> If you are asking “Why should I support AI efforts at all?” I believe we are in the midst of a transition more vibrant than the industrial revolution. Opinions formed a couple of years ago about the uselessness of AI are no longer valid. Millions of people and organizations are getting great returns from using it, and the demand for data centers is the market responding to the value signal. That is how progress is made!

Seems like a sort of shallow argument. The industrial revolution also had these same sorts of problems. Few are going to be enthused about living next to a dirty coal power plant either.

It's rational for people push back against projects that create problems for them, with no compensating upside.

> It's rational for people push back against projects that create problems for them, with no compensating upside.

This in itself is a shallow argument. While it is rational in isolation for a given static mindset, it's not rational for anyone who looks at society, and the economy as a larger dynamic system that they have. multiple points of access to. I assume that is basis for the argument John is making. I've read his biography and ofcourse seen his work, so I'm pretty sure this is not a guy who has ever had a static relationship with the world!