[23325] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Script of my national radio report yesterday on
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Lauren Weinstein)
Tue Mar 10 13:05:36 2026
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:56:15 -0700
From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
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This is the script of my national radio report yesterday on the
battles over data centers wrecking communities. As always, there may
have been minor wording variations from this script as I presented
this report live on air.
- - -
Yeah, this is turning into quite the battle between those Big Tech
billionaire CEOs and ordinary people that those billionaires are used
to treating like bugs to be swatted away. And increasingly it's
looking like politicians who find themselves on the billionaire side
of data center disputes may find their political careers seriously
affected and not in a good way.
A recent statement I saw sums this up quite nicely: QUOTE: "It's
cutting across all political, socioeconomic and cultural lines. These
data centers are being opposed in every community where they are
proposed, including communities which are heavily industrialized
already, which are rural agricultural, which are heavily Republican,
heavily Democrat, wealthy, poor, and everywhere in between."
That's from Marjorie Steele of the Michigan Economic Development
Responsibility Alliance. In fact, there's pushback even in places like
Virginia where there are more than -- get this -- 500 data centers
already and applications for building many more. Virginia apparently
has almost 35% of all the hyperscale (those really big) data centers
globally. But even there, residents are now pushing back on new
projects from Amazon and others.
Up until recently, politicians of both parties were able to claim that
data centers were GREAT for their communities -- mainly due to
increased tax revenues. But the real costs to communities have often
been swept under the rug. Massive electricity demand creating higher
rates for everyone in the areas. Enormous water demands for cooling
even in regions that already are short of water for their communities.
Noise and air pollution from massive gas power generators that in some
cases run 24/7, literally driving residents permanently from their
homes in what were once beautiful, unspoiled rural areas.
Big Tech often claims there will be lots of new jobs related to these
massive data centers. But while there can indeed be many jobs during
the construction phases of these facilities, once they're up and
running it usually only takes a handful of workers to keep them going.
Those other jobs just evaporate into thin air after construction is
finished.
Keep in mind that these Big Tech billionaires are DESPERATE to find
ways to make back their staggeringly large investments in AI systems,
AI which so far by and large most businesses and individuals have
found to be insipid and largely useless at best, and nothing they'd be
willing to routinely pay for. And the Big Tech billionaires and their
political sycophants will insist that we MUST have AI. That we MUST
build those data centers. That society CAN'T advance without a
continual DELUGE of Large Language Model Generative AI misinformation
and other AI SLOP.
That's all actually little more than pure propaganda. Very few people
outside the industry itself asked for this AI garbage. Somehow the
world has managed to survive and rapidly advance technologically
without this kind of AI. This category of AI was a logical development
in the normal course of tech evolution. But the current terrible
situation was NOT inevitable, absent the greed and sometimes seemingly
bizarre sci-fi mindsets behind much of the AI push.
The handwriting isn't only on the wall, it's written in giant letters
in bright fluorescent paint. Politicians of either party who continue
to ignore their constituents' anger over data centers ruining
communities, are increasingly going to find their own political
careers cut short by the voters, and when it comes to this, even the
Big Tech billionaires might not be able to save them.
- - -
L
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com (https://www.vortex.com/lauren)
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Mastodon: https://mastodon.laurenweinstein.org/@lauren
Signal: By request on need to know basis
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
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