The Horrifying Truth About Data Centers Nobody Is Talking About

[bucolic_frolic]

Nearly 3,000 new data centers are under construction or planned across the United States, and most Americans have no idea what these things actually are or what they are being built to do.

In this clip, I break down the explosive growth of AI data centers across the country, including the largest one ever proposed: 62 square miles in rural Utah, fast-tracked by the state government with the public completely locked out of the decision. This is not about faster internet. This is about building the physical infrastructure of a surveillance state.

We cover the noise pollution -- what it actually sounds like to live half a mile from one of these things at 1 in the morning. The light pollution bathing rural Texas towns in a 24-hour industrial glow. The heat islands raising local temperatures by nearly 4 degrees. The water usage -- one Google facility in Ohio alone pulling 387,000 gallons per day, full of forever chemicals when it comes back out. And the electricity bills in states like Georgia, where residents are paying up to $267 more per year just to power these things while the data centers themselves get a discount.

These are not side effects. They are symptoms. The infrastructure for a digital prison is being built all around us, funded by our own tax dollars, poisoning our water, and driving up our cost of living — while the people pushing it tell us they're worried about the environment.

[Norrrm]

1. 1+

[highplainsdem]

13. The YouTuber is a RWNJ conspiracy theorist and Mike Flynn ally. See reply 5. There are better videos

from sane sources about the harm done by data centers.

[Norrrm]

19. Thanks

[SheltieLover]

22. Ty for sharing!

[BeneteauBum]

2. From what I've read

The people pushing these centers deny environmental degradation is occurring…..

Peace ☮️

[littlemissmartypants]

3. This guy is a trumphumper. Documented fact.

Look him up. You couldn't pay me to listen to him.

[highplainsdem]

6. Yep. See reply 5, which I started on before you posted.

[popsdenver]

4. YUP

WASF........It get's progressively worse every single day.............The Corporations are literally running every aspect of America.....

In the future, I see the Republicans, with Trump as their front man, changing the title: United States of America, to:

THE UNITED CORPORATIONS OF AMERICA........

They are already in control, just formally need to change the name....

[highplainsdem]

5. The guy who has that channel is a rightwing nut job. He was part of the Reawaken America tour with Mike Flynn,

as you'll see if you look at his Man In America channel and find the

Seth's Speech at the ReAwaken America Tour in Colorado Springs, CO

video uploaded on October 4, 2021.

Wikipedia on the Reawaken America tour:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReAwaken_America_Tour

The ReAwaken America Tour is an American far-right[1][2] and Christian nationalist[3] movement launched in 2021 by Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark and former Donald Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn. Its rallies have promoted a variety of conspiracy theories, including COVID-19 misinformation, election denialism, QAnon, and doomsday prophecies.[4][5][6]

There are a lot of people on the right who hate data centers for good reason.

But some are nutjobs. Look at this RWNJ's recent videos:

https://youtube.com/@ManInAmerica/videos

Please delete your OP. That will wipe out all the infortunate recs from other people who didn't check out this guy's channel and find out he's a RWNJ.

[SheltieLover]

23. Tyvm!

[calimary]

7. Oh Dear God...

Hell, I’ve already pretty much lived my life. I’m in my 70s, and I’m a grandma by now. I’m WAY closer to the end than to the beginning.

But for our kids, and THEIR kids, and on from there? Where do humans go, from there? DO humans go on, from there? OMG. Will there even BE any life worth living, for THEM???

[slightlv]

9. Cali, part of my depression is intuiting what the future

for my grandson and great grandson is going to look like. Unless people really wake up and revolt against these tech bros and other multi-millionaires, there isn't going to be a world for our progeny to live in... at least, not a decent life. Whoever said above "United States of Corporations" is absolutely correct. The corporations will be the only ones for whom this country will exist; the rest of us will be long gone, or on our way out as endangered species, IMO.

I fight now for my great-niece. The world she's going to go grow up in is already smaller and more constrained than what I had at her tender age, and I still had to fight for everything I tried to do or acquire. Her life is already so diminished... just by being born female.

[rampartd]

25. the sheer volume of data, and its density

why do they need this much data??????

[Martin Eden]

8. Bookmarked for later. n/t

[highplainsdem]

10. See reply 5. The guy who did the video is a RWNJ ally of Mike Flynn and a conspiracy theorist. There are

better sources for arguments against data centers.

[Martin Eden]

14. Thanks

I will seek information from a different source.

[Matthew28]

11. Well,

Every time you use the internet or a.i to find questions you use resources from datacenters. Doesn't mean that they should be destroying the environment and shouldn't be held accountable for pollution but it also means that you're using the resources that they provide.

If you use more resources = the need to build more of them.

We do need to clean up the dirty water and find better ways to power such but it is what it is.

[orthoclad]

15. Internet does not equal surveillance center

We DO NOT need to use these massive resources. As of only 2 or 3 years ago we did not. This is all hype on the part of the technogarchs to make us feel we need them and their spyware.

[niyad]

17. Could you please explain to me how a data center that NOBODY

in our city wants or has asked for, that will use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water regularly that we do not have, since we live in a desert that is in extreme drought, with reservoirs 60% down, rivers dangerously low, and we are already under watering restrictions, just "is what it is"? Seriously, please explain to me, and the residents of my city, how this will benefit anyone but the shareholders, and the bribetakers, since we have been getting along without them just fine.

And perhaps you could explain to us the benefits of locating so many of these water hogs in the desert areas?

[orthoclad]

12. YES, YES, and YES

Pollution. Surveillance. Physical degradation of water and power infrastructure. Big Brother was just a distant cousin to how thoroughly the corporate-government surveillance state owns our lives using these surveillance centers and AI.

But those of us who are "amateur artists" get to knock out cutesy AI cartoons in seconds! Now THAT is progress!

edit to add: life is too short for googletube, I rarely waste time on video, so I did not watch the tubo. I missed the RWNJ part. But the OP text is spot-on. These things are the greatest threat we face today.

[highplainsdem]

16. GenAI and data centers are harmful. But that video is from a RWNJ & conspiracy theorist connected to

Mike Flynn. See reply 5. There are good sources of info on data centers from people who aren't right wing nut jobs.

[orthoclad]

18. Yes, I replied to the OP text,

I ignore googletube. See my edit. Thanks for pointing this out.

[highplainsdem]

20. I watched just a bit of the video myself before checking out his other videos & realizing he's not trustworthy.

Even if this particular video isn't as crazy as some other stuff he posts, I hate to see DU treat him as someone whose videos are worth watching.

[highplainsdem]

21. PLEASE DON'T REC THAT YOUTUBE CONSPIRACY THEORIST. See reply 5.

[cliffside]

24. Thanks and one can unrec their prior rec. :) nt

[no_hypocrisy]

26. What can't be easily discounted is the theft of water.

One: AI centers need huge amounts of water. Otherwise, the circuits overheat.

Two: The water used at AI centers can't be recycled for consumption.

Three: Let's face it. There's a limited amount of water in the aquifers. They will sporadically, then more, run dry. Then homeowners, businesses, . . . . . and AI will have nothing. (I suppose the used AI water could be used for fracking . . . . . )