December 17, 2025

THE DEARTH OF STALIN: Socialists Are the New Luddites (And They May Have a Point).

Sen. Bernie Sanders released a video yesterday calling for a moratorium on the construction of new data centers. His pitch is that AI is being created and promoted by multi-billionaires, who are always the villains in his take on the world. He asks viewers this question: “Do you believe that these guys, these multi-billionaires are staying up nights worrying about what AI and robotics will do to the working families of our country and the world?” Sanders answers his own question, saying, “I think these very rich men want even more wealth and more power and for a whole bunch of reasons that is very dangerous.” Here’s the video:

Regular readers know I’m not a fan of Bernie’s politics. In fact, I detest socialism with a passion and I generally shrug off complaints about the wealthy as the politics of envy.

In this case, I still don’t agree with Sanders but I think he does have a legitimate point. After all, the people he’s quoting in that video, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, aren’t know-nothing outsiders. It’s literally the people who know this field who are warning that it has the potential to replace a lot of workers. That’s not a worst case scenario in their view, it’s the desired outcome of AI reaching a point referred to as artificial general intelligence.

But Bernie’s view is consistent with the “build absolutely nothing anywhere near anything” “BANANAs” mindset that the left have had since (not coincidentally) the Nixon era. It’s why only one home has been rebuilt in the Pacific Palisades, and why Ezra Klein’s “Abundance” agenda is a non-starter with his fellow lefties:

Posted at 6:45 pm by Ed Driscoll