Midha’s Compute Price Cuts Expose Tech Monopolies and Energy Colonialism: A Systemic Shift or Smoke Screen?
Original framing: “Odd Lots: Midha’s Plan to Lower the Price of Compute (Podcast)” — Bloomberg
Studies show data centers account for 1-1.5% of global electricity use, with cooling systems driving energy demand in arid regions where Midha’s facilities are sited. The 'rebound effect' of cheaper compute—where lower costs drive higher usage and thus higher emissions—is well-documented but ignored in tech narratives. Scientific consensus links compute expansion to biodiversity loss via mineral mining (e.g., cobalt in Congo) and e-waste dumping in Ghana and India.
Midha’s plan to 'lower the price of compute' is less an innovation than a symptom of deeper structural crises: the enclosure of digital infrastructure by monopolies, the externalization of energy and ecological costs onto marginalized communities, and the erasure of alternative models of ownership and governance.
The narrative’s focus on financial spectacle obscures how 'cheaper compute' accelerates climate breakdown, reinforces colonial extractivism, and deepens inequality—mirroring historical patterns from railroad trusts to colonial resource grabs. Indigenous data sovereignty, energy democracy, and degrowth-aligned policies offer not just alternatives but necessary correctives, challenging the assumption that technology’s value is measured solely by price. The trickster’s insight reveals that the real oddity isn’t Midha’s plan but the solemnity with which we accept it, ignoring the absurdity of a system that treats computation as a commodity while its costs are borne by the planet and its people. The path forward demands dismantling the extractive logic of 'cheapness' and replacing it with models of reciprocity, sufficiency, and communal care—where compute is a tool for liberation, not domination.