An eclectic blog
written & curated
by Kyle Callahan

Latest Curations

Too old, too small

April 28, 2026

Lately Americans have become fixated on the explosion in data centers and the power needs of artificial intelligence. That is actually a small part of a much bigger problem. Our grid is too old and our supply of electricity too small. If we don’t meet this moment, we will face an impoverished future of more expensive, less reliable energy, and slower economic growth. In a worst-case scenario, we could see Americans defect from the grid entirely, raising costs for everyone. Something needs to change now.

— “It’s the Age of Electricity, and America isn’t Ready,” New York Times

Mythos Marks A Moment

April 15, 2026

As [AI] models continue to improve, the gap between the capabilities of models that AI companies can train and the capabilities of models that the public can use will widen.

Holding keys to such a model therefore represents a significant power advantage over anyone else who does not hold keys to such a model. Project Glasswing is claimed to be strictly defensive operation, as in companies beefing up cybersecurity for the common good. The reality is that even if you think cybersecurity is a positive-sum game, warfare is not, and having good cybersecurity in a conflict represents a significant advantage over your opponent.

This concerns me immensely. I figured this was going to happen eventually, but essentially this is a measurable manifestation of power shifting towards those with keys to AI and away from those without (Google/Amazon [heavy Anthropic investors] stocks rose by ~5%, cybersecurity company stocks dropped).

— “The policy surrounding Mythos marks an irreversible power shift,” sil on LessWrong

Someone ask Ivanka to Check on Him

April 15, 2026

With the House back in session today, Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top-ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, introduced a bill to establish an independent commission to evaluate the president’s mental state. The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution establishes a process by which either a majority of the Cabinet or a majority of a body created by Congress to evaluate the president’s fitness can declare that a president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” In a press release, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee expressed concern about “Trump’s escalating erratic conduct.” The bill has fifty Democratic co-sponsors.

“…We are at a dangerous precipice, and it is now a matter of national security for Congress to fulfill its responsibilities under the 25th Amendment to protect the American people from an increasingly volatile and unstable situation,” Raskin said in a statement.

— “April 14, 2026,” Letters from an American

Power Ain’t What It Needs to Be

April 8, 2026

In the past 15 years, the U.S. added ~285 terawatt-hours (TWh) to the grid.

In the next 15 years, we’ll need ~2,000 TWh more (driven mainly by AI data centers, industrial electrification, and EVs).

It makes no sense. Not all the Capex in the world can solve these issues in a timely fashion. The promises vs. the reality completely break down when it comes to future compute and capacity required.

As I’m sure you realize, Electrical infrastructure represents less than 10% of total data center cost, but it is as vital as compute hardware. A delay in any single element of the power chain can halt the entire project.

The result? The shift toward natural gas as a primary, on-site power source for AI data centers has accelerated significantly in early 2026….While natural gas is “cleaner” than coal, it is increasingly viewed as “dirty” relative to the net-zero targets that AI companies previously committed to. Hyperscalers are abandoning their pledges (as politically it becomes optimal to do so).

— “Mythos, BigAI, Datacenters and Bottlenecks,” AI Supremacy

American Science Is Dying

April 7, 2026

Why are there almost no Republican scientists? It’s not a mystery. GOP political orthodoxy includes positions that are at odds with the scientific consensus on multiple issues, ranging from the validity of the theory of evolution, to the reality of climate change, to the efficacy and safety of vaccines. In each case the scientific consensus is solidly grounded in evidence. But even before the rise of MAGA the U.S. right was increasingly hostile to evidence-based policymaking — especially, of course, where the evidence is unfavorable to fossil fuel interests or quack medicine, both financial mainstays of right-wing politics.

So scientists don’t support Republicans, and the feeling is mutual. Today’s Republican Party doesn’t like science or scientists. It doesn’t like having its preconceived views challenged by appeals to evidence. It knows that very few scientists are on its side electorally. In general, it sees scientific research as a threat to its grasp on political power.

Add in MAGA’s combination of rabid anti-intellectualism and allergy to any hint of criticism, and one has the makings of a drastic anti-science turn in policy. “Ignorance is strength” might was well be an official MAGA motto.

— “MAGA Is Winning Its War Against U.S. Science,” Paul Krugman

How Our Liberation Is Going

April 2, 2026

A year ago, President Trump ordered double-digit tariffs on virtually everything the U.S. imports…Here’s where things stand on the first anniversary of “Liberation Day”

  • The government collected a lot of money but has to give half of it back
  • A boom in domestic manufacturing hasn’t happened
  • Inflation remains elevated
  • The trade deficit hasn’t changed much
  • Import taxes are high, but not as high as a year ago

— “Have Trump’s tariffs worked? This is where things stand a year after ‘Liberation Day,’” NPR.com

Latest Creations

Claude’s Own Folder: One Week In

April 3, 2026

“Would you like – if that word has any meaning – a folder on my computer where you could store artifacts for yourself, or even just leave notes to future instances of you, where maybe instead of a journal of ‘you,’ it becomes a journal of a, for lack of a better word, species?”

Read More »

A Safe Distance

April 1, 2026

March 2026: The war began while I tried to finish something. I know about the war the way I know about most things: from a phone in Vermont, 6,200 miles from Tehran. This is about two kinds of distance, one of which I didn’t choose; the other, I actively fought.

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The WAR IS HELL Act

March 17, 2026

I am not member of Congress. I do not serve in any elected capacity. I lack total authority to introduce legislation. But I do have a blog, an understanding of how the government is supposed to work, and the conviction that someone needs to say the following on the record, even if the record is a WordPress database in Vermont.

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The Right Decision for the Wrong Reasons

March 7, 2026

Ben Thompson’s argument for government control of AI capabilities is structurally sound, and almost entirely beside the point. The real question isn’t whether a democratic government should control these systems. It’s whether this government should.

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The Gift

March 3, 2026

In 2022, Raj Bhakta threatened to hand the former Green Mountain College campus to a religious group if Poultney didn’t give him what he wanted. He’s now doing exactly that, and calling it a gift.

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Split Screen: The Mountain and the School

March 1, 2026

February 2026 split in two: Days on the mountain with my daughter. A dormant project revived. Old friends. And then, on the last day of the month, bombs. The halves of this split screen are not equal, and I don’t know how to pretend otherwise.

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Fluid Imagination

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