The Opening Argument of The Atlantic’s November issue is about the quickly growing resistance against data center construction.
More than 500 jurisdictions have passed moratoriums or bans. This grassroots movement rose so fast and spread so widely that politicians in both parties, including Iowa’s candidates for governor and senator, are struggling to catch up with their constituents. The meteoric emergence of the data-center rebellion is a response to the speed and scale of construction, which in turn reflect the sudden ubiquity of generative and agentic AI.
[…]
By pushing so hard and promising so much, tech companies, venture capitalists, and their political allies ensured that AI would create a firestorm.
The Great Data-Center Rebellion, by George Packer.
Can those firmly inside a tech bubble and living away from the affected communities really understand the concerns?