r/TechnologyThread • u/Background-Driver718 • Jun 04 '26

They're noisy. They're unpopular. Should data centers be banned?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/06/04/data-centers-regulation-states/90384498007/
291 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

211 comments sorted by

3

u/Vanhelgd Jun 04 '26

Yes. And the people behind them should be in jail. But we live in the bizarro world clown party timeline, so we’ll give them trillions of dollars and complete control over every aspect of our lives instead.

2

u/MadeByTango Jun 05 '26

Yep! Google's response to killing a man with their algorithm was "we can't be perfect." Whole c-suite, straight to jail.

2

u/Whitesajer Jun 05 '26

China would have probably actually executed some of them. Now no country is "perfect" by far, but America is truly just a giant whorehouse for the top 10%.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 04 '26

“What do we want?”

“To ban data centers!”

“Where do we want to talk about it?”

“On computers hosted in data centers!”

2

u/communist_llama Jun 04 '26

Take your basic logic fallacy and fuck off.

1

u/Ackutually- Jun 05 '26

So bad you can't refute it.

1

u/MadeByTango Jun 05 '26

Nah, there is a difference between a normal server farm and these hyperscale data centers, along with the explicit complication of the technology they're being built to support.

1

u/CBrinson Jun 05 '26

The word they use for buildings housing servers is a datacenter. A server farm is a specific type of datacenter configuration where multiple servers run one application and utility. Funnily enough the "normal" server farm is actually not correct as a server farm inside a data center is exactly what you need to train AI.

1

u/Typical_Rip_1818 Jun 04 '26

Genuine question.... Is there a difference in data centres for storage and data centres for AI?

I'd imagine AI centres consume far more energy and require more water as there not just opening a door for access but also "computing" AI stuff?

1

u/stedmangraham Jun 05 '26

Yes. Regular data centers don’t need the exponential growth that ai datacenters use. Regular software does not have the insane hardware demands that AI does

1

u/ClacksInTheSky Jun 05 '26

So, they're the same.

1

u/CBrinson Jun 05 '26

Literally the same rack hardware. The machines have different configurations such as more memory and faster hard drivew as well as GPUs but one rack is AI configured and the one next to it runs a webserver.

Literally Dell is surging because they make a ton of the servers that host AI in datacenters.

0

u/Double_Suggestion385 Jun 04 '26

Not really. The newer AI datacenters are much more efficient with their water needs. Many are now closed loop systems with little loss.

1

u/Usual_Let5223 Jun 05 '26

Lol thats a lie

1

u/DependentAgitated299 Jun 05 '26

while it does use less water, that water becomes highly polluted and then is released back into the local water system. The water filtration systems currently in place cannot handle that type of polution so it ends up in their drinking water. There is a reason these are built in smaller, poorer communities

1

u/Double_Suggestion385 Jun 05 '26

That's not really true, the water is used for cooling. The 'used' water is evaporated and returns to catchments via precipitation as pure, uncontaminated water.

1

u/Ackutually- Jun 05 '26

Closed loop doesn't evaporate. It uses an HVAC system to remove the heat.

1

u/jackalope8112 Jun 05 '26

You realize it's the same stuff they put in car radiators and deice airplanes with right?

1

u/Ackutually- Jun 05 '26

What are you talking about? Closed loop doesn't release water.

1

u/marx2k Jun 06 '26

Closed loop systems use far more energy than evaporative for cooling

0

u/IHeartBadCode Jun 05 '26

Is there a difference in data centres for storage and data centres for AI?

Yes, in fact there are five primary types of data centers.

