I’m a very bad person. I’m terrible at promoting anything I am involved in, and in doing so, I’m not promoting the excellent ICT Pulse Podcast and I should have!
I was a recent guest, and I forgot to note that the episode is out now. You can find it here: https://ict-pulse.com/2026/08/ictp-411-navigating-llm-efficacy-digital-fatigue-and-infrastructure-realities-with-matthew-cowen-of-dgtlfutures/
In it we discuss automation, production efficiency, and the promise of Digital Transformation that has yet to be realised (if it ever will). I referenced an old book from the 80s that showed unequivocally that automation and digitalisation did not have the expected effects for reasons that are discussed in the book. But a few interesting takeaways quoted from the book:
- There is no relation between spending for computers, profits or productivity;
- …
- The published rankings of excellence in using computers do not relate to profitability;
- The effectiveness of information technology is difficult to evaluate because it mostly supports unmeasurable managerial work;
- …
We also discussed the current bubble that is AI, and how the datacenters might be the Achilles Heel for the AI companies. I fully expect them to be targeted from every angle over the coming months, and news out of America seems to suggest that the vast majority of its population is against them for reasons related to jobs, pollution, noise pollution, water, electricity, moral grounds, political grounds, corruption, to name but a few. When will we see a domestic physical attack on one?
Less discussed are the links to the Network State, Digital Colonialism and other overtly fascist wet dreams the tech industry seems to be having since longer than any of us noticed.
I referenced other texts that are linked on the podcast site.
That’s all folks!
