The drop reflects growing concerns over infrastructure resource consumption.
Pretty clear evidence that often public opinion changes due mostly to changing fashions, not learning facts or changing conditions.
“The public has swung 49 points against data centers in just nine months, underscoring the heightened political salience of the facilities and the AI industry that they embody.”
Many users oppose AI data centers because they consume massive power and water, spike electricity rates, destroy farmland, and threaten jobs, prompting calls to stop construction and reject subsidies.
@dwallacewells What is interesting, is that this is not in any one political party, the drop in support is in both.
@dwallacewells The backlash makes sense. Between skyrocketing power bills, massive government subsidies that yield zero local jobs, privacy scares, and the AI-takeover narrative, all on top of crushing inflation. People are fed up.
https://heatmap.news/politics/americans-oppose-data-centers-poll
@dwallacewells @Noahpinion Would love to see stats broken down by age demographic here. Hypothesis being the younger you are, the more against it you are - and not bc of jobs - but bc of social media that is being completely manipulated by foreign actors who have an extreme incentive to push back America
@dwallacewells So weird how the public is rebelling against a technology that promises them
1) loss of jobs 2) destruction of their local environment 3) surveillance
Can't imagine why that billing was unpopular
@dwallacewells We will not let them roll over us to build the disemployment borg.
@SVcrazycatlady @dwallacewells Feeding hundreds of millions of people uses more water than cooling computers?
Is this really your argument?
I mean, really?
@cdbrzezinski @dwallacewells @Richard_Florida Golf courses use more water than data centers. Growing animal feed that we export to other countries uses more water than data centers. 0.3% of freshwater withdrawal is for data centers.
It is not a problem.
@jcoh11 @dwallacewells @Noahpinion This idea that everything comes down to social media manipulation is so lazy. The reasons for a data centre backlash are obvious.
@dwallacewells Good thing that "the public" doesn't have a god damn say in it.
@dwallacewells Michael Burry, of "The Big Short" fame, makes a strong case for the AI stocks being massively overpriced: investor mania, accounting shenanigans, etc.
But massive, rapidly-growing grassroots opposition to new data centers is yet another bearish factor.
https://youtu.be/OXt4Fe98SDk?si=YvT21YMI0zhwQM4u
@robinhanson Data centers seem to be the latest moral panic.
@dwallacewells Let's do animal agriculture too
@robinhanson People are self-interested, and many of them will do whatever it takes to stop others from making a profit without getting something in return. They will call this 'their fair share', which I don't think it is.
@dwallacewells Meh. The media pushed people into climate hysteria
Eventually, facts win out
@AndyMasley Causality is hard but the story seems clear.
@PepperChao @dwallacewells You didn't even mention the infrasound pollution.
It sounds zany, but people are literally getting sick from these data centres. I implore everyone to watch Benn Jordan's video on infrasound and data centres.
@dwallacewells @MeandBailey Why there is a rush
@dwallacewells AI mega-facilities devour city-scale power, spike electricity rates, guzzle billions of gallons of water, pave farmland & create constant noise/heat—for few jobs. Big Tech wins, locals lose. Reject subsidies. Limit new builds NOW.
@dwallacewells The data about our lives is more valuable than our actual lives. People are slowly waking up to the fact that tech-bros believe machines are more important than humans.