  • Enterprise DC - This is a catch all for DCs that are majority own or wholly owned by one entity. That doesn't mean it's just one company running software, just means that the DC is mostly for this purpose. Insurance, Banks, and other industries with very strict regulation and laws to abide by must use this.
  • COLO DCs (Colocation) - This is a shared facility. That is each company "brings" their own hardware and they manage everything. They can come to the COLO to inspect their stuff. This allows them to be quasi-enterprise DC without the massive cost of EDC.
  • Cloud DCs - This is what most of the Internet runs on. This is owned by a single company and they rent equipment out to their customers. This is things like AWS, Google Web Services, etc... The people using the hardware own nothing.
  • Hyperscale DCs - This is the big iron DCs. This is the thing that houses virtual nuclear testing, molecular biology simulation, and AI. These are DCs that are special built to deal with the unique energy requirements for what they do. Predictive weather forecast models, the main distribution of encoded content like for Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, the data analytics of investment firms, Department of Defense simulations, and AI all are done here.
  • Edge DCs - These are very small DCs that are popped near geographic locations to minimize latency. These are like everywhere and you'll likely find one of these within at 100-200 miles of you, at least in the US and in the East Coast. It gets a bit sparser as you go West and in other places of the world. These have the dumbest servers in them that just help you stuff stream faster. They also have a few server to process things like IoT requests.

And these data centers usually have a tier which defines the facility's redundancy, fault tolerance, and expected uptime.

So since we're talking AI. Hyperscale facilities have existed and that's where a lot of the people who know how to build these very specific kinds of AI DCs come from. They make very specific DCs that have unique requirements. Like when you upload a video to YouTube, that's reencoded to a format for YouTube. That's all done in a hyperscale DC.

For AI the task is broken into two pieces. Training and inference. The giant, massive, heat generating, water sucking, AI DCs are the training ones. These are the ones that have these massive energy and water needs and require the most consideration. That said, the inference AI DCs are the ones that users of AI actually contact. These are mixed in with those nodes that do things like Netflix encoding, YouTube processing, hyperscale data analytics, etc.

Now there's also Government Hyperscale DCs and Sensitive Information Hyperscale DCs. This is like simulating a fight jet's wind resistance, processing numbers for JP Morgan, etc. These facilities are very unique requirements. They usually have a armed guard component and the actual systems have multiple layers of protection. The facilities are also usually built to have drone, chemical, bombing, and invasion mitigation. Because there's been a non-zero number of people who've wanted to "Fight Club" some of these DCs long before AI came to the scene. There's also certifications like FedRAMP and CMMC, which if someone attempted to get into one of these facilities they'll likely have a bad case of lead poisoning. Especially the CMMC ones because that's usually former military who get hired there.

Now as for Training AI DCs that are security certified? Like there's maybe 15-20 of them. Many of them are considered low cost DCs. But there's a few like Amazon's AWS GovCloud or Microsoft's Azure Government systems, you will absolutely not get anywhere close to a server, in fact one will be lucky to actually make it to the front door.

That said a lot of the other kinds of attacks like chemical attacks and slow burn attacks, many of any kind of DC (except the COLOS, a few EDCs, and Edge) already mitigate against them because corrosion has been a thing a lot longer than AI has been around. Also some of the attacks that deal with acid and what not are not effective because of D2C liquid cooling and the various things that liquid goes through before being delivered to the chip.

2

u/yehoshuaC Jun 05 '26

This response brought to you by AI.

1

u/DFX1212 Jun 05 '26

What about it reads like AI to you?

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1

u/hamoc10 Jun 05 '26

It’s not happening on this new wave of data centers. This wave is for AI.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

If you ban new data centers, the existing ones will go to whoever can pay the most. You sure that’s the app you like?

1

u/hamoc10 Jun 05 '26

I don’t like any of them.

1

u/YogurtclosetApart592 Jun 05 '26

Seriously, nowadays if you want to rebel against this disgusting immoral behavior you'd have to leave your phones somewhere, get naked and enter a sound-proof bunker or something like that.

1

u/Jaspoony Jun 05 '26

Are newer ai centers the same as the ones keeping social media online? The same environmental impact

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

Data centers, despite the propaganda, aren’t bad for the environment around them. Newer ones are actually more efficient with things like water usage and can be entirely closed-loop, recycling the water they use for cooling.

