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New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

reuters.com

41–50 of 242 posts

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#41
post #35

This just means that DC builds will move to other states. It isn't exactly like you need low latency/colocation for AI workloads.

Isn't that the point? Keeping data centers out of neighborhoods that don't want them?

Not really. The people who oppose them don’t want data centers anywhere, at all.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#42
post #17
post #3

It’s a one year moratorium. I don’t see a problem with this. A lot of voters are concerned about the impacts data centers will have, those concerns are not entirely unwarranted. We don’t actually have to be moving at breakneck speeds, the AI companies just want you to think we do. A pause to investigate seems warranted.

Blocking is easy, UN-blocking is hard (see: zoning and housing). There are no objective concerns to be met, and there will never be. I would bet a lot of money the moratorium is indefinitely extended every year. Always thought letting populism define a "slow-down" was silly, its a moratorium and a permanent veto everyone is looking for. It's fine, the data centers will be built elsewhere in more politically impoveris…

> There are no objective concerns to be met

Are you sure? Most of the objections I've seen center around environmental impact and effect on residential energy pricing in the surrounding area. Both of these seem to be to be objectively measurable.

> the data centers will be built elsewhere in more politically impoverished states

What does "politically impoverished" mean? I'd say more "politically permissive" states would make more sense here. Red states are not impoverished of politics, they just have different politics.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#43
These feels like bribe seeking behavior. Pol sees an industry that likely will have a lot of potential market within the pol's jurisdiction, pol publicly puts a speedbump or roadblock in front of the industry causing the industry to start lobbying pol/pol's friends.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#44
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recent survey showed on HN that 60% of adults in the US dislike it which means that 40% either don't care or like it 40 is a massive number, you're not that far from a coin flip. I don't think any of us have a good read on how people feel because the vocal people are very vocal. Here on HN you'd guess everybody hates it or loves it and there are a bunch of us like me that just view it as a tool with consequences that…

Your closer to a 2/3 and 1/3 split then a coin flip with 60%. You handwaved that 40% to a positive. This could easily mean very few people have a positive view of AI.

The only point I was making is that 40% is a huge number.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#45
post #3

It’s a one year moratorium. I don’t see a problem with this. A lot of voters are concerned about the impacts data centers will have, those concerns are not entirely unwarranted. We don’t actually have to be moving at breakneck speeds, the AI companies just want you to think we do. A pause to investigate seems warranted.

> We don’t actually have to be moving at breakneck speeds According to one Canadian, er sorry, a UE citizen, er sorry, an Irishman named Kevin O'Leary, who is seeing Chinese spys everywhere, we actually do need to move with breakneck speed, because otherwise the quality of American lives will be forever gone. Or at least infuse of naive VC money flowing into his pockets will be gone.

[deleted]

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#46
post #31

>The state currently has more than 130 data centers, according to Data Center Map, compared with more than 600 in Virginia and about 500 in Texas. Texas is physically larger and 'business frienedly' so suspect they will be getting a lot more. Taylor Sheridan can do a new series where a Ranch owned by a family for many generations is targeted by a Datacentre company.

The Governance of that oh-so-dependable Texan power grid are going to engage in some macabre arithmetic this Winter...

That happened in 2021 and we haven't had similar issues since. I haven't experienced a power grid failure since then.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#48

Here's a view that I've not seen AI/DC proponents engage in (for example, Carmack's recent pro DC post) AI is an exciting and promising new tech, much like the web/internet in 90s and smartphones in late 2000s. Back in those times, the tech industry was far, far smaller, tiny in the 90s and maybe like 1/20th of the current size in the late 2000s. Tech companies were not a big part of people's every day lives, so thes…

> web/internet in 90s and smartphones in late 2000s. Back in those times, the tech industry was far, far smaller

> huge parts of people's lives are mediated by one of a half dozen companies

The latter point is doing a lot of heavy lifting because the first point is whitewashing history. Back in the 90's, you had exactly one cable TV provider, one phone provider, maybe one or two cell phone providers if you could afford one, and your internet options were limited to either your cable TV provider or your landline phone provider for DSL, or AOL if you were really unfortunate.

You probably had one trash / sanitation provider, one choice of place to send your kids to school (unless you went the religious school route or could afford a private school, assuming one was nearby). You had one option for getting your mail delivered. One choice for policing, for fire protection and other emergency services, etc. Having only a few options has been a pretty big part of a lot of daily life.

The internet felt more wild and free, because there weren't too many places to go, and most people didn't go there. The internet didn't shrink, but people who started going online went all went to the same places, so all the growth went... where people actually wanted to go.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#49
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that the point? Keeping data centers out of neighborhoods that don't want them?

Not really. The people who oppose them don’t want data centers anywhere, at all.

Not exactly. Much of the anti-datacenter population got that way from hearing about the irresponsible ones and don't want it happening in their area. If they never heard about it because it was in the middle of nowhere, then they wouldn't be involved. It's NIMBY - data center or houses, don't build it near me.

Re: New York becomes the first state to impose a data center moratorium

#50

[flagged]

> People in red state have been voting to shit on the environment for longer than I have been alive,

Red states still have a significant population that don't vote Republican and they're more often than not the ones who bear the brunt of negatives like data center construction.

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