ASK Q - EPISODE: “The Power Shift”

Zee Zee & Q — In Conversation

(setting: Zee’s condo, morning Coffee)

ZEE: Q, what would happen if someone came up with a free, clean source of energy?

Q: You mean like nuclear fusion finally working, or someone builds a toaster that runs on moonbeams?

ZEE: No, I mean really free. No more crude oil. No more fracking. No more coal mines. Just… zip. Plug in and go.

Q: [pauses, sips coffee] Ah. The Doomsday Miracle.

ZEE: Why do I feel like you’re about to ruin my utopia?

Q: Because I am. First, oil crashes. Saudi Arabia files for unemployment. ExxonMobil weeps into its dividend report.

ZEE: So Wall Street tanks?

Q: Tanks, flails, and tries to rebrand as a vegan co-op. Energy companies lose trillions. Pension funds go poof.

ZEE: That’s bad.

Q: It’s biblical. But hang on—next comes the good part. Power gets democratized. Remote villages light up. Kids in Ghana Zoom into Harvard. A teenager in Detroit builds a jetpack in her basement.

ZEE: Nice.

Q: Then it gets messy again. Oil wars stop, but job losses spike. Entire industries vanish. Refineries, trucking, gas stations—toast. Politicians scramble to invent a new crisis.

ZEE: And the climate?

Q: Breathes. Literally. We buy time. Maybe the planet doesn’t cook us alive. Seagulls start singing show tunes.

ZEE: So… free energy saves the world?

Q: Eventually. But first it wrecks the economy, topples governments, and gives the world’s worst people unlimited juice.

ZEE: Huh. Maybe we don’t plug it in right away.

Q: [leans in, deadpan] Maybe we don’t tell anyone we have it.

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Ask Q is a recurring column where I ask uncomfortable questions and let my AI, “Q,” answer with disturbing clarity.

You don’t need to understand how it works—just know that Q is never wrong… except when he is.

  — Zee Zee