S4 Ep. 241 Mining Our Digital Future: The Materials Behind AI Revolution

Speaker 1: Hi, how are you doing ? Okay, first of all, I know you're wondering. We're not in that space that you are used to. Well, we decided to do something different on this episode today Bring you, you know, to the great outdoors and all of that. Yes, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good, everything, wherever you are on the surface of the earth this very moment, listening and seeing me. Aha, how are you? I will ask that question. I will always ask that question , because part of the reason why we are here is because of you. Welcome to the World Cafe Live Show. This is the space where we come in to lean on one another's experience, to forge a positive path, and I have something beautiful to share with you today. Yes, now, before I came on, I was ruminating on a thought storytelling. You know, when you look at storytelling, you come to wonder how? What form and shape does it take? Is it a linear form, or does it take a jagged and scattered and all of that? Obviously, storytelling does not take a linear form. It takes this pattern, like you know, you have peaks troughs, peaks, troughs and all of that, but somehow it's a human thing. We come to piece it together to make sense out of it all. I'm not here to tell you about the story. Nah, I just wanted to, you know . Would you call it breaking the ice moment? So what are we going to be doing today? Yep, it is something that we all somehow are engaged in it. There is this craze, this buzz, the AI thing. You see all of us talking about AI being driven, ai and what have you, and I know I've said it before on the show and what have you, and I know I've said it before on the show, it feels like we're ceding our humanity to AI. But there's something about AI. What powers AI? Yes, what powers what is AI? Even in the first place? Artificial intelligence, yep, so what powers it? What drives AI? Is it the human energy? Is it the earth? I have something to read for you and we'll pick it up from there. Yes, the earth is powered. The earth is powered. The earth is powered, you know, our physical environment powered by an energy source. Yes, so I came upon this report or I wouldn't call it the report per se, an analysis, you know, by a very good friend. I mean, she's been on the show before, an avid reader. I mean, I love her zest for reading and how she comes about her thoughts and all that. Her name is Tini Yesemo. Yes, that's her name. She's been here before and it was a lovely experience. Anyway, and this is about the physical world powering our digital dreams. It feels like the world is high on the AI opium. That was used that. Every if you check online materials today all around us, you high on the AI opium. I must use that. Every if you check online materials today, all around us, you keep hearing AI, ai, ai, ai and it's like hello guys, slow it down. What powers AI? What powers our digital environment? The physical world powers our digital world. I will explain, but let us jump into it right now. In an age of apps, ai and cloud computing, ed Conway reminds us that nothing digital exists without the physical. Did you hear that? You know, just like when you read scriptures. He said what is sin was born from what was not sin. So the unseen has the energy that fuels the sin. I hope you're catching that. Okay, vast minds, some deep enough to swallow the Baj Khalifa. The Baj Khalifa Whole Supply six raw materials that shape the climate, geopolitics and global inequality these are things that we really don't take, you know, note of, or we don't notice it, as it were, the general public but they are real . The six materials. Now listen. Sand, yes, silt, sand, that thing underneath your feet. The most extracted resource gives us glass, concrete silicon chips. You heard me? High quality sand is so scarce that Dubai, surrounded by desert , imports it from Belgium. The US-China tech war is a battle over sand-driven silicon. You heard that? The sand-driven silicon, like Silicon Valley will tell you, and all that? Two, salt Shaped, traditional, as in trade routes, tax systems and wars via gunpowder. Today it drives the chemical industry, producing fertilizers, pvc and pharmaceuticals. You heard that Iron, transformed into steel, built the modern world from the Eiffel Tower to EVs. Most manufacturing machines are steel-based. China, using Australia iron ore , produces over 50% of global steel. An entangled geopolitical supply chain, copper connectivity and the green energy revolution Every switch we flip meets it. Demand creates risk and opportunities for producer nations like Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Oil, the famous oil, the world's most politically loaded commodity, fuels, transport, plastics. Premier oil field outproduces all solar or wind farms, uranium mines or nuclear plants, despite net zero goals. You heard that. You heard that right. Lithium, yes, this is one rare earth metal that has been creating a lot the white gold, as it is called, of the clean energy transition is found largely, you know, in the lithium triangle Chile, bolivia, argentina. It powers batteries in Tesla's phones ETC but mining it harms fragile ecosystems. So the climate change conundrum now Decarbonization demands an explosion of mining. Wind turbines need copper, solar panels need sand, evs need lithium. Silicon needs chips Vital for clean tech Hide a hefty energy footprint In 2019, we extracted more resources than in all human history before 1950. Conwell observes we are a considerably bigger geopolitical force than nature itself. Wealthy nations promote green transition, but the global south , resource-rich but often politically unstable, bears the extraction and pollution burden. Nigeria's we all know that already. Hashtag Niger Delta eats oil and gas. You know scars knows the trade-off. Green tech can deepen inequalities and damage the very ecosystem. They aim to protect Local realities. Beyond Nigeria's historical oil and gas burden, the energy transition plan, as we call it ETP, targets 90 gigawatts of solar by 2060. Many Nigerians adopt solar or as in to bypass grid failures. We know what is happening already there. A lot of us are using that already. So this fragmented adoption, while boosting organic demand, may hinder long-term buy-in for green policies. You know complicating the ETPs 2030. You know that goal of 30 gigawatts. Oh, 30 gigawatts capacity it's exciting as I'm reading this so including solar. So Lagos