The moral panic over data centres is foolish • Hacker News Board

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#121

Post by goodmythical » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:13 PM UTC

ok123456 wrote: post #108

milkshakes wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> data centers are purely extractive please, tell me more > people in the community, or at least in the surrounding area, will play golf there going to go out on a limb here and guess that net-net, a datacenter provides more benefits to a broader spectrum of society than a golf course does.

That is quite a limb to go out on. What is the exact value proposition of AI as it exists right now for the average person who lives where these things are being built? They don't even get jobs. With golf, they can enjoy the outdoors and escape a little bit.

I'm not entirely certain, but I think a data center might just provide more temporary and permanent jobs than a golf course, and with likely higher mean and median wages.

The golf park isn't even the best natural-adjacent use of the space.

A regular park or a trail will service a significantly larger portion of the population than a private property that transfers wealth from the community to a single person or corporation.

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#122

Post by bayindirh » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:13 PM UTC

CamperBob2 wrote: post #118

bayindirh wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please provide us the details how much water an open-air, evaporative cooling system loses due to evaporation and other system-wide losses? Also can you tell us which chemicals need to be added to the outer and inner loops of the systems, and do the inner loop has the same losses or it is different. If there's water loss into the ground, and if the water is treated with chemicals, is it required or is it in f…

Imagine taking half the cars off the road because they no longer need to be there, and then re-run your ecological calculations.

Can you elaborate a little more? I failed to catch what you're trying to say. Sorry.

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#123

Post by skripp11 » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:13 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #75

shadedtriangle wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep trying to educate them how? By your own admission data centers: * use a lot of water to build one * the power is a problem * the noise is an issue * the power is coming from non-green sources * the government could “easily” fix all this with regulations

Trying to educate them that water and power usage are the less problematic parts and not as bad as everyone thinks. It's the noise and lack of green power that are the problems.

[dead]

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#124

Post by Teever » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #15

I have a lot of left leaning non-tech friends. They are all very much against AI data centers. I've built AI data centers, and I keep trying to educate them, but they just won't listen. The water is mostly part of a closed system. Sure, you need a lot to build one, but once it's running it's pretty water efficient. The lack of green power is a problem, but as the article points out, you now have a large customer subs…

What do you think is the biggest blocker to governments successfully regulating these kinds of things?

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#125

Post by goodmythical » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:16 PM UTC

hbn wrote: post #50

hypfer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either I'm blind or it also doesn't say who wrote it. But it does offer AI narration.

I see that they themselves call it "AI narration" Are we calling TTS "AI" now?

Have you not noticed the proliferation of renaming every single machine learning algorithm as artifical intelligence?

People have artificially intelligent vaccuums these days.

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#126

Post by 1shooner » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:16 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #31

lc9er wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cool. Then then you live next to one.

No thanks, they are loud. I even called that out. But no one should be living next to them. Those people need to get their local government to regulate noise from all buildings. The companies won't do it on their own. (This is part of why I no longer help build them, because when I asked about reducing noise and using green power I was laughed at).

> Those people need to get their local government to regulate noise from all buildings

I think this is the core of the 'moral panic'. it isn't anti-AI, it's the fact that many AI datacenter builders have been somewhere between surreptitious and intentionally illegal in their avoidance public knowledge of what they are doing, most likely to avoid exactly the regulation you're recommending. As a result, there's now categorical public distrust of both the industry and the local government that has shirked their obligation to the public welfare.

It is reasonable to conclude that you don't act as secretively as these builders have unless you have something to hide.

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#127

Post by dwaltrip » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:19 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #63

hypfer wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The noise is an issue, I will admit that. As is the fact that a lot of the power is coming from non-green sources. But the government could easily fix these problems with regulations that apply broadly, not just to datacenters. Soooo You're building them, and you're agreeing that the biggest points of criticism are valid. But.. some handwaving that the government should do something about it and also others are too…

I don't do that anymore since I got laughed at by coworkers when I suggested we focus on using green power and reducing noise. So yes, my conscience is clear.

You might just need to change how you say it. These people have a lot of legitimate frustrations. Show them you are on the same side as them and understand where they are coming from. Don't get hung up on minor technicalities. When people are upset, they really don't want a lecture or pedantry.

Talking to just a few people or one person at a time can help a lot, also.

But I hear you. It sucks trying to be helpful and then getting it shoved in your face.

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#128

Post by downrightmike » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:22 PM UTC

bethekidyouwant wrote: post #120

goldenarm wrote: post #65

The article dismisses everything without sourcing anything. US electricity is 40% more expensive since 2022 https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU000072610 Some AI datacenters can indeed be heard a mile away https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/datacenters-... Amazon's new Texas AI data center could become the biggest CO2 polluter in the US https://www.techradar.com/pro/amazons-new-texas-ai-data-cent...

The gas generators can be heard a mile away… protest gas generators?

They are using them to skirt the law

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#129

Post by duxup » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:31 PM UTC

We have been building them for decades without problems at the scale we’re talking about them now.

There’s a few in my area that have huge green space around them as per local government and I’d love to live near them…. You got big open green space, trees, wetlands. One I know of is home to Sandhill cranes every summer.

Just do the thing, right.

Re: The moral panic over data centres is foolish

#130

Post by xboxnolifes » Sat, Sep 05, 2026, 8:32 PM UTC

bloaf wrote: post #93

xboxnolifes wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There has been tons of reported frustration with golf courses in the past. So, yes, people have, and it's pretty consistent here as well.

I've not seen a single politician calling for statewide bans on golf courses. Its pretty obvious here that people decided datacenters were bad first, then went looking for justifications second.

Go look up articles from mid to late 2010s. There's where you will find frustration about golf courses, during the time where water restrictions were being put on residential lawns. Do not conflate the more recent, more successful campaign of anti-data-center sentiment with the non-existence of a past campaign against golf courses. It existed, it just petered out.