I wanted to talk about dying but not actually dying; just a partial dying. The subject is the great road and the not-so-great data centers invading small-town America.
The road part: Dwight Eisenhower developed a proposal for an interstate highway system resulting in the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. My personal memories of the outcome took place in upstate New York on the Northway, I-87 and it was beautifully scenic and cut through mountains and valleys and farmlands and rivers. Who lost out? Small-town America.
This stretch for my family began in Albany to the Canadian border. As a little boy, I loved seeing the miles of small-town life pre-I-87 and like all new highway builds in the 1960's, entire lives and communities were devasted by a re-route; there had to be an exit off I-87 to access a town or you were now the past and forgotten and that is exactly what these locals experienced. Hotels, restaurants, pubs, gas stations, grocery stores - all lost out for the need of fast transportation. It was only partial death, of course on Route 7. Life continued.
The Data Centers part: No need to circle the wagons on infrastructure, power, China, noise pollution, wastewater and all that. You've heard it. Like the American highway system decimated townships, the data center builds are literally the reason people are losing jobs while the elitist Silicon Valley prophets smile at their solution being universal basic income; a chance to move out of middle-class America into a boxy 1600 square foot apartment with the kids in a city. And, public schools, unsafe streets, crazy school boards, 24x7 noise pollution and higher crime. It's only partial death; careers, family life, mobility, healthcare, friendships, vacations - all change for a tech corporation like Oracle and Microsoft to give us an uncertain future of more data. That is the story: more damn data for surveillance, for China, for Sam and Dario, Satya, Jensen, Larry and the boys. They aren't kidding - it's their highway moving into American back yards and common spaces in communities. Their billions will build while hundreds of thousands of skilled workers will lose out to the hum of mini-cities where kids will look at great walls, parents wait for the next government check, the scenic view is cement and power lines.
Partial death, that's all it is. The new American road to prosperity for life, liberty and the pursuit of data. Satya Nadella said in a Wired interview two years ago, "I can see 8 billion people living in prosperity with AI, right?"
The road part: Dwight Eisenhower developed a proposal for an interstate highway system resulting in the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. My personal memories of the outcome took place in upstate New York on the Northway, I-87 and it was beautifully scenic and cut through mountains and valleys and farmlands and rivers. Who lost out? Small-town America.
This stretch for my family began in Albany to the Canadian border. As a little boy, I loved seeing the miles of small-town life pre-I-87 and like all new highway builds in the 1960's, entire lives and communities were devasted by a re-route; there had to be an exit off I-87 to access a town or you were now the past and forgotten and that is exactly what these locals experienced. Hotels, restaurants, pubs, gas stations, grocery stores - all lost out for the need of fast transportation. It was only partial death, of course on Route 7. Life continued.
The Data Centers part: No need to circle the wagons on infrastructure, power, China, noise pollution, wastewater and all that. You've heard it. Like the American highway system decimated townships, the data center builds are literally the reason people are losing jobs while the elitist Silicon Valley prophets smile at their solution being universal basic income; a chance to move out of middle-class America into a boxy 1600 square foot apartment with the kids in a city. And, public schools, unsafe streets, crazy school boards, 24x7 noise pollution and higher crime. It's only partial death; careers, family life, mobility, healthcare, friendships, vacations - all change for a tech corporation like Oracle and Microsoft to give us an uncertain future of more data. That is the story: more damn data for surveillance, for China, for Sam and Dario, Satya, Jensen, Larry and the boys. They aren't kidding - it's their highway moving into American back yards and common spaces in communities. Their billions will build while hundreds of thousands of skilled workers will lose out to the hum of mini-cities where kids will look at great walls, parents wait for the next government check, the scenic view is cement and power lines.
Partial death, that's all it is. The new American road to prosperity for life, liberty and the pursuit of data. Satya Nadella said in a Wired interview two years ago, "I can see 8 billion people living in prosperity with AI, right?"