The Whole World Is Fighting About Energy

Plain English with Derek Thompson

The Ringer

News Commentary, News

4.7 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The two biggest stories in the world right now—the war involving Iran and the rise of artificial intelligence—are, at their core, the same story: energy. The Iran conflict has become a war of competing energy blockades, with Iran squeezing American allies and America squeezing Iran. And AI is its own energy arms race, with tech companies scrambling not just for customers but for supply—chips, electricity, and data center capacity. What does it mean when every major story leads back to energy? Derek talks with energy analyst Nat Bullard about a world where power, in every sense of the word, is the thing everyone is fighting over. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@PlainEnglishwithDerekThompson If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Nat Bullard Producer: Devon Baroldi Link: https://www.nathanielbullard.com/presentations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Selling your car can be super simple.
0:08.0	If you choose, we buy any car because they sort out any outstanding finance for you.
0:13.0	Just bring along your final settlement agreement.
0:16.0	If only they could make parallel parking simpler.
0:19.0	To the right bit mate. Yeah, back.
0:21.5	Back a bit.
0:22.3	A bit more.
0:23.0	Bit more.
0:24.5	Oh, no, too far.
0:26.8	We buy any car.
0:28.0	Selling made simple.
0:29.7	To sell your car today, enter your edge number now at we buy any car.com.
0:36.4	Today, AI, Iran, and energy.
0:40.3	One goal of this show is to cover the biggest stories in the world.
0:44.3	And so what are the biggest stories in the world?
0:47.3	Judging by newspaper headlines, you'll probably say that at this moment, it's two.
0:52.3	Number one, the war in Iran, and number two, artificial intelligence.
0:57.1	But if you dig just underneath that headline,
0:59.8	if you poke and prod until you get to what those stories are really about,
1:04.1	I would argue that at a fundamental level,
1:06.6	they are both about the same thing.
1:10.2	And that thing is energy.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Ringer, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Ringer and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.