We are the sirens now.
Thoughts on why Grok is here for you but accurate weather tech is not.
There are many aspects of the horrific flooding in Texas that I can’t stop thinking about. One I really can’t shake is the idea that at least some lives could have been saved if the county had gotten the funding they’d requested multiple times for several $40,000 sirens.
As we’re bombarded every day by the latest tech, the minute-by-minute AI innovations that we’re told are going to make our lives so much better and more efficient, there’s an intense dissonance in realizing the missing element that could have prevented some parents from losing their children was…a siren.
A simple invention that’s existed since 1819.
It’s also rough to contemplate Trump’s gutting of the National Weather Service and the NOAA, and the recent announcement that, at the end of the month, his administration will be cutting off satellite data crucial for hurricane forecasting. Seeing as extreme weather events are only getting more powerful and occurring more often, this seems like…A BAD CHOICE.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to cut science funding, medical research, and vaccine development, along with his and the GOP’s shockingly cruel cuts to healthcare (Medicaid and ACA subsidies) for millions of Americans, signed into law on the same day as the Texas floods.
No medical tech for you, my friends!
But maybe Claude or Grok will help you through your measles.
Of course, this isn’t only a question of tech; it’s a question of public funding versus private.
I’ve seen plausible theories that Trump is cutting all this crucial weather infrastructure within the government so that a private corporation can come in and “save the day” by providing a new, less effective version under a multi-billion dollar contract funded by the taxes we pay. Very cool!
Just like the contract announced this week that will incorporate Elon’s occasionally-wildly-antisemitic Grok into our Department of Defense systems. What could go wrong!?
Well, here’s one thing: this Inevitable AI that’s going to Revolutionize every Industry is already having scary physical effects on our world and the people living in it. The turbines that power Grok have been toxifying the air in Memphis. One of Meta’s AI data centers in Georgia is guzzling so much water, the taps of nearby residents are going dry.
Are we actively trying to recreate the dystopia from books like Ready Player One?
Sure feels like it!
And, as all of this wolfish tech in sheep’s clothing panic-scrambles to win the AI race, they’re groping for our data and our voluntary participation not to help us out but to profit. In the process, they will dampen our creative spark and our ingenuity, eliminate thousands if not millions of jobs, and accelerate the destruction of our environment, forcing us to even more regularly experience unprecedentedly tragic disasters for which we may or may not have a siren.
This is more of a rant than usual, but I guess I’m feeling like I myself want to be more of a siren. To push aside politeness and get better at forcing others to acknowledge that, in an age when people are being literally swept away by floodwaters that rise twenty-six feet within an hour, we need to be more mindful about the way we’re living our lives.
I want to give you, me, and all of us permission to say no to AI whenever possible. To give a hard pass to ChatGPT. To add “-ai” to our Google searches so we don’t have to see that horrible AI overview every time (I just learned this, it’s very effective). (Or better yet, start using DuckDuckGo or Qwant as our default search engine.)
Corporations and pundits can repeat over and over that AI is inevitable, that shopping at Amazon is inevitable, that our planet’s destruction is inevitable, that all of it’s inevitable, but things only become inevitable when we act like we don’t hold actual power to make impactful decisions.
We do hold actual power.
And, in a society where the government not only doesn’t have our backs, but is actively trying to dismantle systems that once did have them, it’s on us to lean even harder and more deliberately into our humanity. Away from the profit-incentivized tech sludge and into the completely free technology of connecting with other people.
We could start a book club. Join a pickleball group. Go to the theater. Help a neighbor carry a couch. Make art. Protest. Organize. Boycott.
We can acknowledge our humanness as we work together to fight for better legislation, to build a better world, to take care of each other, to join movements that may quickly become so powerful they are undeniable.
Inevitable, even.
And, in my least favorite kind of pivot, let me remind you about my forthcoming books! Though, seeing as books are one of my favorite technological innovations, it’s not irrelevant.
Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend will be out in a month and a half!
If you’d like to pre-order from your local independent bookstore and put some money back into your community, that would be wonderful! If you order from my local indie, Community Bookstore, and put in the notes that you want it personalized, you’ll get a signed copy!
Alternately, if you want to put Zed on hold at your local library, or request a copy if they don’t have it in the system, that, too, is incredibly helpful for authors.
BOOK EVENTS are in the process of being planned, so more on that very soon. But in NYC, I’m aiming for an event the weekend of 9/6.
And if you’re on or near the Jersey Shore, it’s looking likely that my first Zed event will be there on Saturday, 8/30. So save the date! More info on all this once it’s confirmed.
Here’s a recent advance review from an educator who, much to my delight, had the reading experience I’m hoping adults and kids alike will have:
16 Forever
Also, my new YA novel 16 Forever, which I talked about writing here and here, is coming out January 6th, 2026! (Trying to re-brand that date, know what I mean?)
It’s about a kid named Carter Cohen who gets stuck at age 16. I’m incredibly excited about it. Cover reveal to come soon! (Don’t tell anyone, but it’s actually already up on the internet. If you do a simple search, you will find it. Feel free to look, but then when I post it here, just pretend you’re seeing it for the first time. I won’t know the difference!)
T-Recs!
A couple of quick ones this week:
Ben Folds Live with the National Symphony Orchestra
Before Ben Folds resigned from his role at the now-politicized Kennedy Center as artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra, he had one last concert, the NSO joining him on songs from throughout his career. The whole thing was recorded and released as an album on the 4th of July. It’s gorgeous and moving.
Not Nothing, By Gayle Forman
I really loved this MG novel about a 12-year-old boy who’s forced to volunteer at a retirement home after doing something bad and strikes up a life-changing friendship with Josey, a 107-year-old Holocaust survivor. It’s charming and funny and unique and so artfully constructed. And, in this moment when we all need to summon more courage than usual, it’s particularly powerful.
Thank you for reading down to the bottom of this thing! I hope that, along with engaging with this scary political moment—perhaps by calling your reps or shopping local—you are also finding summery fun. May your coming week involve cannonballs and a cold beverage.
See you soon!
Cannonballed ✓
I've been finding myself becoming numb to the resource-suck that is [models marketed as] AI. As someone really passionate about technology and science overall - when used for betterment of ecosystems, not as a detriment - it's been exhausting to see. But as someone who is not directly impacted (in the sense of my taps not running dry), it's refreshing to see your rage and reignite the passion of retaliation against Big Tech.
P.S. Pre-ordered Zed for my middle-grade sister as she makes her own journey into researching technology!