Everyone hates data centres. So what’s the alternative? 🏠💻
In this week's episode of Speaking of Social Justice, Dr Julie Macken is joined by Dr Michael Walker to unpack his latest article on a different way of thinking about data centres.
Instead of billion-dollar mega-builds, what if computing power worked like rooftop solar and household batteries: small, distributed units attached to homes, with households getting their power bills subsidised in return?
Julie and Michael also ask whether we’re living through an AI bubble (Julie was at the Financial Review during the dot-com crash, and the parallels are striking), why companies are walking back AI job cuts, and why most of us would still rather talk to a human.
They finish with Pope Leo’s teaching on technology: the Tower of Babel versus the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. Does technology serve power and domination, or human flourishing? And is the Golden Calf an even better metaphor for our relationship with screens?
Read more on our substack: https://substack.com/@jposyd