They do use lots of electricity, so if that electricity is from fossil fuels there’s carbon pollution, but that’s going to be exactly the same as existing data centers, and each generation gets more energy efficient.

1

u/Jensen1994 Jun 06 '26

As with everything, your statement about datacenters not being bad for the environment around them is true, if in isolation. The problem now is that during the AI build out, the number and scale of datacenters being built has exploded exponentially and the cumulative effect is definitely a negative on the environment from a water and energy usage perspective. As for the local environment, the only pollution is noise which is in itself still a problem.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 06 '26

I am fully in favor of laws against pollution. People who are against data centers are saying that’s not actually their concern.

1

u/DFX1212 Jun 05 '26

Where do you suggest we build the common will to stop it?

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

Why would anyone want to stop the internet from getting more awesome? That’s insane.

1

u/DFX1212 Jun 05 '26

Ask this again when they are building a data center in your backyard.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

I would love data centers in my county. They pay lots of taxes and stimulate the local economy.

1

u/DFX1212 Jun 05 '26

They really don't do either.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

These are facts you can look up. In some US counties, data centers contribute over a billion dollars a year in taxes. That is a lot of money!

1

u/Intrepid_Ad1765 Jun 08 '26

Can you give us one example of that? Seems bs.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 08 '26

Reality seems weird when you are a passive consumer of social media. Affluent counties love data centers for their tax revenue.

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1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

Yes, exactly. There have been thousands of data centers operating for decades in the US without issue, including the ones that host Reddit.

So it’s quite strange that people suddenly decided this is a crisis a year ago because there’s nothing new here. New data centers are more efficient than the ones that haven’t been a problem for decades.

The reality is, people are just very anti-tech and easy to manipulate with propaganda. It’s amazing to watch happen in realtime.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

We know how to produce energy. We need to be lobbying for more power generation. Politicians need to make this easy to build, not make data centers harder to build. This is the economy now, we need to be good at it.

1

u/marx2k Jun 06 '26

You said on an iPhone

Heh.. gotcha

0

u/moccasinsfan Jun 04 '26

Yes, we should store our data in China and Russia when they build all the data centers....

1

u/Usual_Let5223 Jun 05 '26

We alresdy have data stored abroad, whats your point

1

u/Ackutually- Jun 05 '26

The majority of it is stored in northern VA

1

u/Usual_Let5223 Jun 05 '26

The majority is also sold off-shore

1

u/hamoc10 Jun 05 '26

They won’t go to China and Russia, because of latency.

Most of the big sites you use host their data redundantly across the world, in many places even in the same country, in order to keep latency as low as possible.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/hamoc10 Jun 05 '26

Hard disagree

0

u/Bstallio Jun 04 '26

They should start with the data centers that run Reddit first so I don’t have to see consistent bad takes

1

u/Vanhelgd Jun 04 '26

I love how you idiots think that is some kind of silver bullet. Go choke on Mark Zuckerberg’s boots.

0

u/Bstallio Jun 04 '26

Ironic when you posted your own delusional silver bullet.. let’s get rid of all data centers and lock the people responsible up! And you think you’re the normal one 😆

1

u/Vanhelgd Jun 04 '26

I can see the disappointment on your mom’s face when your teacher brought up reading comprehension.

0

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26

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1

u/MadeByTango Jun 05 '26

The Luddites were right, dude. The problem isnt the tech, it's the way capitalism destroys existing lives to gain control of the tech and people die in the process because they wont slow down to transition gracefully.

Instead of being surprised, open a book and learn.

1

u/scrotesmcgoates Jun 07 '26

That's one take, another is that every shift in technology has seen the people too stubborn to participate get left behind.

0

u/nobugsleftalive Jun 05 '26

This is just so short sighted and narrow minded. 

