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Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

niemanlab.org

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Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#111

Post by uberduper »

didgetmaster wrote: post #69

What makes a data center an 'AI data center' vs other kinds? I am sure that certain workloads are better suited for a particular server rack vs another; but can't a data center built for other computing needs also do AI and vice-versa?

The distinction is scale. "AI Datacenters" are a new level of scale with new levels of power consumption and heat generation. Sure you could run regular compute and w/e in them but it's not practical to build these mega sites for regular compute. GPU Compute / AI workloads require network/interconnect bandwidth and latencies where distance matters so you're forced to solve problems you wouldn't otherwise have to. Those problems are mostly solved with money.

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#112

Post by rcpt »

pesus wrote: post #50
october8140 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it you don't live next to a data center.

It does seem most of the pro-AI people aren't actually affected by any of the negative aspects of it. It's a lot easier to be in favor of something that doesn't actually affect you or anyone you care about.

Most everybody isn't affected by data center build outs.

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#113

Post by Razengan »

kennywinker wrote: post #87
Razengan wrote: post #75

Is there a map of munitions plants and spy centers and other facilities whose sole purpose is to active oppress, harm and outright kill people? Or the offices of ads agencies defacing countless public spaces, injecting noise into every activity and wasting billions of hours combined of everybody's life?

False equivalencies, you can be against ai and imperialism and ads. Go make those maps if you think they’re problems, otherwise you’re just shutting someone down for caring about something that impacts them but you don’t care about

It's odd that we don't see this kind of ra.. resistance against much worse evils that have been objectively fucking everyone up for far far longer.

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#114

Post by ioadk »

I started a project similar to this early this year [1] when I got frustrated with the lack of decent free resources documenting data centre build out. The plan was to focus on AI build out specifically, the ones costing billions and the recipients of all the Nvidia chips rather than the boring 'normal' datacenters.

I also wanted to add useful and accurate tools on things like local noise, water or grid impact. In addition to actually monitoring progress via satellite imagery and building a basic graph model for filling in missing attributes.

The reason why I stopped was that I significantly underestimated the effort required to complete such a project to the standards that I wanted to. As you can probably tell the site itself is AI assisted but all of the information was collected by hand which just takes time that I no longer had (~30 mins per site). The only way this would have made sense was as research project or something which sadly didn't line up.

[1] https://investigationsofadifferentkind.com/

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#115

Post by cryptoegorophy »

kennywinker wrote: post #79
tptacek wrote: post #65

The Erin Brockovich page itself repeats the canard, on the front page, that these sites endanger ecosystems with their water consumption.

Because they do.

If water is the problem then why are we ignoring how much water beef needs? If we measure per person use it is hundreds times more than data center usage in comparison if we measure in per person consumption

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#116

Post by runtime_terror »

thiagoperes wrote: post #49

It's poetically beautiful that the tool was very very clearly built mostly if not entirely using AI

I'm curious peoples criteria to determine this or is it just "vibes"?

Like I get it looks a lot like apps built with AI but weren't LLMs trained on real website and a metric ton of website templates?

Is it possible they used a template or other UI library?

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#117

Post by rcpt »

pishpash wrote: post #92
didgetmaster wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GPUs have been in high demand since cryptocurrency became a thing? Are you saying that something built for AI can't be used for other workloads?

Did crypto workload ever take over an entire data center?

Bitcoin Mining is 138–205 TWh annually. Surely that's more than a few data centers.

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#118

Post by esseph »

didgetmaster wrote: post #81
pishpash wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Different I/O, power and cooling requirements for majority GPU workloads?

GPUs have been in high demand since cryptocurrency became a thing? Are you saying that something built for AI can't be used for other workloads?

Not nearly with this density and power.

The power an "AI data center uses" in a single rack used to be, or is still in many cases, the power draw of an entire room or even floor.

Going from a few megawatts to ~10GW.

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#119

Post by runtime_terror »

aschla wrote: post #106
october8140 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it you don't live next to a data center.

That's a zoning issue the local residents should take up with their town/city.

But isn't the parent post implying objections to datacenters is just "populist brainrot"?

Re: Erin Brockovich made a map to track data centers around the country

#120

Post by pesus »

testfoobar wrote: post #91
ralph84 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Big Tech isn't exactly doing a great job of marketing them. Saying they're for AI while doing mass layoffs attributed to AI isn't a winning message.

Any individual layoff is truly awful. But at the macro level, it is not really a big number so far. From ~2.48 million in 2023 to ~2.37million now. Or a 5% drop in employment in 3 years. Fred: All Employees, Computer Systems Design and Related Services (CES6054150001) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ces6054150001

You'll need to compare how many job postings there are as well to get the full picture, especially for junior roles. That's one of the most contentious effects and has an outsized impact on society.
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