Max Mustermann on Nostr: The comparison of the anti-data center movement to the anti-nuclear movement is apt ...

The comparison of the anti-data center movement to the anti-nuclear movement is apt because all of the arguments are identical (save for the job loss argument which is the only one I'm sympathetic to).

Data centers are "eyesores"? Waaaaah waaaaah. So are factories and hydrofracking rigs. But guess what? They have to be built SOMEWHERE. When I was a kid, I lived not too far from a Bristol Myers Squibb plant that stunk up everything within a block. But that facility manufactured penicillin, which is kind of important. It's since been sold to a South Korean conglomerate that will probably end up closing it down at some point. Goodbye jobs.

Data centers make wastewater? Wastewater can be purified and recycled. I worked in the North Dakota oil fields during the early 2010s fracking boom and we had to adhere to strict federal environmental regulations. Fracking rigs were built to minimize contamination of the surrounding environment and during one work detail where I was digging a ditch, I had to wear a hazmat suit. The environmental disaster that libtards predicted fracking would cause never materialized.

Data centers take arable land? So make them build on land that is otherwise useless. Put them in out of the way areas that will minimize noise pollution. Zoning laws exist for this purpose. Use them.

We're seeing an exact replay of the hydrofracking debate where the Saudis heavily funded anti-fracking groups as a way of preventing America from becoming energy independent and dependent on THEIR oil. This kind of chicanery goes on constantly. Biden killed the Keystone pipeline at the behest of Warren Buffett, who owns BNSF Railway and thus profits from having oil shipped on his trains as opposed to a pipeline. When I was working in the oil patch in 2012, every company put in a hiring freeze in the leadup to the election because of the very real fear that Obama would be reelected and ban fracking nationwide (which, to his credit, he did not do).

Don't think for a second the Chinese aren't funding the anti-data center movement. The Chinese don't give a shit about the environment or the needs of "local communities." They'll raze entire villages to put up data centers and send the residents to live in Beijing commie-block flats. Everyone who wants to dismiss AI as just being used to "make videos" is forgetting that the military used Claude to plan the operation in Venezuela last month. AI is also key to remigration via tools like Palantir because it enables ICE to rapidly bag and tag illegals.

Also, you're delusional if you think that stopping data centers will lead to some pastoral trad revival. The same Democrats whining about data centers are allowing Big Solar to wipe out entire towns with useless solar farms. This is going on in upstate New York (I recommend following Alex Fasulo's work, she's been on the frontlines fighting this). Solar farms actually ARE worthless. They consume entire acres of arable land for a pittance in terms of energy production and would not exist were it not for libtard governments heavily subsidizing them. At least a data center will help mass deportations.

Yes, Sam Altman is an evil little autistic prick. Doesn't matter. The AI revolution is here and there's no stopping it; all you're proposing is that we kneecap ourselves after the starting gun has been fired. I've already proposed solutions that would mitigate the negative effects of data centers and allow communities to benefit. Sovereign wealth funds. Restructured billing laws so ordinary people don't see their utility costs skyrocket. An American-only hiring policy. You're trying to hold back a tsunami with your hands, which only benefits the Chinese as they go full speed ahead.