Bernie Sanders: Stop All AI, China's EUV Breakthrough, Inflation Down, Golden Age in 2026?

Bernie Sanders proposes halting new AI datacenters, citing billionaire power grabs and job displacement. The besties dissect his arguments, the perception problem facing AI, and how the industry needs to communicate benefits better to average Americans rather than just focusing on beating China.

• •Sanders wants moratorium on datacenters claiming AI causes unemployment and harms kids through reduced social interaction
• •Sacks argues stopping US progress won't stop China, making it the 'biggest own goal ever' - ceding AI leadership
• •Chamath identifies core issue: AI has massive perception problem with public seeing only stock gains for few while fearing job loss
• •Industry needs to follow Gilded Age playbook - Carnegie built 2,500 libraries, Rockefeller funded universities to create social license
• •Vanguard study shows jobs/wages actually growing faster in AI-exposed occupations (1.7% vs 0.8% job growth, 3.8% vs 0.7% wage growth)

Sacks exposes how a few billionaires (Dustin Moskovitz, Vitalik Buterin) have funded hundreds of organizations creating negative AI narratives. Future of Life Institute's $600M from Dogecoin donations funds journalism fellowships at major outlets and NIMBY groups opposing datacenters.

• •Future of Life Institute received $600M from Vitalik's Dogecoin donation, funding fellowships at NBC, Bloomberg, Time, LA Times
• •These outlets are 'relentlessly negative' about AI according to Sacks' tracking
• •AI optimism: 83% in China believe benefits outweigh harms vs only 39% in US - discourse has been 'affected by a few institutions'
• •Water use, electricity claims are 'total hoax' - datacenters don't use significant water compared to golf courses or agriculture
• •Doomer groups' goal is simply to 'get development to stop' - not about states' rights or affordability

CPI inflation beats expectations at 2.7% (vs 3.1% expected), lowest since March 2021. Unemployment rose to 4.6% but driven entirely by 162K federal job cuts from DOGE buyouts. Private sector added 121K jobs. Debate over whether Americans feel the improvement versus Trump's promises.

• •Core inflation at 2.6%, running at 1.6% over last 3 months - 'trend line going down even further' per Sacks
• •Federal workforce decreased 10.7% (2.4M to 2.15M) - first decrease in decades, while private employment up 121K
• •Real wages up $1,000 average, $1,300 for factory workers, $1,800 construction - reversing Biden-era $3,000 decline
• •Deficit reduced by $600B year-over-year, gas prices lowest in 5 years below $3 nationally
• •Jason argues disconnect: Trump promised prices would go down, they went up 2.7% - bottom half not experiencing 'golden age'

Freeberg shares incredible story of his neighbor rescuing a dog from a kill shelter that DNA testing proves is the biological brother from the same litter as his deceased dog Monty. The besties share updates on their dogs including Chamath's 14-year-old Aki and Jason's wrestling-obsessed Moose.

• •Monty died suddenly in May from heart tumor after 10 years as Freeberg's constant companion
• •Neighbor randomly rescued dog from kill shelter 40 miles away - DNA confirms same mother, father, litter as Monty
• •'One in a billion' chance this specific dog from decade-old SF street litter ends up next door to Freeberg
• •Chamath credits calorie restriction and disciplined diet for Aki reaching 14 (turning 15 in July) - rare for golden retrievers
• •Marshall Freeberg suffers from 'irrecoverable erections' requiring 20-minute waits, potential surgery if condition persists

Reuters reports China built prototype of ASML's $250M extreme ultraviolet lithography machine, potentially using reverse engineering. Freeberg argues this understates China's independent AI-driven research breakthroughs at Tsinghua University. Could accelerate timeline for China achieving chip manufacturing parity or superiority.

• •ASML is only company making EUV machines ($250M each) - Dutch export controls since 2018 blocked China sales
• •China's National Integrated Circuit Fund Phase 3: $48B explicitly targeting lithography 'choke points'
• •Tsinghua researchers published breakthrough using AI/neural networks to work with 'suboptimal optics' - don't need Zeiss precision
• •Freeberg predicted this in 2024: 'lithography technology exists in China not publicly discussed' - Huawei will challenge NVIDIA
• •Pattern: Chinese scientists publish cutting-edge research until ahead of market, then publications suddenly stop (CCP intervention)

Chamath argues next-gen AI chips will shift from compute-heavy (requiring advanced nodes) to memory-centric SRAM architectures producible at older 14nm/7nm nodes. This means even if China steals EUV, US advantage in compilers and software remains critical. Sacks emphasizes need to remove permitting restrictions on US fabs.

• •Future inference chips will use memory-centric SRAM architecture vs current compute-centric approach - can manufacture at 14nm
• •Memory-centric demands better compilers/software where 'we are light years ahead' - not end of world if China gets EUV
• •Current sub-2nm chips have 'low yield' and are 'brittle' - pushing boundaries of physics with limited efficiency
• •TSMC opened Arizona fab but faces 'all sorts of permitting restrictions' - need to remove barriers per Sacks
• •If China achieves sub-2nm with higher yields/lower cost, timeline for closing chip gap 'sped up' significantly

Freeberg and Sacks actively house hunting in Austin on Lake Travis. Chamath warns proposed California billionaire tax has 'single-handedly changed trajectory of California economy by $100-200B over next 5-10 years.' Failure to defend property rights triggered mass exodus even among those willing to pay high taxes.

• •Sacks already bought Austin house, Freeberg looking for acre+ on Lake Travis - 80% of inventory off-market in Texas
• •Proposed wealth tax bill 'ripped the Band-Aid off' even if doesn't pass - California revenues 'going to plummet'
• •Politicians' failure to uniformly reject property seizures lost everything - 'by not defending property rights, they lost everything'
• •California pension system underfunded by ~$1 trillion - will drive 'socialist spiral' as they try more seizures with nobody left to tax
• •Jason moved to Hill Country ranch 30min from Austin - getting closer place as tech migration accelerates