With the level of concern over data centers rising to near-hysteria, you'd think people were suddenly rushing to build nuclear waste dumps next to elementary schools throughout the country and that radioactive sludge was threatening to engulf children across America.
At this point, data centers are rapidly becoming the latest target of America's rage, even though everyone who is enjoying the benefits of modern technology is simultaneously trying to destroy the infrastructure required for that modern technology to exist.
Every photo uploaded to Instagram, every show streamed on Netflix, every Google search, every cloud backup, every Zoom call and every embarrassing question posed to Claude has to be processed and stored somewhere. Long gone are the days of floppy disks and CD-ROMs and minidisc players (remember those?).
It's all about the cloud — and for members of Congress out there, the "cloud" isn't actually a cloud. It's a big ugly building full of computers called a data center.
What makes this hysteria ridiculous to begin with is that there are already thousands of these buildings all across the country, and for years most people barely noticed them. But now, all of a sudden, we're being told to panic.
Why? As usual, part of the reason is that fear is excellent clickbait. After all, who isn't tempted to open an article telling you how the latest data center is going to consume your community Terminator-style?
Of course, that's not to dismiss every concern as imaginary or unimportant. It is true, for example, that data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, that poorly located facilities can create noise problems and that massive projects can place additional demands on local water supplies and electrical infrastructure.
All of these are reasonable matters for local authorities, utility companies and residents to address and debate.
But there is still an enormous difference between demanding responsible development of something we need and pretending data centers themselves are some great unwarranted social evil that must be treated like lead paint or asbestos.
Making matters worse is the fact that data centers have become a convenient scapegoat for politicians who need someone else to blame for the consequences of their failed energy policies. As our society continues to develop an economy that is increasingly electrified — whether through automation, so-called "green" initiatives or artificial intelligence — electricity demand will continue to increase, all while supply continues to lag behind (in certain areas).
The obvious solution here is to build better power infrastructure. Instead, politicians would rather continue restricting energy production and hide behind data centers as the real evil.
Let's be grown-ups here. Let's demand solutions to problems that will make life better for all of us while accepting that data centers are a crucial part of our information infrastructure that we simply cannot live without...unless you're happy to have the Chinese Communist Party rifling through your most intimate data.
If you want to keep using unlimited storage on your phone, streaming every movie and television show that's ever been produced, and asking ChatGPT in the middle of the night how to unclog a particularly clogged toilet, you're going to need data centers.
Stop complaining about something that we clearly cannot live without.
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