Live data from Hacker News

No Data Centers in My Backyard

jasmi.news

171–176 of 176 posts

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Chinese Communist Party

Again: sourcing? An explanation of how the Chinese Communist Party is able to transfer money to middle of nowhere community activists like those mentioned in the article?

It's not just about money but the social media boosting of narratives.

You probably know about Singham and "United front".

Here's a cursory link to a paper of record.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/business/china-russia-ai-...

I've seen similar with electric vehicle narratives. Claims directly from Russia (Dmitry Rogozin) that the USG is subsidising its space industry repeated as fact. etc.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#172
post #63
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have evidence? Because that claim doesn't pass the sniff test - why would people who have large amounts of money care about data centers?

Reads like classic projection to me. Always accuse the other side of what your side is doing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/business/china-russia-ai-...

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a small datacenter with a terrible exhaust fan.

Imagine how bad the big ones are then. They're not building them any less cheaply, you know.

Usually you see a big building without windows and you can't hear it from the fence of the property. You probably don't know what it is unless someone tells you.

In another thread someone claimed a town grew around a new hospital and that it didn't have a datacenter. That town has at least one AT&T Datacenter, a supercomputer that's more AI than traditional computing, and of course said hospital likely has one.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a weird comment to me. Think about green energy, specifically solar panels and wind farms. Almost by definition, the jobs created are only during installation. (Ok, there is a little bit of long-term maintenance, but a tiny fraction.) Would you say the same about those projects? It is unavoidable that the modern world needs data centers (how many is open for debate). It is a fact of life that most of the jobs…

> It is unavoidable that the modern world needs data centers (how many is open for debate) You know, I’m currently having drinks with a friend who has no connection to the tech world, and asked him about this line explicitly curious of what he thinks about it. He said “I have no idea why such things would be unavoidable”. And that is the sentiment of the general populace towards AI/DCs and etc.

Your reply is disingenuous.

    > a friend who has no connection to the tech world
I assume that you mean that they do not work in the tech world. However, surely they use lots of tech services in their life.

Do they stream film/TV on NetFlix or YouTube? Do they use social media like Facebook or Insagram or TikTok? Does they use email? Do they use WhatsApp or message to chat with friends/family on their mobile phone? Do they have "cloud storage" for their photos? Do they shop online using Amazon? Do they use Google Maps for navigation?

I assume that most adults do at least some of these things. Where does they think the servers run behind the scenes? Simple: In a data center. Now ask your friend to imagine his life without all of those things, because all of them require data centers.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#175
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You raise an interesting point. If we look at Mag7: Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta/Facebook, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Tesla: All of they are probably building data centers at a furious pace. (Honestly, I'm not sure if NVIDIA needs as many as the other six.) However, we do not see great opposition to their own data centers. Why? My guess: They are incredibly careful about how they plan data center expansion to reduce…

Hmm, I'm not quite sure people are being discriminating about which data centers they oppose. I recall Microsoft and Amazon making a lot of concessions to get some of their sites approved. I do agree though that despite what reasons citizens may be citing in public -- power bills, water, pollution, noise -- the real pushback is against the "AI will take our jobs" fear. To be fair, it's not just an abstract fear for a…

    > I recall Microsoft and Amazon making a lot of concessions to get some of their sites approved.
Yes, that is exactly what I meant when I wrote: "My guess: They are incredibly careful about how they plan data center expansion to reduce brand impact." Most large construction projects and buildings/factories require "lot of concessions". It is a fact of life in a modern democracy.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is unavoidable that the modern world needs data centers (how many is open for debate) You know, I’m currently having drinks with a friend who has no connection to the tech world, and asked him about this line explicitly curious of what he thinks about it. He said “I have no idea why such things would be unavoidable”. And that is the sentiment of the general populace towards AI/DCs and etc.

Your reply is disingenuous. > a friend who has no connection to the tech world I assume that you mean that they do not work in the tech world. However, surely they use lots of tech services in their life. Do they stream film/TV on NetFlix or YouTube? Do they use social media like Facebook or Insagram or TikTok? Does they use email? Do they use WhatsApp or message to chat with friends/family on their mobile phone? Do…

What I'm hearing here is that it's yourself struggling to imagine life w/out data centres.

> ask your friend to imagine his life

As for friends, I have a number of friends not dissimilar to Jill Churnside: https://tracksweshare.com.au/artist/jill-churnside/

You know, not a "he" (as many on this planet are not).

and even programmers who are happy to live with home servers and local LANs.

Post reply on HN