- reverse pyromania
- Posts
- AI - no upside for regular people, lots and lots of downside = political opposition
AI - no upside for regular people, lots and lots of downside = political opposition
Kay W.
August 28, 2025
The facilities working behind the scene to fuel the AI revolution are bulky, noisy, and hog resources like electricity at a staggering scale. Data centers have been blamed for placing a huge burden on local electrical grids and water tables that were only designed for small-town homes, not state-of-the-art industrial facilities.
That being the case, it's no surprise that local opposition to data centers is growing rapidly in rural areas of states like Indiana, Virginia, Missouri, and Illinois, where AI developers are flocking to lock down cheap land and generous tax breaks. And as local organizers successfully repel the monstrous sites, their battleplans are being chronicled and shared with other activists engaged in the fight.
I see more and more of this opposition on Tik Tok - real anguish over what data centers are doing to communities. I feel as if it will be an issue in liberal and Left politics going forward, because people see absolutely no upside to AI and they are experiencing real harm from it right now.
My middle son is a commercial electrician - high voltage - and he has been talking about these behemoths rising all over the US for the last couple of years. He says they use a massive amount of power and water. There were so many other horrible things happening I didn’t ask questions, but this seems to have reached a head with the people affected.
Reply