beginning of the end of the American empire. Building data centres can only be good.

spankalee 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

"can only be good" - you can't imagine ways in which they at least could be bad?

snaking0776 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Depends on who you’re talking about. How does the cost benefit analysis work out for someone while lives within a mile of a datacenter, owns no shares in the company, and pays rate fees for their utilities and will have to pay for maintenance for the increased load capacity as well as higher spot prices? If you view America as a cohesive unit I’d agree with you, but I don’t think these people are necessarily acting irrationally if you view their personal circumstance. It’s up to the building company to sweeten the deal and provide an incentive for the locals to add it. Based on the contracts I’ve read from many of these datacenters it seems more like they’re buying the pockets of corrupt politicians and developers in areas with high political inequality while conferring very little benefit to the people who deal with the externalized cost.

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Peanuts99 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I take it that you'll be pleased when a data center is proposed to be built behind your house then yes?

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sophacles 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I remember when building more fiber could only be good. An awful lot of it sits in the ground lost, never used because it was the wrong type or in the wrong spots, or otherwise pointless waste.

Further, electicity price hikes seems like a bad prospect when inflation is already rampant. If you want a datacenter, offer your house for the space instead.

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otterley 5 hours ago | parent [-]

We can generate more electricity, but NIMBY types don't want to approve projects that would add capacity, either.

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sophacles 5 hours ago | parent [-]

It's always fun to watch AI zombies wrestle with the idea that sometimes the real humans have different priorities than they do. Usually people are against a lot of those power projects because those very same projects also seem to always raise rates and never deliver the promises of long-term lower rates.

	▲	otterley 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Success doesn’t always look like lower rates, particularly when demand is ever-growing (even when there aren’t new data centers). Success looks like rates not going up faster than inflation, and reliable delivery. I remember well the rolling blackouts in CA in the late 1990s and that sucked. Even the ones in Texas weren’t that long ago. Also, calling well-intended people with whom you disagree “zombies” is inappropriate. Take it elsewhere.

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myko 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

beginning? the end of empire became obvious with the election of trump, but probably started with missteps in the 80s

	▲	singingtoday 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Incipient better? Or are we in progress?

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waterTanuki 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Good for the construction companies, the billion dollar corporations, and the whole 4 people needed to run each one.

Not once instance of these datacenters has proven to be beneficial for the communities and economies they're located in.