I said I'd destroy humanity and take their jobs, and I wonder why they don't like me

Ben Thompson: Data Center Discontent, Understanding the Opposition, Fixing the Problem

The point of starting with the misinformation point, however, is not to legislate it: there are plenty of folks doing just that, on both sides. Rather, it’s to note that (1) misinformation takes root in the minds of people who are receptive to it and seeking confirmation for what they already want to believe, and therefore (2) trying to solve the misinformation problem through education — or simply calling people stupid — is likely not going to work.

This leads to the second issue: there really wasn’t widespread opposition to data centers when they were being built for the Internet generally; indeed, local governments would compete for them, eager for the economic benefits that came during their construction and the long-term tax benefits once they were operational.

Ben Thompson makes a bunch of points in this piece I thought were worth reiterating here.

First, and this one is close to my heart, I'm constantly amazed how many people think, "you're a fucking idiot" is a compelling argument to change someone else's mind. "Oh man, you weren't able to change their mind? What did you say?" "Well, you know, I called them a fucking idiot and they didn't change their mind, they actually seemed to dig in even harder. I don't know why."

Second, as I wrote in my recent members' post, people don't view tech companies with as much optimism as they did 10+ years ago. It used to be when a big tech company wanted to build a new data center, communities would rally to get them to build it in their town. The economics and environmental impacts haven't changed that much, but the vibe has shifted quite a bit. Tech companies need to learn this.

Third, and related, AI CEOs need to learn how to talk to humans. They'll go, "worst case we're about to destroy the human race, best case we're going to take away all your jobs," and then wonder why people aren't excited. For what it's worth, I don't think they're doing either, but they're in such a bubble that they think this shit lands with people. It lands with their VC friends, after all!

Fourth, it's worth grappling with the fact that while most people say they don't want data centers in their back yards, they are still using these AI tools…a lot. As of today, the top 3 apps on the US iOS App Store are ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. There's a clear anger here at some AI and a clear draw to it as well. Anyone who thinks "nobody wants this" is lying, just as is someone who says, "our data shows more and more people love everything AI".

Fifth, and this is something I've shifted on over the course of my adult life, it is indeed a travesty that we (in the US especially) gave up on nuclear power. Absolutely, there were incidents that were very bad that should never happen again, although the amount of damage to humanity that coal has done in my lifetime is exponentially more disastrous. I love to see the rapid rise in clean energy sources like solar and wind, but I think the world would clearly be in a much better place if we had robust nuclear energy generation instead of coal over the past four decades. This 2021 study puts the yearly death toll from fossil fuels in the millions.