MIT Technology Review

Applied mathematicians Steven Strogatz and Alex Townsend have co-authored a new book, Big Math: The Hidden Codes That Run Our World, examining how LLMs and quantum computing are pushing "big math" beyond human cognitive limits. The piece uses the book as a lens to discuss how mathematics' role and methods may shift in the AI era, without offering concrete technical methods or empirical results.

After spending days in Ashburn, Virginia—the world's largest data center hub—MIT Technology Review's writer argues the nationwide backlash against data centers is less a culture war than a concrete fight over electricity supply and power bills. OpenAI's global affairs chief Chris Lehane framed the pushback as a proxy for public unease about affordability and corporate power, but on-the-ground reporting suggests siting, grid capacity, and residential electricity costs are the real flashpoints.