25/08/2026 online reading session
Mél Hogan is a critical media studies scholar based in Canada. Her research has been on data storage/archives/repositories, the political-social implications and environmental impacts of server farms and data centers. Currently focuses on how we’re using massive data centers to power humanoid robots, embodied AI, holograms, the ‘metaverse’, chatbots, and so on. 🎧 The Data Fix Podcast.
Introduction
→ on ‘AI’ hype → terminology → cover up tactics → on how ‘AI’ impacts and drains the planet → sustainability is a failed project
Longtermism
“might be one of the most influential ideologies few people outside of Silicon Valley heard about”
→ in theory worries about extinction of human potential → but at expense of real issues confronting life on earth → powerful men hyperinvested in digital technologies → overlaps with transhumanism, pronatalism, accelerationism → “there’s no glory in saving the planet - rather, they create new problems to be solved with ‘AI’”
Term ‘AI’ misleading the public
→ a promise & a threat (rouge ‘AI’) → through language and discourse distracts from actual mechanisms and players involved in ‘AI’ → legitimised by public imaginary of technology that will revolutionise the world
→ A HOT MESS 🟰 “something in a state of extreme disorder or disarray” & “attractive & sexy” 🟰 draws attention to the literal heat of collapse for ‘AI’
‘AI’ is destructive, exploitative and extractivist
→ environmental impact of ‘AI’ carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, amplifies climate change
→ ‘AI’ sustainability, ‘AI’ data centres, environmental ‘AI’ → current idea of sustainibility (based on destruction, colonialism, extractivism) is a failed idea
Conclusion
→ ‘sustainability project’ fails to recognise that nature is not a resource to be extracted → feminist and decolonial critiques of ‘AI’ → collective & connected mindset