Democracy 2.0 | Mustafa Suleyman's Nonsense | Datacenters & Energy | Ep. 35 🏄‍♀️

What we’ve got in store!
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So what do we have for you this week?

From Gen Z overthrowing governments on Discord to an AI minister taking cabinet position in Albania, the boundary between digital and political power continues to dissolve. Meanwhile, Oracle and OpenAI forge a $300 billion infrastructure alliance as consciousness debates rage over AI rights, and Hollywood-level content creation lands in everyone's laptop.

This week, we explore how Nepal's 24-hour revolution rewrote the rules of democracy, examine why developing nations are leapfrogging the West in AI adoption, and reveal the staggering energy demands driving the new technological arms race.

Cheers,
Patrick, Nikola & Aragorn 🚀

Nepal’s World First: Social Media as the Engine of Revolution & A tool for Elections

Nepal's government banned 26 social media platforms including WhatsApp and Instagram, claiming regulatory non-compliance. Within hours, Gen Z protesters flooded the streets, overwhelmed police forces, and forced the prime minister to resign. The army sided with the protesters as chaos spread across major cities.

Instead of waiting for traditional political processes, the protesters immediately organized democratic elections on Discord—the gaming platform typically used for online communities. They verified identities, debated candidates, and voted for an interim leader, all within the same day. The entire revolution, from street protests to new government, completed in under 24 hours

Why does it matter? 
The social contract between governments and citizens has fundamentally changed. Nepal's lightning revolution proves that traditional democratic institutions, designed for the pace of handwritten letters, are obsolete when facing populations who expect real-time participation in governance. This could provide a peek at the possibilities of Democracy 2.0. Democracy that embraces technology and social media.

Albania's ‘Incorruptible’ AI Minister

Albania appointed an AI system named Diella as a cabinet minister responsible for all government procurement; contracts, tenders, and taxpayer expense. The country's corruption problems have hindered EU membership efforts, with public contracts traditionally awarded through political connections rather than merit.

Diella evaluates every government purchase based purely on predetermined criteria (cost, quality, timeline, vendor capabilities) without the ability to be influenced by bribes, political pressure, or personal relationships. Every decision is recorded, auditable, and explainable, replacing the human-driven system where relationships determined winners.

The researchers understood something crucial about human behavior: awareness changes everything. "We know for a fact that on multiple layers, observation and knowledge can change a situation," Aragorn explains. "If these people had known that an experiment was going on, they would have behaved differently, period."

Why does it matter?
Developing nations are winning the governance innovation race precisely because they lack the luxury of defending broken systems. While rich countries protect entrenched interests through "careful deliberation," countries like Albania are solving corruption with code. This leapfrog strategy positions emerging economies to surpass established powers who remain paralyzed by their own success.

The Consciousness Trap That's Derailing AI Progress

Microsoft's AI chief Mustafa Suleyman published warnings about artificial intelligence that appears conscious, arguing such systems will trigger psychological crises and misguided advocacy for AI rights. His solution: deliberately constrain AI development to prevent systems from seeming too human-like, regardless of their capabilities.

Suleyman's argument crumbles under basic scrutiny. Consciousness has no scientific measurement. We cannot prove any being, human or artificial, possesses genuine awareness rather than behavioral patterns that suggest consciousness. His proposal demands restricting technological progress based on philosophical concepts that exist only in human interpretation.

Why does it matter?
The consciousness debate serves as intellectual quicksand, trapping AI development in unmeasurable abstractions while real capabilities surge ahead. Countries and companies obsessing over whether AI "feels" will lose to those focused on what AI accomplishes. The future belongs to those who harness artificial intelligence for tangible results, not those paralyzed by metaphysical speculation about machine souls.

The $300 Billion Energy War

Oracle and OpenAI signed a five-year, $300 billion cloud infrastructure deal, positioning against Elon Musk’s colossus empire, which launches its second massive data center next month.

Traditional data centers consume 3-7 kilowatts per rack; modern AI training facilities demand hundreds to thousands of kilowatts. These aren’t business deals—they’re infrastructure warfare determining technological leadership for decades.

