Elise Hu

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You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.

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Tensions are rising in many parts of the world, and one culprit is an age-old tale, the struggle for control over the finite resources on our planet.

Today, the ever-expanding need for data centers to keep up with the AI boom is at the heart of this struggle, as AI requires massive amounts of invaluable resources like water and land.

In this talk, AI energy pioneer Philip Johnston makes the case for why the future of computing and global stability might not be meant for this Earth and suggests that we look up to find the solution in space.

That was Philip Johnston at TED AI San Francisco in 2025.

Please note this talk was recorded in October 2025.

If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines.

And that's it for today.

TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective.

This talk was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, and Tansika Sangmarnivong.

This episode was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan.

Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo.

I'm Elise Hugh.

I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.

Thanks for listening.

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