This has turned into quite the volatile topic these days. Lack of forethought is causing a lot of problems that are not easily solved. Yes, AI is the big new thing, but what has to be done to support it is something else. And that’s not getting into the problem of keeping AI under control (see: Hegseth wanting AI with no guardrails). Many thanks to Raw Story:
The late-summer revolt against data centers is rattling parts of the tech sector, which fears the industry is bungling a political crisis that could shadow it well into 2028. The backlash echoes what’s playing out on the ground in Texas, where the same anger over data centers is fueling the “Break Rank” movement — lifelong Republicans and conservative independents who told the Washington Post they’re willing to cross party lines this November specifically because Abbott has been too cozy with the industry.
All one needs to do is look at Elon’s data center to support his AI, and the downsides are right there and easily available. How about clobbering the town next door and sucking up resources? They need so much power and water that anything around it is almost unsustainable. Off to the search engine:
Sustaining a data center requires a continuous, redundant supply of massive electrical power, advanced cooling systems, and robust physical and network security.
Yep, sucking up resources. It’s not really a surprise that people are getting so bent out of shape about them. Living near one means your power bill will go up, too. That’s just one example of resources. Now, how about what it takes to *build* one? That’s some serious construction needed for a lot of heavy-duty requirements. It cannot be easy to put together. Has anyone mentioned building the center itself? That’s between the construction and the resources. They could have to be linked by fiber optics. Any wire would probably be too slow. And so on.
Some tech industry advocates insist the pushback is a fleeting, election-year wedge issue that will cool after the midterms, while others warn that’s dangerously naive. The industry’s messaging has struggled to keep pace, a failure Republicans are now openly worried about, too. Some, like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg with his $1 billion community investment fund, are trying to get ahead of it. Others remain stuck in finger-pointing between AI labs, developers, and utilities.
There should be a way to balance everything out. It just hasn’t been found yet. If AI is the wave of the future (ugh), then something will have to be done. With climate change, water availability has become a lot more restricted than it used to be. Could a desalination plant keep up with the cooling needed? Random thought. It probably is a lot more complex than it seems. And putting it next to one of the Great Lakes would not be simple either. This is just guessing about cooling.
There is a lot more research and work needed to find something everyone can agree on, even if every side doesn’t get everything. Let’s hope it happens sooner rather than later.
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