and maybe what I’m taking away from your post is too many god damned things rely on a datacenter.
The utility monopolies are partly/mostly to blame for this. Their rates have become so disconnected from reality that it's cheaper to install your own power generation. They've all been posting record profits, up 50% where I am, in the last 5 years, as rates continue to increase.
I'm sure the utility companies are ecstatic how the blame as been put squarely on data centers.
But yes, they say it's green energy requirements/expansion. But, they're also very good at making excuses, including when they're old equipment erases whole towns due to fires they started, from leaving it all unmaintained to help with those record profits.
All I'm getting from your comment is maybe the government should provide public options for payment processors, gig workers, social media, email, and operating systems.
Maybe they should start by nationalizing a few of these companies and provide the benefits to the public instead of the billionaires.
No, I'm saying that most people are enjoying the benefits of data centers, without knowing they're contributing to the problem, including hyper scalars, which aren't running idle. The average person is using them indirectly (via media, software, services the use, generated by AI) and directly (go talk to a teen to understand the scale of AI use).
This is the same argument for people being upset that China pollutes so much as they sit on their furniture made with petroleum based plastics, from China, wearing shoes manufactured in China, while typing the message on an iPhone made in China.
Since the awareness is so low, I think a useful question to include in the poll would have been "Do you use AI or data centers?"
And, I don't see how this is related to oligarchs. Without the data centers, all the services would be more expensive. They're a very simple concept: bulk purchased compute components with cheap industrial electric rates.