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Comment by d0liver | Hacker News Reader

I think the problem is that they don't control what happens next. The whole premise of AI data center buildouts is basically, "We think we can replace you with a robot so we'll be able to make even more money." So, even if _this data center in particular_ is okay, it's just like saying, "Well, we haven't driven over the cliff yet, so why are you complaining?"

Worse is that there's every evidence that AI is actually just a waste of money, but because there's so much investment in it, we'll all get to lose our jobs when it flops anyway. In the long-term it's just a lose/lose for everyone, and I think people are starting to figure that out. There's general mistrust, because the investors and the implementers are not trustworthy.

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Thank you for being one of the few thoughtful responses. I do feel like people's opinions here are more a position on AI in general than this data center. I come from a stance of, "this is happening so we might as well benefit from it"

Well yes. If a car window gets broken in your town, well that's a simple crime. But if entire parking lots full of cars get their windows broken out that's a crime spree and resources need setup in dealing with it.

The issue with incremental problems and quantity problems is you can't point at a single one and go "here, here is the problem" (at least most of the time), you have to look at the entire problem and go "Shit, the paperclip maximizer building one paperclip isn't an issue, it's turning everything into paperclips that's the issue".

And that's where we are.

Ah, but what if you could automate smashing every car window in the city? That would really drive profit to your autoglass business!

(ghost of Bastiat laughs in the distance)

Even better, the company that sold the automated auto glass smasher also sells an automated auto glass installer.

I'm over "this is happening". Like Silicon Valley seems to think it should be implicitly true that their libertarian maximalism should be accepted by the rest of the country. Maybe this is thinking "conservatively" and that's a dirty word, but I don't think it's crazy to ask the capitalists to go back to talking about how their businesses will help normies, and not just steamrolling people with "you can't stop growth". If opposing datacenters makes SV rethink their growth strategies. I'm all for it.

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