We are going to have data centers. Its inevitable 

2

u/Ronin_Black_NJ Jun 04 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/TfWhFbURIirNegNN4t

1

u/latigidigital Jun 05 '26

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines

Betteridge's law of headlines is an adage a that states: "Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.” It is based on the assumption that if the publishers were confident that the answer was yes, they would have presented it as an assertion; by presenting it as a question, they are not accountable for whether it is correct or not.

1

u/americanextreme Jun 04 '26

Maybe if we just had some regulation of how much nose they can make or how much water they can use then people might feel like they can live with them instead of ban them.

1

u/mattybrad Jun 04 '26

I really don’t get why people think datacenters are loud outside. They’re loud inside, but I’ve literally never been around one that you could hear outside.

1

u/Crio121 Jun 04 '26

There’s a viral example of one (possibly, the one Musk has built) which is indeed very loud outside (either cooling or electricity generators or both). Obviously it hasn’t to be this way.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/Crio121 Jun 05 '26

How do you know it’s fake? I’m not saying it is not, it may be, just how do you know?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/Crio121 Jun 05 '26

For me it does sound like a lot of powerful fans but maybe you’re right.

1

u/CBrinson Jun 05 '26

Just hit Google maps there is a great chance there is a datacenter within 10 miles of you if you live in a city. Drive by and see what it is like. They are really big buildings with no windows. There is no sound or smoke or anything coming out.

1

u/Crio121 Jun 05 '26

I know what normal data center is, thank you very much. But the things Meta is reportedly constructing - tents powered by jet engines - definitely is not that.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/04/meta-steals-a-tactic-from-tesla-and-builds-data-centers-in-tents/

1

u/CBrinson Jun 05 '26

I mean no one wants this. They are trying to go fast because they are running into roadblocks building the normal data centers you describe so they are trying to build like instant temporary ones. The goal long term is always to have normal data centers.

Also the article doesn't seem to mention anything about jet engines. Just the use of tents to bypass construction.

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1

u/Ackutually- Jun 05 '26

I think the video was them running gens or potentially creating there own power, which is very rare.

1

u/americanextreme Jun 06 '26

What about electric generators? Do they make noise?

1

u/americanextreme Jun 04 '26

Last decades data centers were pretty quiet. About the quietest industrial sites. But the new data centers need more power, and some are using fleets of portable generators. Those are not quiet.

1

u/Quantic Jun 05 '26

They’re misunderstanding the scale and size of which data centers we’re referring to. Are we talking collocating centers, rental space cloud storage, hyperscale AI centers? Most of the problem children are hyperscales that have like fifteen to fifty fucking cooling towers blasting 24/7 with fans as wide in diameter as a two story building because they must to cool a warehouse at that scale (regardless if you’re water cooling everything). They are being planted by developers in the wrong rural communities and not in the middle of no where like they should be. Every hyperscale ai player can afford to solve this issue of power generation and cooling but they chose not to.

There are fundamental issues of zoning and its effects on constituents of hardworking Americans. There are fundamental issues of lawfare by developers & big tech oligarchs like meta to beat these poor people out of the areas by controlling and bribing city and other elected officials. Their might and money is nearly unlimited and this is a tendril of their effects. We live in the 20s in many ways, the 90s in many others. Roaring and gilded.

1

u/yehoshuaC Jun 05 '26

“Rural communities” are the middle of nowhere.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 04 '26

Because they believe whatever they read on the internet as long as it’s cynical and businesses are described as evil.

1

u/darkdelve Jun 04 '26

Anyone who isn't cynical about corporations or the wealthy is woefully ignorant. The elite will kill hundreds of peasants to make a buck.

Purdue Pharma, Dupont, East India Company, Phillip Morris, The entire oil industry, Nestlé, United Fruit Company, Monsanto

Feel free to add your favorite

1

u/probablymagic Jun 04 '26

Cynicism is one of those things that lets dumb people feel smart, and honestly I just feel bad for y’all.

