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Patreon Preview – 468. Vibes Make the World Go Round

July 31, 2026 · 10 min

Show notes

First we get into a very circular (the strongest shape in nature) deal between Nvidia, OpenAI, and Softbank to finance a $250 billion 10-gigawatt data center complex, powered by a natural gas plant built by the US and Japanese governments, on a decommissioned uranium-enrichment site in Ohio, which will be filled by a further $350 billion of chips sold and financed by Nvidia. All very normal stuff. Then we revisit the hysteria over retail theft, why every pharmacy is a prison, and the admission by companies that “maybe we cried too much” about a problem that doesn’t exist. Vibes are a very powerful thing. ••• Jathan’s new paper: Deconstructing the Machine Learning Value Chain https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=7084259 ••• Nvidia in Talks With OpenAI to Guarantee $250 Billion Financing for Data Center https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/nvidia-in-talks-with-openai-to-guarantee-250-billion-financing-for-data-center-3dd6eae3 ••• We used to be able to buy things in this country https://dannykatch.substack.com/p/we-used-to-be-able-to-buy-things ••• British Police Built a Sprawling Crime-Prediction Machine. Some Results Couldn’t Be Trusted https://www.wired.com/story/british-police-built-a-sprawling-crime-prediction-machine-some-results-couldnt-be-trusted/ Standing Plugs: ••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite ••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble ••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)

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