alt Hacker NewsBecause they’re loud?
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuq/comments/1t7293k/t...
Or could pollute the entire town’s water supply?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/08/us-datacente...
Or air?
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pollution-musks-unper...
We’re going to pretend that these are the same concerns as an HOA squabble about wrong roofs? I like AI as a useful tool worth investing in but let’s not be dismissive about what people are actually mad about, because this dismissive attitude is exactly why SV finds itself where it is.
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How many people have actually experienced a super loud data center, or a data center that's polluting their water supply, or polluting their air? To me the opposition seems to be 99% from people who are just talking about this because it's part of the zeitgeist right now.
Even the story you linked about the water supply, it was wastewater not drinking water. I'm not saying that it's good or even okay for wastewater to have bacteria in it. But if people en masse are against data centers because they "could pollute the entire town’s water supply," based on a singular case of one data center's wastewater having some bacteria, that gives me pause. This seems more like a trendy issue than a practical one for most people.
I think we are on the same side. I’m saying people get angry about little things, no wonder they would get angry about even more serious issues.