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No Data Centers in My Backyard

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Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#31

Post by bob001 »

ianm218 wrote: post #23
comrade1234 wrote: post #11

I have a property in NW Wisconsin. It's incredibly poor there - it seems like most people working age are on disability - the new form of welfare. Money is earned mostly in summer and hunting seasons. It's pretty depressing. Lots of alcohol problems. I hired someone to clear some trees and make lumber out of them once and he showed up for the job three months later. At least he showed up though. Weirdest thing - he n…

If the data center was paying a decent amount of taxes surely it would help though right? In theory the taxes would go towards pro social uses.

City taxes don't fix a broken economic flywheel. State taxes go to others and also don't fix it. You need a functional economy with jobs, income, spending and all that jazz. A small amount of taxes with no second order benefits is worth relatively little.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#32

Post by epolanski »

zkmon wrote: post #8

People in UK opposed train tracks in steam engine days, saying that the train engine sound scares their horses and cattle. Ofcourse data centers are far worse. But it is amusing to see how humanity continues to oppose tech and the tech buldozes anyway, like a evil monster.

It's not about opposing data centers, it's about opposing them close to where you live.

There's now a gargantuan amount of documentation about their impact: - insane noise levels 24/7, you can hear them even at miles away - virtually no jobs brought to the place, besides some construction work early on - massive drain of local resources - massive eye sore

Like, I'm not against data centers per se, but you tell me they building one few miles from my house, I'm listing it the day I hear it and escaping as far as I can.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#34

Post by mapontosevenths »

ianm218 wrote: post #23
comrade1234 wrote: post #11

I have a property in NW Wisconsin. It's incredibly poor there - it seems like most people working age are on disability - the new form of welfare. Money is earned mostly in summer and hunting seasons. It's pretty depressing. Lots of alcohol problems. I hired someone to clear some trees and make lumber out of them once and he showed up for the job three months later. At least he showed up though. Weirdest thing - he n…

If the data center was paying a decent amount of taxes surely it would help though right? In theory the taxes would go towards pro social uses.

They often don't. In my area the locals gave them giant tax breaks in the hope of bringing in jobs that dont exist.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#35

Post by Avicebron »

As a thought experiment why not just move the people who want them to those neighbourhoods and move the people who don't where the people who do live. I wonder how many would actually take that deal..

I suspect they wouldn't

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#36

Post by epolanski »

decimalenough wrote: post #12
zkmon wrote: post #8

People in UK opposed train tracks in steam engine days, saying that the train engine sound scares their horses and cattle. Ofcourse data centers are far worse. But it is amusing to see how humanity continues to oppose tech and the tech buldozes anyway, like a evil monster.

How are they "far worse"? Steam trains are noisy, polluting, require tons of coal, kill animals and people in their way, and crash fairly regularly (when built with 1800s technology). A data center is a big grey box that sits there humming quietly, and that's it. They do require power and lots of it, but unlikely steam engines they'll happily use solar, nuclear or anything else.

They also need gargantuan amounts of fresh water. And it's anything but a quiet humming.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#37

Post by deadbunny »

decimalenough wrote: post #12
zkmon wrote: post #8

People in UK opposed train tracks in steam engine days, saying that the train engine sound scares their horses and cattle. Ofcourse data centers are far worse. But it is amusing to see how humanity continues to oppose tech and the tech buldozes anyway, like a evil monster.

How are they "far worse"? Steam trains are noisy, polluting, require tons of coal, kill animals and people in their way, and crash fairly regularly (when built with 1800s technology). A data center is a big grey box that sits there humming quietly, and that's it. They do require power and lots of it, but unlikely steam engines they'll happily use solar, nuclear or anything else.

96db is quiet?

https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-n...

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#38

Post by blitzar »

ianm218 wrote: post #23
comrade1234 wrote: post #11

I have a property in NW Wisconsin. It's incredibly poor there - it seems like most people working age are on disability - the new form of welfare. Money is earned mostly in summer and hunting seasons. It's pretty depressing. Lots of alcohol problems. I hired someone to clear some trees and make lumber out of them once and he showed up for the job three months later. At least he showed up though. Weirdest thing - he n…

If the data center was paying a decent amount of taxes surely it would help though right? In theory the taxes would go towards pro social uses.

> If the data center was paying a decent amount of taxes

if my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#39

Post by elliotpage »

Planktonne wrote: post #10

The article is interesting, but I think it dances around what should be a central point, only approaching it obliquely. A lot of the opposition to data centers isn't about specific claimed benefits/drawbacks, but the fact that the people behind them are known to be bad actors. > My conversations make me wonder if the technical content of data center deals is mostly beside the point. Closed-loop cooling systems? “I do…

As you say, the distrust is backed up by evidence and by their own personal experience of the same promises getting trotted out time after time, generation after generation.

These people, these communities, have been promised these same things before (or things adjacent to them) and have seen them not deliver, or even make their situation worse.

This is especially true of the tax income and job generation elements. The estimates provided as part of the deal are utterly divorced from reality- people know it and refuse to take part in the kayfabe that surrounds it.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#40

Post by BikiniPrince »

afavour wrote: post #4

Some of the reaction to data center build outs has become irrational but frankly I see it as a reflection of the arrogance of the billionaire tech elite. Voters were told: - AI is going to take your jobs - We need to build our data centers for this job stealing tool - We need to build so quickly that there’s no time to do accurate assessments of what this will do to water or power supplies Turns out people don’t like…

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