Join the discussion
Write your take first — we'll ask for email only when you're ready to publish.
- Hacker News
- It's sad. For all the lamenting that the US is losing industrial capacity (or lost it long ago), we can't even handle some of the lightest industry possible. A big building that hums and releases slightly warm water, and the only sector in which we could still be called a world leader.
Instead of trying to find property tax arrangements that work to give municipalities a big payoff, and power supply arrangements that could be an opportunity to boost the green and nuclear sectors, we have political hobbyists jumping on a bandwagon of misinformation.
by woah - You are a voice a reason.by ransom1538
- > It's sad. For all the lamenting that the US is losing industrial capacity (or lost it long ago), we can't even handle some of the lightest industry possible. A big building that hums and releases slightly warm water, and the only sector in which we could still be called a world leader.
No. Data centers have very, very few positive externalities for the people who live around them. They employ very few people, use a lot of infrastructure and resource, to provide services for people far from the community.
And on top of that the technologies they enable are loudly marketed as things that could destroy us all, or at least take most of the well-paying jobs.
If they're so great to live by, build them in Atherton.
by palmotea - If only datacenter developers started with the tax and power arrangements we wouldn’t be where we are.
If only the LLM-peddlers didn’t slurp up all tech supplies using VC money leaving regular people scraping up a small fortune for a heavily used DDR3 1GB stick, we wouldn’t be where we are.
by gessha - A hum but 24x7 is devastating, and even a very little increase in water temperature can kill local fauna. Additionally you are occupying public space for a private profit.by thefz
- A building that makes no physical products and has barely any workers isn't the kind of industry we lament losing.
But I would say datacenters are fine if they're prevented from screwing up electricity prices and have proper pollution controls.
by Dylan16807 - All hours humming is absolute torture and anyone who dismisses it has lived a very privileged life. Low humming penetrates walls, goes through ear plugs, and can be felt by the body. It carries for miles. It's inescapable. It makes it impossible to focus. It ruins sleep and destroys health. If I were the CIA and I wanted to demoralize a population and also cause a violent uprising, I'd have low bass humming constantly howling in the background within earshot of residential areas.
Years ago, I lived in a town where low humming would start up in the early mornings and go for hours. It drove me insane with the back of my mind trying to figure out what was causing it while simultaneously trying to ignore it and failing. I moved far away but sometimes I hear a rumble that goes on a little too long and that sense of dread starts to creep back into my mind.
by kdheiwns - It may have been the AI CEOs bragging that they’re going to take everyone’s job away.
Maybe one day, Silicon Valley will learn that their insufferable arrogance is not a virtue for everyone outside of their bubble.
by BoggleOhYeah - You can see this as an American thing if you want... but you might look at the rest of the world to ask whether you're trying to convince the world to un-invent gunpowder.
If China gave superior paid offerings we might just start transferring all our data over to them instead. Anyways, have we considered building our compute infrastructure in China's backyard instead?
by threatofrain - Clearly hyperscalers are seeing datacenter commitment exceeding demand, and are now running PR campaigns to have the public push back against construction to get them out of their contracts.
Joking conspiracy theories aside, perhaps the over-commitment was part of the plan with the expectation that there will be rejections from government
by WhiteDawn - The most surprising thing to me about the data center backlash is how surprised a lot of people in tech are about it. The public tradeoffs seem pretty terrible from the perspective of folks who aren't spending all day enamored with agentic coding loops, aka normal Americans. There have been a number of utility related scandals, with residential power bills doubling as data centers go in and water being illegally taken for their use. In the online arena most people are exposed to AI as social media slop and dumb chatbot features being crammed into every piece of software they use.
Long term, the goal for this buildout is to drive millions of people out of their livelihood. But maybe a rogue AI will go nuts before then and become even more catastrophic.
So people are looking around, seeing their physical space being worsened in order to make their digital lives worse, with the possibility of much more misery to come. No kidding they aren't a fan.
It's interesting that the companies building these haven't even tried to smooth over the public relations until recently. I get it, this is all terribly exciting for VCs and a subset of techies, but their inability to even comprehend the objections shows what an extreme bubble they are in. The rest of the country gets a vote, and snidely dismissing everyone else as a knee jerk NIMBY, or Chinese shill, or illogical moron isn't going to convince anyone.
by rurp - > Long term, the goal for this buildout is to drive millions of people out of their livelihood.
