Lunar hubris and the end of the Earth

Lunar hubris and the end of the Earth

From CounterVortex Podcast by Bill Weinberg

February 8, 2026 · 30 min

About this episode

Bill Weinberg discusses the implications of plans to build AI-run nuclear reactors on the Moon and the associated threats to human survival.

Plans by Trump's fascist tech bros as well as Putin and Xi to build AI-run nuclear reactors on the Moon open jurisdictional dilemmas that far outpace the modest UN efforts to put a regulation regime in place for artificial intelligence. These plans are unveiled just as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moves the symbolic hands of the Doomsday Clock to an unprecedented 85 seconds to midnight. The new Doomsday Clock Statement explicitly names AI, as well as nuclear weapons and climate change, as a potential threat to human survival. The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, in conjunction with the Doomsday Clock move, reiterated its position that "we must move beyond managing nuclear weapons and start phasing them out before midnight strikes." In Episode 316 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg argues that we must take a similar abolitionist position on AI and space expansionism, citing unacceptable threats on ecological, epistemological and eschatological grounds. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/countervortex Production by Chris Rywalt We ask listeners to donate just $1 per weekly podcast via Patreon -- or $2 for our new special…

People in this episode

Host: Bill Weinberg

Topics covered

  • AI
  • nuclear reactors
  • Moon
  • Doomsday Clock
  • ecological threats
  • space expansionism

Keywords

  • Trump
  • Putin
  • Xi
  • International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
  • regulation regime

Mentioned in this episode

Products: the Doomsday Clock

Books & works: CounterVortex

Places: Earth, Moon

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