6 ms·

Nothing this technology offers is, to me, worth the noise pollution or increase in water and electricity rates.

• toomuchtodo 4mo ago
  Not to mention the tax breaks they're given for no material benefit to the community. Future Illinois data center tax breaks on hold - https://www.illinoistimes.com/news/future-data-center-tax-breaks-on-hold/ https://www.illinoistimes.com/news/future-data-center-tax-br... - June 25th, 2026 State Data Center Policy Shifts as Governors Impose New Restrictions - https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/6/22/state-data-center-policy-shifts-as-governors-impose-new-restrictions https://www.multistate.us/insider/2026/6/22/state-data-cente... - June 22nd, 2026 Gov. JB Pritzker suspends tax breaks for data centers, urges more discussion - https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/gov-jb-pritzker-to-suspend-tax-breaks-for-data-centers-urging-more-discussion/ https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/gov-jb-pritzker-to-susp... - June 5th, 2026 Which States Are Banning Data Centers? - https://www.ncsl.org/fiscal/which-states-are-banning-data-centers https://www.ncsl.org/fiscal/which-states-are-banning-data-ce... - June 2nd, 2026 US tax incentives for data centers by state - https://knowledge.sdialliance.org/8d367baa340046029912b1e04cc89ec2 https://knowledge.sdialliance.org/8d367baa340046029912b1e04c... Tax Incentives for Data Centers 50 State Survey - https://hbfiles.blob.core.windows.net/webfiles/TaxIncentivesforDataCenters50StateSurvey.pdf https://hbfiles.blob.core.windows.net/webfiles/TaxIncentives... [pdf]
  • simianwords 4mo ago
    Again misleading. they bring back more in tax than the subsidies.
    • toomuchtodo 4mo ago
      Please provide citations to support this assertion.
• echelon 4mo ago
  [flagged]
  • toomuchtodo 4mo ago
    Enjoy it until the subsidies end and the economics catch up. You can afford it now with broad subsidies, but likely not the true cost. https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/06/24/ai-coding-agents-could-soon-cost-more-than-the-developers-using-them/5260864 https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/06/24/ai-coding-a... https://mimetiq.substack.com/p/the-tokenmaxxing-hangover https://mimetiq.substack.com/p/the-tokenmaxxing-hangover https://fortune.com/2026/05/28/tokenmaxxing-is-dead-companies-didnt-get-the-roi-from-ai-they-wanted-to-see/ https://fortune.com/2026/05/28/tokenmaxxing-is-dead-companie... https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-costs https://www.axios.com/2026/05/28/ai-spending-roi-enterprise-... https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/big-techs-27-trillion-ai-bill-comes-due-chart-of-the-day-100000100.html https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/article/big-techs-27-trill... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrJzjC4kKCY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrJzjC4kKCY
    • Ethee 4mo ago
      If you only ever want frontier model performance then sure, you have to pay to play. But as it is now with open models, some of which I can even run from my gaming PC at home, we're only about 6 months behind frontier performance. Even when the money starts drying up for those at the forefront, the genie is out of the bottle.