State, for example, starts this. One question she asked me A ban on single-use plastic has sparked a debate, you know, with vendors worrying about livelihood and environmental. All of that, I'll come to that. Because she asked for something , I'll come to that. So the material world highlights a paradox in climate narrative the future may be green, but it will still be mined. Did you hear that it will still be mined as the hear? That it will still be mined as the wall goes? Green who gets left behind? That's the question. Clean progress has cost. The challenge is to transition without repeating old patterns of exploitation. So, basically, what I've come to do here on the show today is to draw our attention. You know, when we talk about the digital world, ai revolution, this is what powers it, and a good number of us don't. I mean we're not aware of it. We think the AI thing is just you know codes and algorithms and sitting in front of a computer and creating all those codes, punching them. No, no, it's beyond that. There's something that powers it. There's an energy force that powers it and it comes from the minds, just as we have seen. So now we're having this new reality looking at us, facing us , be it in geopolitics or geoeconomics as a case. And what is that? The AI-driven organizations, who are making large investments, are also looking for those materials that will power this AI revolution. Yes, the rare metals, the silicons, sand, the lithium for the EV batteries and all of that . So they are now looking for it. So it's a question of who has it? How can we get it? And, all of a sudden, if we cannot get it, how can we undo the people who have it to get it ? So we now have this cycle. The other day, I saw a report of the G7 talking about rare earth metals, investing in them and all of that. And, like I just read out, the global south, which Africa falls in, were rich in rare earth metals, even Nigeria, for your information. Nigeria, yes, were rich in rare earth metals and certain conflicts that go on globally. If you look at it, it's not unconnected with resources, energy resources in the Congo, we're now some part of East Africa. So the question that befalls us now, or that is very looking at us, staring us in the faces, is the AI revolution something good or something bad maxed in something good. How should we go about it? How should we embrace it? You know, because in a quest to become better, there's always a trade-off somewhere and the quest to become better, there's always a trade-off. So now, how do we approach it? Who decides who gets what? Who is exploited, who is not exploited? These are, I mean, various questions flying, you know, in the media and all of that, but I think, in my opinion, just to add to the conversation, there's this need to talk, to engage ourselves, there's this need to sit down and appraise the situation. There is this need to take a deep breath, step backwards and see, because it has always been about energy. Yes, who controls the energy? It has always been about that. If you look at the earth, everything, most of the conflicts we see, stems from resource control. Yep, now Timmy asked me a question about my take on the Lagos state government banning of what do you call it now, plastics, morally, of the recyclable materials, as we call it. And the question now is did we carry out a good research? I understand, yes, because most of us are most of the government, as, in government, whatever set up globally, would like to affiliate with one group or the other, and maybe one group has set a standard and said, oh, we must all and all of that. But the question now is have you taken time to study the situation as it has to do with your local, what I say environment? There's something I always say we know how to copy, but pasting it is a problem. So have we taken our time? I'm thinking about not just Lagos State, now Nigeria, these materials, just Lagos state, now Nigeria, these materials. Yes, single source or single use, as we want to call it, recycling all of these materials . If you go around our space today, you are going to see them as a litter, littering everywhere. You see them in our trash heaps and all of that, but we are not taking time to like study, carry out a study, to like know. Okay, we have an issue with this, we have a problem with this, and this is our solution, not an important solution, but a solution that we have sat down to look at, gather the statistics, look at our cultural nuances as it plays out, and not just to just take it hook, line and sink with the fisherman . You know, because somebody said that or it came from the West or something and we're just picking it up. That's what I came to do on the show today, guys. That's what I came to do on this episode of the World Cafe Podcast podcast for us to look at the AI revolution, our digital future, vis-a-vis the physical world. Because there must be a balance . The minute there is an imbalance, it will tilt. What does that mean? Conflict ensues, but when there is a balance, there is an equilibrium. You see, things are moving as they should, but when that balance is distorted, equilibrium is affected. What happens? There is a tilting and, before you know it, disaster ensues. But that is not our should I say, goal, that is not our desire. A tilt and, before you know it, disaster ensues. But that is not our should I say, goal, that is not our desire, but we should pursue it. Well, I hope this has given you what I call it an aha moment, illuminating your mind to think differently about the AI revolution and the digital world . This is what we always come to do on the show. You know bring you into this space, compute positivity that you go back. You know, provoked righteously to do the right thing. All right, before I go. Yes, you know, we are available on all the social media platforms Facebook, twitter. I keep calling it Twitter. No, it is X, forgive me. Yes, linkedin, we. Yes, linkedin. We are there on LinkedIn. We are available also on Instagram and we have a YouTube channel. Have you subscribed? Go ahead, this is us reaching out to you. Go ahead, subscribe to our channel. Hit that notification button so that, whenever contents like this drop, you'll be the first to know. We have a lot of wholesome content on this channel. Oh yes, how do I leave you now? I'm not leaving you. I'm just going to cook something to bring to you on the next episode on this show, till I come your way again. You know how we say it. My name is Amakri. Amakri is away. Bye for now.