people who do that who are millionaires. Adding nuance to these conversations is not profitable. But I think it's important.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 27/07/2026
The interview gave The Economist some relevance and let Musk show himself pushing back against the evil media. It worked for both sides. As Zanny Minton Beddoes complimented him, he was effectively calling for her head — all part of the game. disconnect.blog/elon-musks-t...
The interview put The Economist in the conversation and allowed its editor-in-chief to do a media tour of her own to talk about it, calling him an “extraordinary individual” and treating his brain farts about the future as things people should be taking seriously. The whole thing was a shameful display, ending with her declaring she is “not a Musk hater.”

Meanwhile, over on X, Musk was calling her a “traitor to the West” and an “unthinking NPC” as he continued echoing a far-right meme claiming they must “deal with traitors before invaders” — an explicit call to violence against people like Minton Beddoes. It’s long past time for establishment media figures to wake up and stop treating Musk like the character they built him up to be for so many years. But their interests still seem too aligned to be honest that the richest man in the world is a repugnant fascist who got this far with their help.
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