New York data center pause: manton.org
@manton totally, often when we pause things (in many areas) it is simply put on hold until it can resume as originally intended. I do hope a pause leads to a review of how to move forward better and much more sustainably. Also - very Mercury retrograde energy✨
@manton Many areas have privatized public utilities, and now we have no idea how to grapple with the challenges of data centers, let alone in the context of rapid climate change. I’m guessing we’ll need those to be public at some point, unless their owners can learn to be good citizens. Of course, needing to do something and actually doing it are two different things. We’ll prolly get to enjoy a lot of social strife first.
@markstoneman Yeah, we have a weird mix here in Texas of private and city-owned. More rural, we also sometimes have cooperatives which I think is a good way to go.
@manton We absolutely do not have to build those data centers. Maybe we should, maybe we shouldn’t, but we don’t have to. We could live without them. The world’s biggest and most predatory corporations, like the world’s most predatory politicians, always say “We have no choice.” But the first step towards making the right decisions is realizing that we can choose.
@ayjay That’s true. Maybe I could’ve better phrased that part… To make the rest of the point, I was assuming “have to build”, but much of the country currently disagrees with me on that.
We do not need to keep pushing data centers.
> “to invest in something good.”
I do not see nor understand the good that others place in it.
the plagiarism that AI is built on, the wholesale vacuuming up of both people’s personal data and commercial copyright, the environmental impact, further consumer economic disadvantaging of the poor (chip prices surge), hollowing of job markets, and the reshaping of “fake” vs “real” are all arguably far worse than any purported benefits I’ve seen proffered.
At a very practical level it has eroded social fabric, creative markets, and reading/writing of text, the very idea of privacy. This will not change at it matures.
It may not be stoppable given the financial incentives, but legislation (and judiciary) remain one of the few leashes society has on this sort of utilitarian futuro-capitalism.
@manton Data centers use massive community resources, but contribute few jobs back to the economy. Traditional economic development is about jobs creation, but data centers don’t create many permanent jobs after construction. The economics don’t work out.
> Google announced a massive solar farm project in Arkansas … The project will also use steel manufactured in Arkansas, so it has local benefits beyond energy.
Google’s investment in solar and steel in Arkansas is a way to rebalance the equation. Good corporate partners don’t strip mine their community partners.