Remember HN -- this applies to most of you, too
- Datacenters haven't been a huge problem until now -- it's 1) what they're being used for (AI that clearly benefits the largest companies and threatens to decimate jobs while providing little tangible benefits for the average person so far), and 2) the rate at which large companies desire for them to be built and the consequent demands on water and electricity at a time when these resources are already under considerable strain (not to mention that we're supposed to be _reducing_ energy production to mitigate the effects of climate change)
- I'm surprised they haven't tried painting them "Go Away Green", vs stark off-white monoliths.
https://themeparkarchitect.com/go-away-green-disneys-paint-c...
by Tempest1981 - I don't think that would work. Per your article:
> While many theme park fans may initially believe there is only one ‘magical’ go away green color that was developed by Imagineering, that couldn’t be further from the truth. There are a plethora of varying shades of green hues developed and utilized by Walt Disney Imagineers, and other theme park designers, depending on the theme park’s location and surrounding color palette.
There's no color that would make an building that takes minutes to pass at highway speeds "go away."
by palmotea - Coming from a third world country (emerging/developing for the sensitive souls) .. and having many friends from former Soviet countries, one thing we all seem to agree on is the sheer luxury rich countries have .. it’s like a cancer of prosperity .. where a society becomes so successful that it starts attacking the very things that created its success ..
- AI data centers aren't the source of America's prosperity. In fact many arguments can be made that they will contribute to its loss.by goda90
- We see the same thing in the UK and probably lots of countries. Data Centres are large, expensive and secretive so most people will have all kinds of theories about why they are to be resisted at all costs.
* Job attrition because "AI". * Blamed for high energy prices * A totem for high wealth individuals * A lot of building for not that many jobs * In small countries like the UK, some are a massive blot on the landscape compared to their surroundings
Oh, but at the same time, we want everything to be cheaper. But not with AI. Or Data Centres.
by lbriner - The rumor is going around on X that foreign enemies of the US (especially China) are trying to influence Americans through social networks against building data centers.by TimTheTinker
- There are plenty of reasons to be against datacenters and I see some people trying to say the possibility that it's foreign influence illegitimates the opposition.by rtkwe
- I don't think outside intervention is necessary.
When I see stories about how a hardware startup like SpinLaunch has had to move over and over because no matter where they go, locals flood the town hall meetings to declare their relatively boring technology is too scary, I'm not surprised town halls are being flooded over AI datacenters.
by mindcandy - I can't think of a faster way to permanently solidify someone's opinion than being told "you only have this opinion because an enemy foreign government told you to; get your opinions from your friendly local government instead."by Analemma_
- I’m extremely suspicious of this, but have no way to prove it or collect data related to it.
Even more, I’d really doubt that is a US interest to let the public know if such campaign is happening against non-US countries, so I don’t expect Meta, X or whatever to kindly inform me about that.
by Lucasoato - This wouldn't be the first time that homegrown dissent was characterized as foreign meddling. Red Scare is back in vogue.by boothby
- > The rumor is going around on X that foreign enemies of the US (especially China) are trying to influence Americans through social networks against building data centers.
X is owned by a guy who builds data centers.
Also I don't trust rumors that oh-so-conveniently support the interests of some very wealthy people doing unpopular things. Heuristics say it's probably propaganda planted by their PR operations, and they do not get the benefit of the doubt.
by palmotea - Billionaries like Kevin O'Leary and his ilk are behind those rumors because they want to discredit the local resistance. There's one activist in Utah, Caroline Gleich, has been exceptionally outspoken against O'Leary and he's said she's part of Chinese led resistance. It's pure insanity.by burnte
- SV has done enough to influence Americans to hate them without the help of foreign enemies.
- If there's one thing Americans can agree on, it's that we don't like building things.by Legend2440
- Why should we? Corporations steamroll the public, take their tax breaks and ask for more.by notyourwork
- I think it’s just a breakdown of trust in the government to weigh the interests of the builder and tenants of commercial / industrial properties against the local community. When it seems like government doesn’t have your back in negotiating and enforcing the details, people will fall back to a “default deny” stance to exert what control they have over the process.
I think we’re seeing this in a lot of aspects of society. Commercial interests have pushed aside all other stakeholders in the power structure and people are increasingly resorting to brute force methods to express their grievance. Replacing city council seats over single issues, cutting down Flock cameras, etc…
by pixelready