Training cutting-edge AI models now requires energy consumption rivaling small cities, while computational demands grow exponentially. The cost and power requirements are increasing faster than efficiency improvements can offset them.

Why does it matter?
Energy capacity has become the ultimate competitive moat in AI development. Countries with robust electrical grids will dominate artificial intelligence advancement. China leads this race with massive renewable investments, while Europe struggles with aging infrastructure and America races to modernize. The AI revolution isn’t just about algorithms—it’s about keeping the lights on while training the world’s most powerful models.

AI Memory Enters the Chat

Anthropic launched persistent memory features allowing AI systems to accumulate institutional knowledge over months and years. Unlike current corporate AI that treats each conversation as isolated, these systems remember team dynamics, project history, and organizational context across all interactions.

The AI remembers your team's strategy pivots, problematic vendors, individual communication preferences, and ongoing challenges. Instead of generic responses, it provides advice tailored to your specific organizational context, becoming less like a search engine and more like an experienced colleague.

Why does it matter?
This transforms the fundamental value proposition of AI in business. Organizations will stop asking "What can AI do for us today?" and start asking "How is our AI helping us learn over time?" Competitive advantage shifts from having access to AI to having AI that understands your unique circumstances, learns from your mistakes, and amplifies your strengths.

Hollywood's Monopoly on Visual Storytelling

Kavan the Kid produced a 25-minute film entirely with AI tools, premiering in Los Angeles this month. Using platforms like Kling and Sora, he created professional-quality content that previously required teams and millions in equipment. His strategic use of helmets and environmental effects minimizes AI's current facial animation weaknesses.

Meanwhile, image editing reached professional standards with NanoBanana and Seedream. Users can point at any photo element and modify it with natural language—remove backgrounds, change colors, add weather effects. Hollywood-level visual creation now runs on consumer laptops.

Why does it matter?
The democratization of professional production capabilities is rewriting creative economics. Industries built around specialized skills and expensive equipment are being redefined overnight. When individuals can produce what previously required studios, the entire creative economy transforms. We're witnessing the end of artificial scarcity in visual storytelling.

The White-Collar Apocalypse Hits America First

AI researcher Kai-Fu Lee predicts artificial intelligence will devastate American and European white-collar jobs before affecting other regions. Western economies employ massive workforces in cognitive tasks where AI excels, while high labor costs create powerful incentives for AI replacement of expensive knowledge workers.

Early evidence supports this prediction: Adobe's stock declines despite AI integration as consumers abandon Photoshop for AI alternatives handling 90% of use cases. China announced policies minimizing AI employment disruption, focusing on productivity enhancement rather than job replacement.

Why does it matter?
Economic disruption will strike unevenly across the globe. Countries with expensive knowledge workers face steeper adjustment curves, while nations with diverse economic foundations gain adaptation time. This isn't theoretical planning. Companies are discovering AI can perform complex cognitive tasks at fractions of human cost.

When Running a Marathon Becomes a Coding Session

One of our community members, Tijs, is planning something that perfectly captures how weird 2025 has become. He’s going to code an entire app while running a marathon. Not after the marathon, not before it—during it. Six hours of running with AR glasses strapped to his face, talking to AI to build software while his legs carry him 26.2 miles.

This sounds completely insane when you first hear it. But here’s what’s really happening: AI has become so capable that the bottleneck isn’t intelligence or coding skill—it’s communication.

Thijs can describe what he wants, and AI can write the code, debug the problems, and handle the technical implementation. The hard part used to be knowing how to program. Now the hard part is knowing what you want to build. Once you can articulate your vision clearly, AI can turn it into reality faster than you can type. Tijs just happens to prefer articulating his vision while running 26 miles.

Why does it matter?

Three years ago, building an app required months of learning syntax, debugging code, and wrestling with frameworks. Today, those technical barriers have collapsed—AI handles the implementation while you focus on the concept.

Tijs demonstrates that software creation has become a communication problem, not a coding problem. The person who can clearly articulate “build me a task manager that syncs across devices with offline capabilities” will outpace the traditional programmer who knows every programming language but struggles to define user needs.

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