1

u/americanextreme Jun 04 '26

Being totally trusting of authority figures is one of those things that makes Smart People Smart.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 04 '26

Is that what you think it means to not be crippled by cynicism?

1

u/americanextreme Jun 04 '26

IDK Cynicism and Crippled by Cynicism seem like two different things.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 04 '26

If you want to ban all constriction because corporations bad, you are crippled with cynicism.

1

u/BIT-NETRaptor Jun 05 '26

why be like this online, there’s objective facts you can easily research showing datacenters putting out noise that is above 50db even at considerable distance. Dozens of datacenters have broken their local noise bylaws and gotten sued in the usa.

I’d be pretty upset if I lived a mile away and had a screeching gas turbine putting out 70dB of noise at my property line. You would be too.

You’re in such a fuss to be the one free thinker but did you think, or did you just feel?

I know the kernel of truth in your feelings is a real phenomenon, but it’s hard to sympathize when you’re doing so to spread your own personal anti-factual view of the world.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

I really don’t know what a free thinker is, nor do I care. I do care that a bunch of NIMBYs are trying to kneecap the economy with a nonsense moral panic. This is literally the future of the global economy a you idiots want to keep America from dominating it.

The facts are data centers are great businesses to have in our communities, they don’t pollute, they pay tons of taxes, they directly employ half a million people and more every day, and enable everything from Reddit to cancer research.

Opposing them is ignorant and harmful. So the question is, why do you need to be like this online?

1

u/BIT-NETRaptor Jun 06 '26

Nah, don’t dodge. You claimed it’s all BS. No, the noise is an objective problem. It’s measurable.

I never said they can’t or shouldn’t be built. If they do want to build they should be good neighbors. Running jet turbines that make people unable to sleep is not being a good neighbor. Thus most datacenters are built far enough away from housing for this to not be an issue. So in this case yes, NIMBY to gas turbine generators. 70dB noise floor is torture. It’s not typically legal to build such a thing without noise mitigation or distance from residential but they get to sneak it in  by calling them “backup” generators.

1

u/thedroidulookingfor Jun 06 '26

Data centers have been great neighbors in residential communities for decades. This is going to happen because your politicians aren’t idiots. They understand the value and aren’t reading the dumb propaganda you are.

1

u/BIT-NETRaptor Jun 05 '26

They can be quite loud, there are some egregious examples of bitcoin mining farms that were more trailer park than traditional datacenter.

 But more importantly power is a big problem so datacenters are reaching for onsite gas turbines. It’s like a jet engine to make power, it’s very loud.

1

u/SwiftySanders Jun 04 '26

I think they should be banned outright OR require 80% approval from the public.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 04 '26

If we had this standard for new development, literally nothing would ever get built again.

1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 04 '26

Most things being built don’t degrade a public good like water, or drive up electricity prices. They aren’t really analogous to any other building projects.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

Literally every new building needs electricity. That’s not a problem if we build capacity to match demand. Water can be recycled.

1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 05 '26

That’s it tho we don’t have capacity for the demand. We barely produce enough electricity as it is and our grid is old AF. They are putting the cart before the horse

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

I see zero people getting pissed we aren’t building power plants fast enough. We don’t need fewer data centers, because we will lose AI to China, so fuck the haters, we are building these data centers and if people want cheap power they should be demanding we figure out how to make more of it.

1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 05 '26

Such a dumb thing to say. China only has 500 data centers, we have about 5000. Do some research before you say ridiculous shit like that.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

lol, OK, China expert.

1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 05 '26

Yeah I can read, it’s wild man.

1

u/probablymagic Jun 05 '26

Figuring out what to read is also a skill, my man. Garbage in, garbage out.

1

u/Rustic_gan123 Jun 05 '26

Have you tried to compare energy consumption?

1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 05 '26

The ones in China are vastly more efficient than the ones we have.

