No Data Centers in My Backyard • Hacker News Board

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#51

Post by inigyou » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:45 AM UTC

mapontosevenths wrote: post #45

StilesCrisis wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data centers are quite loud.

I worked in a data center for a decade. None of the neighbors even knew what it was. One actually stopped me to ask. It was very loud inside, but you couldn't hear it from outside unless the power failed and the generators came on.

The new AI ones are built below minimum standards as a cash grab and they somehow manage to be as loud as jet engines. I have no idea how they manage to achieve that, but I try to avoid denying reality. I agree that an ordinary non-AI data center is no worse than an office building without the people, but that isn't what's happening right now.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#52

Post by dqv » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:45 AM UTC

pama wrote: post #30

folkrav wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Humming quietly”? Really? Humming, yeah, sure, but ask the people living next door how quiet they are.

The new ones will be though. Look up the specs for the NVIDIA Vera Rubin: no fans; recycled liquid cooling.

Some new ones might be.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#53

Post by inigyou » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

ungreased0675 wrote: post #46

folkrav wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Humming quietly”? Really? Humming, yeah, sure, but ask the people living next door how quiet they are.

The data centers near me are pretty quiet. They’re set back from the road enough that they’re no louder than the background noise of traffic, wind, airplanes overhead, etc. I understand my small sample size doesn’t apply everywhere, but it does negate “all data centers are loud.” Some data centers might be loud.

Are they pre-AI data centers or are they the new ones being rapidly built to capture AI compute demand?

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#54

Post by bob001 » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

ofrzeta wrote: post #50

deadbunny wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which would be a good argument if the datacenters actually paid any taxes. They shop around for tens to hundreds of millions in tax breaks from officials who believe the lies like "we'll create thousands of jobs!".

TFA cites "Each project requires thousands of skilled workers during the two to six year construction period (nearly 10,000 in Mount Pleasant)" so maybe it's not totally fiction (at least during build time).

To me that's not sustainable. It just brings in outside workers, distorts the economy in bad way for locals through increased costs, distorts their daily life in a bad way and then it all goes away leaving a void in its wake. Like the olympics.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#55

Post by thrance » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

BikiniPrince wrote: post #40

afavour wrote: post #4

Some of the reaction to data center build outs has become irrational but frankly I see it as a reflection of the arrogance of the billionaire tech elite. Voters were told: - AI is going to take your jobs - We need to build our data centers for this job stealing tool - We need to build so quickly that there’s no time to do accurate assessments of what this will do to water or power supplies Turns out people don’t like…

[flagged]

"Everyone that disagrees with me is a bot or paid propaganda". Sure, go tell yourself that. The money is clearly on the pro-AI camp, and you'd have to be delusional to think it isn't.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#56

Post by inigyou » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

bob001 wrote: post #49

zkmon wrote: post #8

People in UK opposed train tracks in steam engine days, saying that the train engine sound scares their horses and cattle. Ofcourse data centers are far worse. But it is amusing to see how humanity continues to oppose tech and the tech buldozes anyway, like a evil monster.

> like a evil monster. I tend to like not fearing starvation every year, not fearing freezing to death every year and not having the vast majority of my kids die. Industrialization led to all that.

I didn't realize we were going to freeze to death if there weren't chatboxes everywhere.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#57

Post by ModernMech » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:47 AM UTC

ianm218 wrote: post #23

comrade1234 wrote: post #11

I have a property in NW Wisconsin. It's incredibly poor there - it seems like most people working age are on disability - the new form of welfare. Money is earned mostly in summer and hunting seasons. It's pretty depressing. Lots of alcohol problems. I hired someone to clear some trees and make lumber out of them once and he showed up for the job three months later. At least he showed up though. Weirdest thing - he n…

If the data center was paying a decent amount of taxes surely it would help though right? In theory the taxes would go towards pro social uses.

A school and hospital would do that more than a data center tho. Look at Merced California, used to be a nowhere destination. They built a UC there and now it’s a place students, PhDs and MDs from around the world want to move to. If UC Merced were a data center it would attract no one, it would drain and pollute the lake, and Merced CA would still be a nowhere destination.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#58

Post by YackerLose » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:47 AM UTC

Planktonne wrote: post #10

The article is interesting, but I think it dances around what should be a central point, only approaching it obliquely. A lot of the opposition to data centers isn't about specific claimed benefits/drawbacks, but the fact that the people behind them are known to be bad actors. > My conversations make me wonder if the technical content of data center deals is mostly beside the point. Closed-loop cooling systems? “I do…

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice -- can't get fooled again. - actual Dubya quote

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#59

Post by inigyou » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:47 AM UTC

gyanchawdhary wrote: post #19

zkmon wrote: post #8

People in UK opposed train tracks in steam engine days, saying that the train engine sound scares their horses and cattle. Ofcourse data centers are far worse. But it is amusing to see how humanity continues to oppose tech and the tech buldozes anyway, like a evil monster.

I disagree with the “evil monster” part, but thanks for sharing that example. I’ll probably use it the opposite way in meetings .. people were deeply skeptical of railways too, yet they ended up transforming society for the better.

Only after a lot of mega companies ruined a lot of people's lives and then went bankrupt.

Re: No Data Centers in My Backyard

#60

Post by inigyou » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:48 AM UTC

mapping365 wrote: post #21

It's an elite project, being forced on us without having any choice. It is worsening inflation. It is increasing inequality. It is threatening careers. It has cheapened human creativity. Just look at how the elite of Wall Street, Silicon Valley and politics are coalescing to absurd lengths to fund and build these things. Why wouldn't you be suspicious...

Inflation and inequality are driven by the money printer far more than AI. The money printer is also driving AI, because there's far more supply of money than sensible investments to put it in.