Pastime | Episode
Pastime

#1797 AI Spent $540 Billion to Make You Lonelier: Betting Against Jobs, Art, and Community

Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy | Jun 03 2026 | 03:22:22

Air Date: 6–3-2026

Today we examine the AI industry's economic house of cards, the ideology Silicon Valley uses to sell a broken product, and the very real human costs being paid by workers, the lonely, and communities bulldozed for data centers nobody asked for.

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TOP TAKES

KP 1: The AI Backlash Just Got VERY Public - House of El - AI - Air Date 5-24-26

KP 2: The AI Industry Is Losing - Better Offline - Air Date 5-26-26

KP 3: The Aesthetic Pipeline to Techno-Fascism - Alice Cappelle - Air Date 5-27-26

KP 4: Joe Rogan Accidentally Exposed AI in Four Words - Mo Bitar - Air Date 5-22-26

KP 5: How AI Companions Are Destroying Human Intimacy | Angela Ivy Leong | TEDxWest Vancouver - TEDx Talks - Air Date 1-14-26

KP 6: Astra Taylor on AI Data Center Resistance & Fighting "Billionaire Big Tech Agenda"- Democracy Now! - Air Date 5-13-26

(00:51:20) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

AI Is a Drug and We're All Self-Medicating

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DEEPER DIVES

(01:09:29) SECTION A: THE BUBBLE ECONOMICS

A1: Will SpaceX and OpenAI Starve the Market? - UNFTR Media - Air Date 5-26-26

A2: Karen Hao: AI Creating a DESPERATE BASE OF WORKERS with No Full-time Employment - Channel 4 News - Air Date 5-22-26

A3: AI and Cancer: Why Superintelligence Won't Get Us to a Cure - Your Undivided Attention - Air Date 4-30-26

(01:37:24) SECTION B: IDEOLOGY OF THE TECH ELITE

B1: The Left Doesn't Hate Technology with Gita Jackson - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 3-12-26

B2: Why We Should Care About the Pope's AI Crusade - The Tech Report - Air Date 5-26-26

B3: The UK Government's AI Obsession Is a Big Risk with Will Dunn - Tech Won't Save Us - Air Date 5-14-26

B4: Maybe It's a Bad Idea To Put Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Sam Altman In Charge of AI - Some More News - Air Date 5-23-26

B5: Have We Trained AI to Lie to Itself — And to Us? - Your Undivided Attention - Air Date 4-16-26

(02:21:29) SECTION C: THE H…