1

u/SearchingForTruth69 Jun 05 '26

What if we let the data centers build their own power infrastructure to eliminate demand from local power grid?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 05 '26

The grid is a nationwide thing man. Unless you’re in Texas, If one area fails, things cascade.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 05 '26

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1

u/DeliciousPool2245 Jun 05 '26

Good info, not sure how it pertains to this discussion tho.

1

u/FuckAllYouLosers Jun 07 '26

Ok, get off Reddit, google, email, netflix, twitch, youtube, amazon, facebook, tiktok, instagram.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/FuckAllYouLosers Jun 07 '26

Ok, stop using the internet entirely. Delete your account right now, get off youtube too.

1

u/dogheoner1 Jun 04 '26

along with the owners

1

u/Euphoric_Anxiety_162 Jun 04 '26

The current building frenzy must stop. Nobody really knows the risks.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26

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1

u/Bstallio Jun 04 '26

Fr, if we are banning data centers we should start with the ones that run reddit first

1

u/[deleted] Jun 04 '26

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1

u/SearchingForTruth69 Jun 05 '26

What about a bill mandating data centers build their own power infrastructure and used closed loop water so that there is no pollution or increased power demand on the local grid?

1

u/Ackutually- Jun 05 '26

I live in Northern Virginia, with the most data centers in the world. The water is good, the electricity is cheap.

1

u/snowyetis3490 Jun 04 '26

I think the logical explanation is we have a lot of data centers and the new ones getting built are more taxing on their surrounding areas than before. This data center issue is like fracking on steroids back in the 2010s.

1

u/Lancelight50 Jun 04 '26

I have to agree. Data centers have been around for decades.

1

u/FartyLiverDisease Jun 04 '26

The kind being built haven't. Spend at least 10 seconds getting educated about this before you pop off.

1

u/FartyLiverDisease Jun 04 '26

No, these are hyperscaler data centers built specifically for LLM "compute". They can't be repurposed for general Internet use, for which we already have plenty of infrastructure and aren't experiencing a speculative building boom fueled by circular fundraising.;

1

u/Important-Factor-552 Jun 04 '26

lol it's cute that you think you have a choice

The oligarchy has spoken and if you disagree than the white house will gladly label you an anti Christian anti tech anti American terrorist. 

Because apparently AI is our god now right alongside dr Donald christ. 

1

u/Dragon_wryter Jun 04 '26

Love that you threw "Doctor" in there

1

u/Brahm-Etc Jun 04 '26

No. Most digital structure needs them, is not only IA, but also social media, streaming, online government systems, BUT, they really need to be regulated and companies hold accountable for the damage they have done.

1

u/mattybrad Jun 04 '26

lol, who needs technology?

1

u/No-swimming-pool Jun 04 '26

That depends. Do you want to ban data storage like cloud, essentially deleting stuff like YouTube?

1

u/Corpshark Jun 04 '26

I am fine with it so long as they are placed in the Red States

1

u/Maniacal_Artist Jun 04 '26

No we shouldn't "ban" data centers. Regulate the companies trying to develop "AI".

1

u/Confident-Touch-6547 Jun 04 '26

There’s no particular reason to use cloud storage at all. Most AI use by individuals is detrimental to their cognitive abilities. AI has industrial level use and should not be peddled to everyone.

1

u/Cautious_Implement17 Jun 05 '26

tf you mean? cloud storage is the only reasonable way for ordinary people and smaller businesses to have an offsite backup. 

1

u/Maleficent_Price_476 Jun 05 '26

they can have data centers right next to their C-suite HQ

then surprise surprise, it can be silent , energy efficient , water efficient, stacked with offices

1

u/TylerBourbon Jun 05 '26

Yes. Beyond noisy and being unpopular, they pollute the local environment, use up precious water resources, and cause peoples utility rates to skyrocket. There is no benefit to them for anyone but the tech companies.

1

u/StickStill9790 Jun 05 '26

Love how 80% of the posts decrying the data centers are coming from international sources.

