Big Tech cannot be allowed to decide our fate

Seeing as how Mr Trump is paying us a visit and doing Bord Fáilte’s job in attracting the free-wheeling, free-spending US visitors to our shores and seeing as how he will, according to the traditional media, be subjected to a frosty reception by our Úachtaráin, Catherine Connolly, who, no matter what the querulous media might think, is well able to properly uphold her duties as President of Ireland and will be gracious as well as pragmatic, in her welcome. In the circumstances, I thought it might be appropriate to dedicate a column to Irish/US relationships.

As I write, Mr Trump is still wallowing in the reflected glory of his generous offer of $5,000 (I’m surprised he did not make it $10,000) to every adult American, should the Republicans manage to retain control of the Senate and/or Congress after the mid-term elections. Though he could well afford it, the money will not come out of his own pocket, but the gullible American taxpayer will foot the bill in the unlikely event that Mr Trump’s gamble pays off. Of course if the bet does come up, he can always say he was only kidding. Which he was.

Now, that is putting it up to our get-up-early Minister for Finance, Mr Harris. Fiddling with the top rate of tax bands will not wash with the Irish people in the wake of Mr Trump’s generous bounty. And again, if we are to listen to the media, our esteemed Taoiseach and President of Europe, Mr Martin is going to give Mr Trump the full nine yards about Gaza and about Iran and about Ukraine. Now he may exhort Mr Trump to do something about Russia and Ukraine, as it is EU policy to defend Europe from the Russian hordes, but chastising the Israelis over Gaza and Iran is not EU policy and is not US policy, so Micheál will play dumb, or walk a delicate tightrope on those issues.

Mr Trump is probably looking forward to his visit to Ireland. I’m not so sure he is concerned about meeting Catherine and Micheál and is more concentrated on presenting the trophy to the winner of the Irish Open in Doonbeg. He would like to be able to present it to Rory but there would be much more Irish celebration if Shane could come up with a winning score.

In the US, they are getting concerned about data centres and the debilitating demand these centres place on electricity and water. It is reasonable to suppose that, if the US, with its huge resources and plentiful supplies of water and electricity, are getting concerned and are even expressing fears about the possible environmental impacts these data centres may have, then it is time to look out. For people in the US, who elected the climate change denying Mr Trump, to be having concerns about the environment reflects badly on the data centres.

There are people here who have been expressing concerns about the humming data centres. These people have been dismissed as the usual cranks who oppose everything and our venerable Taoiseach, who supports big tech, US investment and Ireland’s capacity to cater to the demands of artificial intelligence (AI), does not seem to have got the message yet. There is a limit to what this great wee country can do to generate even more billions for the men and women whose insatiable appetite for continued investment in big tech is matched only by their appetite for adding even more billions to their already overflowing coffers.

Sure, big tech creates good high paying jobs in Ireland but can that be the only criteria by which we decide to allow developments that may have detrimental effects on our fragile environment down the road. The great God mammon surely cannot be allowed to steer the country into the future.

Even the people who invented AI have become concerned about the creation of intelligent machines. Former high powered researchers have resigned their positions in the companies leading AI development fearing that continued development of the technology could lead to the destruction of the human race. Now, depending on your point of view, maybe the destruction of the human race, by the members of the human race, is a logical conclusion to this abundant planet we call earth.

Anthropic, a company that led the way in AI, has grave concerns about continued development. Open AI and Google Deepmind, two other developers of AI, are equally concerned. Over one thousand researchers and engineers have come into the open to call a halt. But, it seems, the can of worms they have opened cannot be closed. And the best we mere mortals can hope for it that the world’s governments will unite to regulate AI. I can’t see much hope of that.

Now, and apropos nothing at all, I have been thinking about Karoline Leavitt and whether or not she is the smartest cookie in the US. I have in the past mentioned that I thought she was excellent at her job. Of course that is not to suggest I agree with her boss.

She was an excellent lapdog. When the President said jump, she jumped. When the President said bark, she barked. And it was the barking that impressed me. She was a Rottweiler. She tore strips off those incompetent journalists who did not see eye to eye with her boss and she was rapid fire in her put downs. 

Her job was to defend the indefensible and while Donald rubbed people up the wrong way Karoline somehow managed to come across as if she believed in what she was defending. She is of course gone now to look after her children and she joins a long list of others, some sacked and some disillusioned.

But, perhaps she has something else in mind. In her absence, the vice President of the US, JD Vance, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the war secretary Pete Hegseth have all filled in for Ms Leavitt at the White House press conferences and while they all displayed a gift for blather they simply failed to impress in the way that Karoline did.

Now, the aforementioned Vance, Rubio and Hegseth are all being touted as possible candidates to replace the Donald on the Republican ticket in the next Presidential election. But, don’t rule out the glorious Karoline as a contender. She appeared out of the blue at the Republican mid-term convention in Dallas in the past week or so. There was no obvious reason for her attendance. She was not one of the keynote speakers but she showed her ability to work her audience, telling them that she much preferred to talk to a stadium full of patriots than a briefing room full of journalists. Spot on. She hit the right notes and the audience raised the roof. Karoline to become the first female President of the US. Remember where you read it first. But, Mr Trump has not yet ruled himself out of running for a third term. We will have to wait and see.

Sam Maguire came to the field 

We were alerted by Lorraine 

Sam Maguire is coming to Burrish 

Between 2.00 and 5.00, 

Sunday the 16th August.

We’ve got to be prepared.

Bring the flags and voices.

Members of the team will attend.

Will Andy be there?

He played with Jason Doherty.

Will the Doc be there- he has responsibilities 

He has a wife and child and is living abroad. In Galway.

He has sustainable energy responsibilities, 

Displaying the incredible energy he produced

In Croke Park with Andy and others.

Colm and Kyle will definitely be there and all the Macks 

Reliving the theft perpetrated by Meath and McEneaney.

Boom, boom, boom 

Sam is arriving 

Cue music with Amy under the tent 

And Enda welcoming Jack and Rory, Bob and Conal, 

Heroes all, taking fitting photos of Neil O’Donnell, 

Michael McLaughlin in his element, 

The queue patiently waiting 

For their opportunity to hold Sam.

Families in ecstasy. Magic in the air.

Boys and girls adoring their heroes.

Maigh Éo (The Plain of the Yew) abú.