>NIMBYs often refuse to accept practically any change, regardless of the benefits. This isn't limited to data centers being sited nearby: You see it in issues as petty as new pickleball courts. We also saw it for new power plants long before modern AI was a factor. This isn't new. I'm not saying you, personally, are a NIMBY, but it's undeniable that they exist. It's not personal, but I can tell it's touched a nerve.
No, see you're doing it again - there maybe a handfull of people opposed to all change. Usually it's some people don't want a particular thing, and a different group of people who don't want another thing. Dismissing them all as a single unified group of people opposed to all change is a disgusting contempt for everyone who disagrees with your comfort no matter what it may cost them personally.
> Back this up with facts. Raise the bar.
> etc
We've seen thousands and thousands of jobs cut and people laid off for AI. Those people are bearing the cost of your personal desire for a little bit of comfort.
We've seen towns lose electricity contracts and the residents forced to scramble and pay higher costs because of the possiblility of datacenter contracts. This hurts a lot of people who were already at the edge of being able to afford basic life.
Sure, more generation may not need to pollute the atmosphere, but in the current moment it sure seems like the more generation in practice it is generators spewing exhaust into neighborhoods. This is happening right now, and it hurts people.
Im not opposed to AI. I'm opposed to the rush to get there at the expense of people who aren't benefiting from it. I don't care if some handful of people don't realize profits immediately, or if some small percentage of people don't get to have a slightly easier job.
The dismissal of these people's concerns as "just a made up group I call nimby's" being unreasonable is deplorable. It's an utter lack of regard for solving the problems in a reasonable way because you want your toy right now. The idea that we can add new datacenters because they aren't the biggest problem and only make the issues people are facing a little worse... well it's literally saying "lets make everything even worse for people since its already bad for them" and is just sick.
Choosing to push for new toy factories right now that worsen peoples problems instead of an approach the makes the world better for others is in fact inflicting damage in the name of your amusement.