[ExI] Trump Says a Smart President Is All That’s Needed to Rein In A.I.

[John Clark]

On Wed, Sep 16, 2026 at 2:45 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

*> The fed cannot demand that the states allow data centers either, nor can
> it pass a law forbidding them.*


*I am not a lawyer (thank Darwin!) but to me that is far from obvious.
Federal law always takes priority over state law, and the Fed has never
been shy about throwing its weight around, and neither has Donald. *

 > *The reason I suggest it is that the infrastructure for a coal plant is
> already in place. *


*That is incorrect, the US hasn't built a single coal power plant since
2013, but the infrastructure for generating electricity from solar power
has increased from 18.5 gigawatts (0.4% of the total power grid) in 2014,
to 240 gigawatts (6% of the total power grid) in early 2025. And by 2024 in
the US solar power accounted for 66% of all new electric generating
capacity. Even if you ignore environmental considerations, coal electrical
power plants are rapidly becoming uneconomical compared to newer forms of
energy production. *
,

*The increase in electricity produced by wind has not been quite as
dramatic as with solar but it's still not bad, it went from 65 gigawatts in
2014 to 161 gigawatts in 2025; without Donald's irrational fear of
windmills it would have certainly been higher. Donald spent $2 billion of
taxpayer money to get a French company to stop construction of a wind farm
in American waters even though it was nearly completed. Spike, I know you
feel it is your duty to your tribe, but are you really going to try to
defend that action?  Can't you just admit that was dumb? *


*John K Clark*


>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20260917/0dbfb940/attachment.htm>