Lots of talk on AI lately, most of it terrifying.

Let's look elsewhere for a moment. Here's what you haven't been told:

Singapore has begun paying its citizens to read.

New Zealand has opened five — and a sixth is coming — new marine-protected areas.

And in glorious 417-3 bipartisan work, a bill passed Congress to protect us from price hikes caused from data centers.

All this comes from one of my favorite media company: The Progress Network.

This isn't Disneyland storytelling. It's accurate reporting on so many of the things major media bypasses. Simply put: the massive amount of good, encouraging and hopeful news.

Reading the Progress Network and its What Could Go Right? newsletter have become an esential part of my civic duty and personal wellbeing.

Their top story: AI Doom is Distraction.

It's dizzying and triggering, these AI headlines. I keep stealing myself away into this daydream fantasy, where I've found the basement of all AI basements, the place where the Main Breaker Box is located, and there, clad in Jason-Bourne-black, I yank down hard on the power lever, shutting the whole kit-and-AI-fucking-caboodle down.

I have a hunch you would, too.

Think of the hubris and arrogance within so many AI leaders. Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg are displaying more autocratic and dictatorial tendencies than any nation-state leader, willing to play god with the future of so much.

It's such a maddening dynamic with few, if any, checks and balances. How do we respond to the actions of a few people — they could probably all fit into the main room of your favorite restaurant — that contain the potential to harm all of us?

Yes, there is nuance, with good people caught in difficult situations. Thank God they are there.

Everyone says it: their work could alter and damage the human race forever.

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And everyone's got an opinion on it.

Here's the Wall Street Journal.

Here's the Onion.

Here's Bill Gates. And Bill Gates again.

And Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Here's our favorite: Tristan Harris and the Center for Humane Technology.

(When you click on their website, make sure you follow this pop-up. It leads to three letters sent to Washington.)

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And try this podcast to start.

In Tennessee, there is a growing fight.

Thank you, Rep. Michelle Reneau, for sponsoring legislation that is among the most needed: clarifying the difference between humans and AI.

This bill prevents AI machines from gaining human rights. And if you don't really understand what that means:

It's time you did.

Over the last year, Tennessee has become one of the state's on the forefront of AI legislation. Rep. Reneau and colleagues, including Sen. Bo Watson, have attempts at child protection, data centers, deepfakes and mental health.

We need to thank them. (You can do that here. Or here.) Encourage them.

In Washington, finally, it appears politicians are waking up. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has been among them, but we need Sen. Bill Hagerty — can anyone name five facts about him?; he seems invisible — and our own Rep. Chuck Fleischmann.

Rep. Fleischmann's website lists 12 specific all-caps ISSUES, from energy to national security to border.

AI isn't among them. (His own webpage hasn't updated any news since spring of 2025.)

Tristan calls for more of the "human movement" and human moments.

Think of them as anything we do that is anti-machine, anti-AI.

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AI can't laugh. Or cry, get blisters from chopping wood, listen to the sound of sunrise birdsong, gaze in silence at a full moon.

So, let's laugh. (And do the rest, too.)

Next Sunday, our story ("The Trouble with Claude" -- Part Two) comes from Kat Volzer, a friend, mountain bike badass and fellow writer. It's about AI and data centers. Well, sort of.

Why are we writing about AI?

Because this is an issue involving land.

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Rural land, agricultural land, beautiful once-destroyed-it-won't-return land.

It is also threatening the parts of us that make us human.

Social media has changed behavior in global and undeniable ways. There is no need to look for invading aliens. The outside power has already arrived. It's called the alogrthim.

Farming, food and drink are all cherished parts of what it means to be human. And under threat.

Laughter helps. That's what we're going for next Sunday with Kat as a guest writer.

Here's a hint and teaser photo.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Story ideas, questions, feedback? Interested in partnering with us? Email: david@foodasaverb.com

This story is 100% human generated; no AI chatbot was used in the creation of this content. This story was edited at 4.39 pm Sunday to fix a misspelling.

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