#DataCenters #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #neighborhoods #RuralAreas #transparency
No one wants a big data center in his or her back yard.
They use lots of power. They use lots of water. They emit disturbing noise, and who knows what else.
But, at this moment, if the country wants to be the best in the world at artificial intelligence innovation, the data centers might be a necessary evil.
Artificial intelligence has its own pitfalls, when it comes to people. Currently, there’s a real fear that AI will take away lots of jobs people now do.
Still, it’s scientific progress, and that’s hard to stop when it’s in motion.
Therefore, it’s incumbent on us, as a nation, to figure out how best to use AI, and to prevent evil uses of it. And, as data centers are proposed, everything should be done in the open at all phases. No tax breaks. Lots of public hearings during the process.
AI is a big unknown. Even some of its creators are unsure exactly how best to use it once it’s perfected. And, large companies have invested big in AI, and most have yet to see it pay off. That spurs fears of an AI “bubble” bursting in the financial markets.
When there is such an unknown, lots of imaginations run wild – good and bad.
Those who fear for their jobs imagine the worst. Those who wish to innovate imagine the best.
Those who imagine the good create it, then find unintended consequences that are not so good.
So, as one imagines what AI might do, it might be best to either innovate or be flexible enough about one’s life to find ways to make the best of it when it throws a curve at you.
Data centers, meanwhile, are big, hulking artifacts that occupy lots of space. Particularly if you live in a rural area, where most of them are being built or proposed, a data center could be a real eyesore to your neighborhood, and quiet way of life. It might be best to move them to already noisy industrial areas, and make them provide their own power and water, without affecting anyone else’s.
The question not often posed is: If AI technology progresses to the extent that these big data centers ultimately require a smaller footprint, what happens to the big, hulking creations we might need now to bridge the gap?
To illustrate that, remember that computer mainframes were reduced to desktop towers, then to laptop and tablet devices, then to pocket phones.
This all happened in relatively few years. It’s not inconceivable that these big data centers could get smaller, and smaller again, over time.
Then, those who live near the big warehouse data centers would be left with empty monstrosities.
But, here’s the rub: Technology is created in stages. It’s impossible to know when, or even whether, those data centers will get smaller, and, thus, more palatable.
The big centers offer new jobs, but what happens to those jobs when they get smaller?
What do people do as they wait for technology to take its course?
The hopeful thing is that technology usually evolves quickly. The concerning thing during the evolution is much damage to individual lives can be done, and can’t be undone.
This is why it’s important, as individuals, to anticipate the worst and, when it happens, to make the best out of it. Some people will really prosper. Others will be left behind. It may be up to the individual to see on which side of the spectrum he or she will be.
If you get stuck with a big data center near you, make sure those officials who brought it take whatever action necessary to mitigate the problems it will create.
Peter