My Data Center Climb-Down

These are my views. If you don’t like them I have others.

I continue to maintain that the usual criticism of data centers lacks substance. It is, however, going gangbusters as politics. It’s nearly bipartisan. MAGAs are getting on board. Far be it from me to stand in the way of a political freight-train. Here are a few qualifications to my previous attack on the anti-data center frenzy.

I might first note a personal stake. There is currently a furor in my little corner of the world over purported plans to locate a data center or power lines nearby. The likelihood of a data center seems low, a new power line less so. Neither would directly affect me, though they could reduce my home equity, which I treasure.

In general I welcome local economic development. (We really need a decent Chinese restaurant.) Most other homeowners do not, out of mistaken belief it will reduce their property value. I would argue the contrary. Development brings in more commerce and people, which means more amenities and higher property value. The history of the county’s breakneck growth over the past twenty years, including becoming a national center for data centers, attests to this.

Opposition to development often has a racist tinge. It’s selfish. People here (not me) have huge houses on huge lots, if not mini-mansions, while many, especially in the eastern part of the county, are afflicted by onerous obstacles to desirable housing. I could also note another class struggle dimension: the centers provide well-paying, union jobs. So does building power lines.

On Facebook, I fight with yokels who tell me to ‘do your research’ without citing any research. Their idea of ‘research’ is to Google until they find something that looks like what they already agree with, without reading it, naturally. One lady told me she didn’t care about research unless it would help her win a court case. Others told me maybe I should consider relocating, going back to Maryland. When I drop a post in a FB group that contradicts the majority opinion in a thread, it is removed. Chuck you, Farley. There’s a lot to be said for being a recluse.

I actually did a cupful of research on this, looking for sources that contradicted my priors. I found nothing. My wife sent me a couple of things, but they were weak and inconclusive.

I can sympathize enough with those who sank their wealth into property in pristine areas, who do not look forward to their sight-lines being besmirched by power lines. If we ever moved, a key factor in my choice of locations is what I see if I look out the window.

I’m aware that power lines are suspected of being health risks, but I don’t believe that. To me it’s like chemtrails. In any case, the sponsors of any new structure or facility that detracts from somebody’s stake in real estate should be required, at minimum, to pay compensation.

I’ve also read that proximity to a data center that runs diesel generators 24-7 can render a home unlivable. I imagine that could be addressed by regulation, but it requires a state or local government to act effectively and pre-emptively. There is no guarantee of that.

Another concern is data center impacts on water supply and utility rates. There again there should be regulation and compensation, with the same reservations noted above. State and local governments have not proven themselves adept at utility regulation.

Data centers fuel the spread of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which could prove to be a financial windfall, like the Internet, or a huge, bursting, destructive financial bubble. In the immediate term, there is little doubt that AI dough corrupts our politics and promotes the fossil fuel industry, which certainly does not add to the appeal of data centers. So too the crypto con-men.

AI is part of the infernal holy quartet that is propping up Trump and contributing to the destruction of Humanity. That trinity consists of AI, Zionism, the crypto bros, and the Arab oil sheiks. Russia is not helping either.

At the end of the day, to get a fix on families’ financial conditions, the contribution of the data centers or power lines in property tax revenue should be compared to their impacts on utility and water rates. This the critics never do, which bugs me. The incoming tax revenue clearly makes possible better public services, and better-paid public employees.

At bottom, the anti-data center furor smacks of anti-tax sentiment, which is the bane of contemporary civilization. We have a skinny public sector, calling to mind John Kenneth Galbraith’s characterization of the U.S. as beset by “private affluence and public squalor.” Since he said that, in the 1950s, there has been a lot more affluence, but also a lot more squalor. These days folks are afraid to drink their own tap water, or surrender their kids to the public schools.