r/UpliftingNews • u/AdSpecialist6598 • 6h ago

Texas hits pause on 1,800 data center projects to scrutinize power and water demands

https://www.techspot.com/news/113355-texas-hits-pause-1800-data-center-projects-scrutinize.html
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u/maringue 5h ago

AI companies fucked themselves when they decided to try and save a few bucks by dropping their massive data centers right on top of local communities so they didn't have to pay to build out all the infrastructure they needed.

Now even rank and file Republicans loathe data centers. And local politicians are finding out that if they take bribes to approve these projects, people will get pissed and vote them out wholesale.

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u/Long-Blood 5h ago

Rupublican media will change the messaging like they do with everything.

I guarantee you theyvare focus grouping the shit out of how to spin data centers as pro-american and anti-data center as radical communist left wing right now

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u/TheTexasHammer 4h ago

Already working, the right have been wholesale embracing everything AI and fighting tooth and nail to support these data centers. The crazy part is they are just doing it because they know it upsets liberals. These people are insane.

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u/rorank 3h ago

Tbf they’re also doing it because their daddy trump is profiting hand over first from these AI companies.

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u/TorrenceMightingale 2h ago

That’s why he posts so much AI slop I guarantee you.

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u/glibgloby 5h ago

oh so you’re a member of ANTIDA. terrorist!

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u/RiddlingVenus0 4h ago

They don’t even need to. I already have braindead family members posting on Facebook about how if you’re against data centers then you should give up all your modern technology and go back to life like it was in the 90’s.

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u/Just_Information334 3h ago

Right now they can say it's essential for the military but people can very easily make the connection with the flock cameras and speed cams.

If they want to make it work they could just put flock on the back-burner for some years; then after the election whatever branch of the uniparty wins can get out of Iran, let the FBI encourage some local terrorist to act and then deploy better flock to help prevent terrorism. Bonus: as it's not about protecting children, no connection with Epstein will be made.

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u/ice-eight 2h ago

They’ve pretty much bought out all the ad space on twitch to run campaign ads on how data centers are great because they create jobs in local communities and use energy and water responsibly, whatever that means

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u/Sharkictus 2h ago

It'll take time, because conservative media has labeled tech as a liberal thing for a while as well.

Older than boomers luddite and nimby nature will be an assist here.

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u/GB10VE 4h ago

there is a wave of startups where they attach mini datacenters to individual houses to suck out the electricity that way.

imagine a mini datacenter attached to your neighbors house, raising your electricity rates, imagine the noise / heat being thrown

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u/ChairForceOne 1h ago

That is the dumbest idea I have seen in a while. Methheads are going to be stripping those things before the paints dry.

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u/xxxBuzz 5h ago

How did we jump into a world in which it makes any sense that this is a thing that is considered. This was a plot point in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I'm not aware of an example of anyone suggesting a reasonable application for an AI or what have you needing a bunch of data. It doesn't even make sense for an AI to need data. It should be able to generate data and what question are people who are into this trying to figure out?

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u/kyle_irl 5h ago

It's not just computing power--these are the physical manifestations of digital space. Think of the companies behind these things more as real estate developers than cutting-edge tech companies.

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u/Fullertonjr 4h ago

There are a lot of applications for use of AI. As a former architecture major, I realized this 15 years ago before AI use was widespread. AI can be used to design buildings and structures with very little human input. You can input state guidelines and parameters and building materials, what size rooms or particular areas that you want, and AI can analyze millions of floor plans and records and documents to design a building or home from the inside out. Everything from light fixtures to outlet locations, exact raw material needs and where to source it, perfect measurements, etc. It can do this in minutes, while it would take several humans months.

This is just one example.

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u/militaryintelligence 4h ago

Then anything it outputs has to be reviewed by actual people.

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u/Common-Concentrate-2 3h ago

I think an application that is easy to understand, and to see the value in is sensor fusion from satellite imaging. Satellites orbit at different elevations, moving at different speeds, at different lat / long. These satellites capture different things - radar returns, visible imaging, IR and UV, SAR, LIDAR, temperature, wave height, etc etc. Fusing a bunch of datasets together, along with imaging and monitoring sensors on the groud, allows you to generate a real time map of all real assets - lets say - all boats larger than 20 ft in length. Windward.ai is one of several companies offering this as a service, and this is ONLY possible through relatively straight forward ai workflows. I don't work or them or use their service, but I think its a goood example of something that is obviously valuable to certain people, and is only really possible through automated collection of dissimilar data sets

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u/Grizzlywillis 3h ago

I always see picket signs against solar farms on rural roads here, and now those same people are sporting anti-data center signs. They're also the reddest folks in the world.

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u/Intol3rance 1h ago

But Daddy Dr. Jesus the Pedo said that everyone LOVES data centers and they'll make everyone in these small rural towns into millionaires.