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Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

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Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#41

Post by HWR_14 »

john_strinlai wrote: post #12
josefritzishere wrote: post #2

This is madness. The polling is in and the public hates, positively hates AI. So of course the response is to do AI even more. https://newrepublic.com/article/209163/ai-industry-discoveri...

there are polls where a sample of people say they hate ai. on the other hand, there are a billion+ weekly active users. from a business perspective, which of those two statistics would you give more weight?

People hate AI datacenters in their backyard. From a business perspective, I hope "obey the local zoning laws" is a fairly high priority.

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#43

Post by code_biologist »

vel0city wrote: post #37
code_biologist wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your language is ambiguous — your horror is in reference to natural gas turbine generators (used at these installations) and not gasoline generators (like in a home context)? Why the horror? I'd prefer the gas remain in the ground, but given the gassy production of US shale oil, I guess I'd rather it be used for this than just flared. I am frustrated that pollutant emissions aren't being policed, and also that the su…

> I guess I'd rather it be used for this than just flared I doubt this is really reducing the rates of flaring and leaky wells. Its just additional demand. The biggest problem I've seen is they tend to build these somewhat close to residential areas with generation on-site. Often these power generation centers aren't right next to residential areas due to both air and noise pollution. But governments are often seemin…

Yes, the noise pollution is insane. Benn Jordan's YT video "Datacenters Behaving Like Acoustic Weapons" is an insightful, scary 30 min video covering the datacenter infrasound noise, and the nasty things infrasound does to people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bP80DEAbuo

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#44

Post by warkdarrior »

righthand wrote: post #30
john_strinlai wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there are polls where a sample of people say they hate ai. on the other hand, there are a billion+ weekly active users. from a business perspective, which of those two statistics would you give more weight?

But a billion active users != number of US citizens that take on the burden of AI. So go build your AI on land where your customers are if they like it so much.

ChatGPT has 112M monthly active users in US, https://searchlab.nl/en/statistics/chatgpt-statistics-2026#g...

Is is OK for them to build datacenters in US?

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#45

Post by emsign »

bethekidyouwant wrote: post #42
jzymbaluk wrote: post #25

The fact that these behemoths are being powered by gas generators is horrifying

How did you want to power them? You know the gas generators are the largest power generation source in the US right?

How about not powering them at all.

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#46

Post by pier25 »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #40
jzymbaluk wrote: post #25

The fact that these behemoths are being powered by gas generators is horrifying

It's not supposed to be permanent, but it also allows them to not waste time waiting on physical locations to be built. Given how highly competitive this all is, I'm not surprised at all.

Every time I do something that's not supposed to be permanent until I have time to implement a proper solution it lasts for years.

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#47

Post by emsign »

arjie wrote: post #34

The whole thing is like a video game: your construction and power are your limiting factors. We need to CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS and so on. It's interesting that this is such a limiter on the ground that SpaceX is pursuing AI satellites in space. Truly an incredible time to be alive.

This is not a video game.

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#48

Post by bluGill »

scottlamb wrote: post #10

Meta's first five buildings took between two and three years to build, but Williams is almost done building out 200 MW (additional) off-grid power plants in a year, and to match that they're putting their equipment in tents. That raises questions for me: * Did they expect the next five buildings to also take between two and three years to build if done in the same manner? I'd hope it'd be significantly faster the sec…

I would guess the real problem is contractors are bottle-necked in good times, but not stupid enough to expand - knowing that bad times will come and they have to pay for all the expansion. (humans can be laid off, but you still need to make the payment on the bulldozer)

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#49

Post by unknownfuture »

code_biologist wrote: post #33
jzymbaluk wrote: post #25

The fact that these behemoths are being powered by gas generators is horrifying

Your language is ambiguous — your horror is in reference to natural gas turbine generators (used at these installations) and not gasoline generators (like in a home context)? Why the horror? I'd prefer the gas remain in the ground, but given the gassy production of US shale oil, I guess I'd rather it be used for this than just flared. I am frustrated that pollutant emissions aren't being policed, and also that the su…

I'd prefer they use cheap and available renewables rather than accelerating climate change. But to each their own I guess.

(And to head it off at the pass: if that can't be done then this should be done at all)

Re: Meta steals a tactic from Tesla and builds data centers in tents

#50

Post by bluGill »

expedition32 wrote: post #16
jackyinger wrote: post #4

A desperate bid to get around data center bans: disguise them as homeless encampments

Microsoft had a neat trick here in the Netherlands: instead of opening a new site they decided to make a their existing site higher by adding a few floors. Ofcourse that only works once the Dutch borg adapts!

While that is done, unless land is expensive (which it rarely is by enough) building out is a lot cheaper than building up.
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