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Data centers trigger voter backlash

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Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#91

Post by giantrobot »

AWTom wrote: post #40
toomuchtodo wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Enjoy it until the subsidies end and the economics catch up. You can afford it now with broad subsidies, but likely not the true cost. https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/06/24/ai-coding-a... https://mimetiq.substack.com/p/the-tokenmaxxing-hangover https://fortune.com/2026/05/28/tokenmaxxing-is-dead-companie... https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-... https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/ar…

The cost argument is wrong. Compare Gemini 2.5 Pro to Gemma 4 31B. Released only 10 months later, a tiny open-weights model outperforms what was once SOTA. Fable and 5.6 Sol will be outperformed by laptop-class models next year.

Except no one will be able to afford those laptops. The hyperscalers will buy up literally all the RAM and high power GPUs. So you'll be stuck with 8GB of unified memory on anything affordable. A laptop of better capability will cost 50% more than today (at least). That won't be your biggest problem because some C-suite goon with stars in their eyes laid you off because of AI.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#92

Post by godwinson__4-8 »

vardalab wrote: post #75
godwinson__4-8 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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Which country do you live in that you have such a positive outlook about redistribution of wealth?

Most Europeans seem quite happy with their societes and the levels of redistribution of wealth. As do the citizens of most petro or other resource rich states. If compute is the new energy then many states with a similar advantage aggressively and successfully redistribute gains and have a higher quality of life for the median person than Americans enjoy.

Not everything is Venezuela or the Soviet Union.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#93

Post by thewillowcat »

I can tell you, based on local examples, that politicians are setting up deals to bring in data centers without trying to build community support first. Not only that, they are often signing NDAs that prohibit them from telling voters what they have agreed to. It's no way to operate in a democracy, and voters are right to be angry.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#94

Post by thomastjeffery »

yardie wrote: post #6

A few months ago the founders of the top AI companies walked into Capitol Hill. Tried to explain to a room full of elected representatives exactly how their technology was going to put almost half the working population into under/unemployment and they should consider UBI [0]. Then they went back to the airport, got on their corporate jets, and went home secure in the knowledge that they really showed them. That they…

Most people I know (in Utah) are predominantly concerned with the pollution and water use. Water is the most ubiquitous concern across politics in Utah. No matter what political ideology you adhere to, water rights and water conservation are a core topic. If you watch local news for more than an hour or two, you will see propaganda to "slow the flow". One of the most common criticisms of our Governor is that he publicly prays for rain, while using an incredible amount of water on his own alfalfa farms.

The sheer sense of scale on this particular project is mind-boggling.

> 9 gigawatts of power—more electricity than the entire state of Utah currently uses

In a community where conservation is at the forefront of everyone's minds, planning something that big is like a slap in the face.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#95

Post by xantronix »

jrm4 wrote: post #35

Generally, I'm glad that "the people" appear to be pointed in the IMHO correct direction, even if for imprecise, or maybe even wrong, reasons. Regardless of what they are used for, we do not need more "data centers." This is true even outside of AI. Putting so much of us into "the cloud" is generally harmful; encouraging people to learn about, and to do more "computing" at home -- on local machines they, or someone w…

I'm happy to endure HN if it means I get to see hopeful, reasonable observations like yours.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#96

Post by simianwords »

This is because there's a new political divide that makes the old left vs right obsolete: it is neo-luddites vs tech optimists. It cross-cuts against the old and outdated political compass.

Neo-luddites are usually the educated elite and genealogy is from old green or left politics but includes nationalists and social conservatives.

I think media is broadly failing to recognise this new clan.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#97

Post by blinkbat »

paul7986 wrote: post #83
cogman10 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> no one I know gives a shit about the energy consumption or water usage. They do when the knowledge of the resource consumption is paired with "Which will directly lead to your electric/gas bill going up." People are also paying attention to the fact that the politicians aren't paying attention to the people. Nobody is even trying to sell the benefits of a datacenter in people's backyard. Instead, politicians are be…

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Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#98

Post by Joker_vD »

xvedejas wrote: post #45
cdrnsf wrote: post #14

Nothing this technology offers is, to me, worth the noise pollution or increase in water and electricity rates.

In a working economy, an increase in demand for electricity would be met with an increase in investment and capacity, and (at least in the long-term) would benefit all electricity buyers. I'm sure there are market failures going on here in many places but it's not necessarily the case that you and the companies be on opposing sides. There are positive-sum solutions to a lot of these problems, if people are willing to…

It's quite amusing how easily people fall into the trap of Malthusianism when talking about water/electricity consumption of certain industries.

Re: Data centers trigger voter backlash

#99

Post by socalgal2 »

I know I’ll get downvoted into oblivion but I can’t help but think data center and ai backlash manufactured or is a psi-ops campaign by Russia or China

It doesn’t make any sense to me as the externalities are future not current and at no other point in time has the public cared about the future without first seeing concrete examples of harm. That hasn’t happened yet for data centers nor AI. It’s all “if, maybe, sometime in the future”

People will claim real harms but the connections are spotty at best. So it feels like people are stirring the pot. like if not Russia or China then just influencers doing it for rage bait for likes and subscribes

I’m not saying they are wrong, I can’t predict the future, I’m only saying it feels unusual for the reasons mentioned above

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