      • toomuchtodo 4mo ago
        And yet, the productivity increases with existing models are meh (ie not 0 but certainly not worth what is being spent) based on the data. Enjoy the tulips while they bloom. https://www.bok.or.kr/eng/bbs/B0000354/view.do?nttId=10098400&menuNo=400409&relate=Y&depth=400409&programType=newsDataEng https://www.bok.or.kr/eng/bbs/B0000354/view.do?nttId=1009840... https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/9/ai-intensifies-work/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Feb/9/ai-intensifies-work/ AI Doesn't Reduce Work–It Intensifies It - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46955703 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46955703 - February 2026 (306 comments) https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies-it https://hbr.org/2026/02/ai-doesnt-reduce-work-it-intensifies... AI Doesn't Reduce Work–It Intensifies It - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945755 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945755 - February 2026 (172 comments) AI-generated “workslop” is destroying productivity? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45337253 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45337253 - September 2025 (171 comments) Seven Myths about AI and Productivity: What the Evidence Really Says - https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2025/10/seven-myths-about-ai-and-productivity-what-the-evidence-really-says/ https://cmr.berkeley.edu/2025/10/seven-myths-about-ai-and-pr... - October 16th, 2025 ("Despite widespread enthusiasm for generative AI, empirical evidence reveals inconsistent productivity impacts contradicting popular assumptions. Based on recent meta-analyses and systematic reviews, we debunk seven pervasive myths about AI's workplace benefits. AI's productivity gains are highly context-dependent, varying significantly by user skill level and task complexity. Contrary to expectations, human-AI collaboration often underperforms either agent working independently, except in creative tasks. While AI can accelerate individual work, meta-analytic evidence finds no robust relationship between AI adoption and aggregate productivity gains. We call for research on context-specific organizational deployment strategies to capture genuine value.") The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025 - https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ai_report_2025.pdf https://www.artificialintelligence-news.com/wp-content/uploa... - July 2025 ("extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence")
• xvedejas 4mo ago
  In a working economy, an increase in demand for electricity would be met with an increase in investment and capacity, and (at least in the long-term) would benefit all electricity buyers. I'm sure there are market failures going on here in many places but it's not necessarily the case that you and the companies be on opposing sides. There are positive-sum solutions to a lot of these problems, if people are willing to consider them.
  • amanaplanacanal 4mo ago
    Don't all states have public utility commissions that regulate electricity provisioning? I don't know if the market has much to do with anything since it's all government regulation.
  • acdha 4mo ago
    The problem is that we don’t correctly price pollution: it’d be one thing if this boom meant acres of solar panels and wind turbines getting greenlit but in practice it means keeping some dirty plants online and building out new pollution capacity, sometimes completely illegally like what happened in Memphis. All of this would go away overnight if we taxed carbon.
    • xvedejas 4mo ago
      Isn't most new capacity solar these days?
      • collabs 4mo ago
        That we know of? Do you trust these tech bros to be truthful? > Just south of the Tennessee-Mississippi state line sits dozens of unpermitted gas turbines that power xAI’s Colossus 2 data center while releasing smog-forming pollution, soot, and hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde. The tech company set up the de facto power plant with no permits, no public input, and no notice to nearby communities that will have to deal with the consequences. https://www.selc.org/news/xai-built-an-illegal-power-plant-to-power-its-data-center/ https://www.selc.org/news/xai-built-an-illegal-power-plant-t...
• whalesalad 4mo ago
  Datacenters are needed regardless of whether or not AI -- "this technology" -- is what will be deployed there.
• jesse_dot_id 4mo ago
  Technology evolves and your opinion will evolve with it.
  • kibwen 4mo ago
    "The beatings will continue until opinions evolve."
  • pesus 4mo ago
    You're right, but that doesn't mean opinions will evolve towards viewing the technology more positively. With AI, it's increasingly the opposite.
    • jesse_dot_id 4mo ago
      It's already speeding up medical progress, so it'll probably take roughly however much time it takes for you to be personally affected by something that is currently incurable.
      • pesus 4mo ago
        Source? And I suppose that depends on whether I die first from not having access to healthcare after AI takes my job.
        • jesse_dot_id 4mo ago
          Mostly common sense and an understanding of how technology evolves but, but also: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.06.25329104v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.06.25329104v... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11326321/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11326321/ https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.24047 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.24047 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.24047 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.24047 And more just a Google search away.
          • pesus 4mo ago
• bamboozled 4mo ago
  Think of the corporate profit gains which won't benefit you at all bro. It's all about the value proposition.
• adamsb6 4mo ago
  I don’t think you’ve been near a data center if you think noise pollution is a problem.
• miiiiiike 4mo ago
  Data centers do more than AI. And you won’t defeat AI by killing data center proposals. The technology will succeed or fail on its own. We’ll find out in about 5 years. Remember how “everyone” said all trucks will be self-driving in 10 years… 15 years ago? There are something like 1200 data center proposals cross the US. How many of those will actually be built? How many are being proposed by speculators with no experience building or operating data centers? I have a feeling the number that will actually be built is significantly less that 1200.