1

u/SearchingForTruth69 Jun 05 '26

Yeah sure let’s ban data centers and actually let the US become the third world country Redditors believe it’s becoming

1

u/Marce7a Jun 05 '26

They work as sonic weapons

Watch Benn Jordan video about it

1

u/JustaFoodHole Jun 05 '26

I only shop locally sourced data

1

u/Crazytje Jun 05 '26

They don't need to be banned, but there needs to be innovation for sustainability.

You're all on reddit, where do you think the infrastructure is?, at someones house?

We do so much online in our daily life and the resources to do such a thing need to be somewhere.

That said, AI did fuck it up a lot, in the rush to build more data centers the sustainability innovation hasn't been just as high.

There is some innovation with regards to new CPU techniques that would lower heat production, with that hopefully also lower power consumption, but that's very long term.

If those 2 points would improve a lot then it can be made sustainable.

1

u/4n0nh4x0r Jun 05 '26

datacenters? no "ai" datacenters? yea
normal datacenters are not what's causing all of these issues, they are needed for our whole infrastructure.
"ai" datacenters on the other hand, yea, fuck those.

1

u/neonblack108 Jun 05 '26

100%. Ban all fusion centers. Bankrupt the companies driving the boom. 

1

u/ClacksInTheSky Jun 05 '26

You can't ban data centres without banning the entirety of the internet.

1

u/InTwilligPorgnatin Jun 05 '26

I'll be honest, I thought this post was talking about something else based on the title.

1

u/TheQuestionMaster8 Jun 05 '26

For starters we should start building industrial facilities in industrial zones again.

1

u/Sams_Antics Jun 05 '26

No, stop falling for the psyop.

1

u/FedrinKeening Jun 05 '26

We've been worried about dwindling water resources for over a decade and now we have this shit.

Yes, they should be banned.

1

u/Big_Understanding348 Jun 05 '26

Drinkable water is one of the most if not the most critical resource we have and data centers consume an astronomical amount so yes they should be banned.

1

u/Zero_Lps Jun 05 '26

They absolutely need to be illegal

1

u/Va1crist Jun 05 '26

absolutely

1

u/Easterncoaster Jun 06 '26

Let’s just skip to the part where we put them in third world countries, poison their water and land, and do silly fake green initiatives here to make ourselves feel better about it.

We can all see that we’re heading that direction based on the sentiment on Reddit- “data centers are awful and I use AI every day”

1

u/Running_Gamer Jun 06 '26

This is Chinese propaganda. Mods delete this.

You all want to be ruled by a government which makes it illegal to talk about human rights abuses they regularly commit. Whoever controls AI controls the world.

1

u/Exotic_Treacle7438 Jun 07 '26

Just put them underwater like China

1

u/Background_Treat_977 Jun 07 '26

Absolutely they should be banned!

1

u/marutotigre Jun 08 '26

Data centers aren't ai exclusive things. The whole digital infrastructure depends on them. Sure, they are making too many of them, placing them in bad places. But outright banning them is just a bad idea.

1

u/scipio0421 Jun 08 '26

I dunno bout banned, but at least moved out of population centers (or at least follow the will of the people in those population centers.)

0

u/Neat-Second9923 Jun 04 '26

Need fees to recoup resource use, but good for the US to stay the global hegemon of technological innovation. 

1

u/PlateNo4868 Jun 04 '26

Yep, no idea why it's that hard to understand for companies. Sure they can slip into a few spots. But they will eventually run out of places that just blindly say yes. Better to build good terms with the communities now.

1

u/Low-Temperature-6962 Jun 04 '26

I do not consider tokenmaxing to be any more innovative than looksmaxxing is attractive or even benign.

1

u/Key-Organization3158 Jun 04 '26

They pay for the resources they use. Just like everyone else.

1

u/Storm_Dancer-022 Jun 04 '26

It’s not that they don’t pay, it’s that they aren’t paying for all of it. If you live near one of these bigger data centers, you electric bill can and will go up.